New coffee Shop

[hpsaucey]

James Barber Wrote:

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> Hi KK,

> I'm not aware of a loop hole.

> I am aware of people like Caffe Nero having very

> deep pockets. I and my then ward colleague Cllr

> Richard Thomas appears as the plannign appeal

> against Caffe Nero. Caffe Nero were able to attend

> with several planning barristers, and entourage of

> their experts. Southwark had an officer a lawyer

> and two councillors. But we won onthe

> airconditioning and lost on the coffee shop due to

> an inconsistency in the council evidence.

Shame we didn't know about Nero's issuec with paying corporation tax then. Might have been a different story.

[KalamityKel]

Ok "loop hole" was probably not the greatest term of phrase to have used however... I stand by my point that what is the point of having classifications and indeed a planning department, if businesses can come in and do what they like anyway?

Where is the control?

Clockworkorange - It has nothing to do with whether a shop space is left empty or not. The classifications are there for a reason - to keep a balance of the type of trades available in an area.

I'm sure a RETAILER would happily have taken the space in question. There's no need to have another eatery in the area to which this issue has already been addressed when planning was processed AND refused.

Would your opinion be different if another indian restaurant or estate agent took the space? I bet it would...

[LondonMix]

Haus of Wood and many others offered to take the space and were all turned down.

[Louisa]

I think whoever the new tenant is, they're prepared to pay over and above the rent offered by others. If rumours are true though, and it's the artisan coffee shop, it's not a chain.

Louisa.

[Whiskers]

I'd love a decent cafe in this area- there aren't any. Lots of cafes, but not good ones.as the previous posts say, Toasted is the closest to getting a decent coffee.

[clockworkorange]

@james Barbour - in the case of this shop, I suspect its closure has as a lot to do with lack of customers. Putting rents up is a fact of life/business. Perhaps you should try harder to get a review of rates which Govt refuses to do ahead of the next election. Retailers are not chairties they are businesses. To survive, they must be better than their competitors and adapt to their financial environments and their customers' needs. They do not deserve undue protection because of some romantic vision of the 1950s high st.

Your ideas on what a high street is appear outdated. A1 uses are not the only thing a high street needs. I hope you'd agree there needs to be a mixture of uses to make a prosperous high street. The reasons high streets/town centres struggle is because policies like the one you suggest undully restricts their progression to meet what the masses want. Why the arbitrary 50% A1? Would the high street fail if only 48% of units were A1 - of course not. Another business would seek to locate and would either be successful, or fail and be replaced - that is the natural churn.

The country has too much retail space. High streets expanded too far (not specifically ED) and now, thanks to changes in how we shop (internet) where we shop (preference for malls/out of town retail and supermarkets)and what we buy, we need to think again. There are plenty of other uses which would be good on a high street which are considered town centre uses - including community, education and business.

KK - Estate Agents, I would agree are over represented in ED. However, the market will decide how long these last and I suspect not too long for some of them! As for curry, if it's a good one, then brilliant let's have it. If it's not, again, the business will close. On this point, I've seen a number of posts about poor service at chanderlier - perhaps some healthy competition in the shape of a new artisan coffee shop would enable people to vote with their feet.

On the loop hole point, it isn't a loop hole. I'm not looking at the specifics of this case, but if they've been refused PP already, the best they could hope for is a temporary 2 year use. In reality, that's quite a risk - to setup a coffee SHOP knowing that in 2 years you may have to close it. I assume they're going once again for PP as they'll want certainty.

The whole point in the temporary flexible change of use under PD Rights is to encourage pop up shops, cafes etc to ensure no vacant units, maintaining footfall and keeping a centre busy. This can also help new businesses get established when in other circumstances they cannot get a property. They add to the vitality of a high street and create interest. I'm afraid KK that is entirley the point - the planning system is there to manage the use of space for the good of all, not just retailers.

Can I ask, what shop are you hoping to open instead of haus of wood? What do we not have that we need? What is so much more preferrable to a artisan coffee shop?

Be careful what you wish for because Pret a Manger (yes know to you and me as a cafe - A3) could seek to open up in any of the vacant A1 units - as that is how they operate. Now that's a loop hole!

[Nigello]

I asked the woman in there what the shop was going to be and she said "retail, y'know, with coffee as well".