cafe nero - petition

[LibraCarr]

Hi,

Just a thought, If Nero's get kicked out as local residents we could form a consortium and run a Cafe/coffe bar ourselves.

Oh and by the way Nero's sell junk which the Council believe to be food.... Me ow Me ow

[dc]

LibraCarr - I don't think you understand the implications of the decision taken by the council (see my post at 7.27 pm here).

If Nero is not allowed to trade then no other cafe will be allowed to open in its place. The "protected shopping frontage" referred to in the council's decision is not defined. It could be that particular parade of shops or the whole of Lordship Lane.

It might therefore mean no new A3 shops (restaurants and cafes) anywhere on Lordship Lane unless an A3 unit (or A4: drinking establishment or A5: hot food takeaway) reverts to an A1 (just 'shop') designation. I would consider such a switch unlikely as an empty shop effectively retains A3/4/5 permission in its planning history, giving it more value. This would be accentuated in this case where there is no chance of any new shops being so designated. Such permissions would therefore be at a premium and could be marketed as such.

Anyway it would certainly apply to the Nero premises - of that we can be certain.... probably.

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

Hope you are enjoying all the nice places to shop for junk and drink awful coffee Dulwichmum. Pathetic jibe by the way, really shows off just how ignorant you are eh? Probably an inbred xenophobe to boot.

Seeing as I have a good property worth over 300k with no mortgage to pay and the freedom to move back somewhere where the people are a lot more open minded, far less xenophobic and even better less annoying than your ilk >:D< is a nice position to be in.

Lozzyloz, I believe there are a few places with Royce on sale here, although I doubt you will find the seasonal specials they do, but may of course be wrong on that. I'll rustle up some links and pm you them later :)-D

[SeanMacGabhann]

Shu.Kurimu.Sensei

Did I miss something? what exactly was the pathetic jibe? If you mean the depression comment I suspect that was pointed inward and not outward

I tend to disagree with DulwichMum's (and others') support of chains but have no desire to see a "ghost town vibe anywhere. Having seen it here I have to disagree that the area was better. Having lived in other parts of the world with "ghost town" atmospheres they were no better..

Doesn't mean I like everything that has happened around here mind you... the lairier end of weekend-evenings I could live without but it remains home. And a friendly one at that

[Maurice]

Shu - good riddance to bad rubbish.

Bye bye!

[Shu.Kurimu.Sensei]

Maurice, go play in traffic theres a good little white supremist. Then we can all piss on your bloody corpse >:D< Now surely you have a neo-nazi meeting to attend to you pathetic little fool?

[lozzyloz]

Shu that's a bit strong. You're beginning to sound like the kind of extremist you accuse others of being. Now chill out, grab a Sapporo and enjoy the fight.

[Zebedee Tring]

For Heaven's sake, how can a thread about bloody Cafe Nero degenerate into a rant about white supremacists and neo- Nazis? A course of sedatives would be in order for a certain poster, who should reserve his accusations about racism for the genuine racists in our society, who are sadly so common. I also don't take kindly to reading over the top, gratuitous and offensive comments about pissing on corpses when I have had a son who has died during the last year,

[dulwichmum]

Oh God Zebedee Tring, for once I am speechless. This just puts everything in perspective. That must be the worst and most crushing event that could ever happen. I apologise, sometimes I cannot help myself, I just like being a bit controversial. I hope that Christmas is not too difficult for you.

[Maurice]

Too much coffee?

[dulwichmum]

Could I pour a splash of Baileys in that for you?

[Maurice]

Why thank you.

I'm keen to know how much her 300K home, which she owns outright by the way, would be worth if LL had a soul?

[Zebedee Tring]

Why are you apologising, dulwich mum? You have nothing to apologise for, It's not the controversy that I objected to, since I engage in that myself on a regular basis, otherwise I would stay off this MB. It was the offensive comments from another poster, namely one Shu.Kurimu.Sensei, that led to my response.

We have a full schedule over Xmas, so hopefully things won't be too bad. Thanks for your kind words.

[dc]

Maurice Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Why thank you.

>

> I'm keen to know how much her 300K home, which she

> owns outright by the way, would be worth if LL had

> a soul?

Now that's funny. I had assumed Shu was a man - not least due to the outburst above for some indefinable reason.

[Administrator]

Some messages removed for being offensive = please stay on topic

[Zebedee Tring]

Well done, Administrator. In future you should ban posters who use offensive language like that used by a certain poster on this thread.

[lesalden]

Well of course if they have a petition in their shop they are going to get lots of signatures from customers!

The real issues are:

1) The proper planning process allows local people to have their say BEFORE something happens. Caffe Nero, who are a big firm, must have known that they didn't have permission. This is a bully-boy tactic against local residents and the Council.

2) The council have a policy of 50% max. non-retail. This seems sensible to me. Otherwise there is no control and Lordship Lane stops being a shopping street. If we do not defend this policy then the wonderful resurgence of Lordship Lane and East Dulwich as a comfortable place to live and shop will be undermined. The Council was right to reject their retrospective application.

If you agree with this and want to sign a counter - petition I have set up "Say NO to Caffe Nero" at http://www.gopetition.com/online/15683.html. We will see who gets the most signatures!

Les Alden - Upland Road

[Maurice]

Just curious. Had a small indepedent coffee shop done the same thing, would you be opposed to it? Asked another way, is your affection for the law equal toward 'big bad chain' and 'local independent'?

[kford]

I think Les Alden's first point goes some way to answering this. A small independant, with no brand and less cash at their disposal, is more likely to follow the rules.

[Maurice]

Not necessarily. It could've been an honest mistake for anyone actually. A small shop that hasn't had the experience and a chain with so many layers that the left and right hand hadn't spoken.

[Emily]

Since when have the interests of the council and the residents been identical. The council sends the bin men out at 6am on Saturday morning round my way. I like Cafe Nero, and so do East Dulwich residents. Do you know how I can tell? Because the place is always packed. People vote with their feet. It is obvious that in trying to close down a popular local cafe, the council is NOT working in the interests of local people, who like comfy chairs, wireless broadband, coffee and paninis. This isn't 1950.

[lesalden]

"the council is NOT working in the interests of local people, " says Emily.

Wrong. We all esxpect the Council to defend the character of our area and that in particular means using the planning control process. How upset we get when someone tries to build inappropriately near us. We look to the council to help. How upset will we be if Lordship Lane turns into Estate Agent Alley or Restaurant Road. With no retail shops will we all be content to go back to Sainsbury's?

The way that our environment is protected is that the Council publishes for comment and then adopts planning policies. Is there any Duilwich resident on here is is really saying they don't care about the loss of retail shopping. Let them declare themselves now!

Les Alden

[Maurice]

Sadly this case is grey. While the black and white nature of your statement is true Les, this argument is clouded by those who have never gotten over losing the battle to keep out big, bad Cafe Nero because it is an 'evil chain'. No more no less.

[Zebedee Tring]

The problem is that Cafe Nero's use of the premises wasn't in breach of the Council's stated policies, hence the officer recommendation to grant permission. It was the Committee that refused permission, apparently against its own policies. If it is not happy with the outcome of the Cafe Nero application, the Council should change its policies; however it can't do so retrospectively just in order to deny permission to Cafe Nero. As I have already said, I foresee Cafe Nero winning their appeal with costs. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing is quite another matter.

[AllforNun]

This council is interested in Local residents when it is a vote winner - They have no real moral stance or direction, and have no interest in the bigger picture. They sum up exactly what is wrong with politics, liberalism and democracy at the moment and East Dulwich will just end up reflecting this fact, cloth bags, Pushchair free pathways or not.