Starbucks

Mirandola

Posters up at ex-Railway.

Chunky

Vagabond all the way ..... well for next two weeks until we sadly leave N4

Tomtom

Any idea when the Starbucks will open?

mountpelephant

Noticed the posters earlier 'Opening Soon' and 'Recruiting Now'!<div><br></div><div>I wonder if they will try and refurbish and build around the exterior of the pub and keep the old traditional style, instead of the generic starbucks look!?</div><div><br></div><div>I guess now the 'competitors' may also star to appear, around the station and possibly on stroud green road, to secure their presence on this ever changing high street. </div><div><br></div><div>fingers crossed for Gails! </div>

Peter Crumb

I dare say I will never go in.

checkski

Me neither. Does mountelephant mean Gadz, the cafe opposite? Hussain has a loyal clientele, so let's hope he'll be able to keep going. 

halflizard

can we start a campaign to boycott it already?

Arkady

Let's organise a flashmob.  If we all rock up with pints of Guinness and pretend it's still a pub maybe they will give in.

Sutent

As individuals we have very little or no power to stop starbucks. Boycotting will make little difference, They will do well as it is the type of shop that will fit into the ever changing demographics of the area. They have somehow recorded no profits in 14 years despite making £400 million per year. For the last 2 years as a goodwill gesture they have paid £10 million in taxes which is nothing like what they should be paying. For some reason successive governments allow them to get away with this. It is the governments responsibility to do this. Jermey Corbyn has been been very vocal about this in parliament. 

Arkady

I quite agree.  There needs to be improved EU-wide legislation to prevent the sort of drive to the bottom that has allowed this to happen.  The UK should also take more responsibility over its own tax haven dependencies...

J_V_MacGyver

@Sutent: I was actually considering sending a letter to HMRC proposing a deal about the income tax I pay. If $tarbuck$ can negotiate...

Peter Crumb

Apart from providing low paid jobs what benefit are they to the government?

Ali

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Eliz

Just noticed that the old Railway Tavern signs have been taken down and underneath is some lovely simple lettering saying 'Railway Hotel' on one side and 'Taylor and Co.' on the other side. Hard to tell when it dates from but possibly 1930s or 1940s? Would be such a shame to have this covered up by a Starbucks logo or even worse ripped out completely. I'm going to try to contact Starbucks to see what their plans are for the signage on this building, I'll report back if I get a response from them.

gardener-joe

...

Eliz

I'll try to get pictures tomorrow morning, had no phone with me this evening. Just hoping the signage is still visible at 8am tomorrow and won't have disappeared overnight.