Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
In this Discussion
Top Posters
- Arkady 5356
- miss annie 5139
- andy 4506
- Ali 3405
- krappyrubsnif 3208
- tosscat 2291
- David 2179
- ADGS 1875
- kreuzkav 1733
- Mirandola 1618
Comments
Unfortunatley many people do not appreciate how much damage scoters could do , not giving them enough space to be safe, though most do when I point out I do not want to risk crushing toes...
@grenners - I hate to show my ignorance, but I don't know where to find the planning on the council site. Can you point me in the right direction? Sorry, I'm not from around here but want to learn!
https://www.islington.gov.uk/business/licences-permits-registration/trading-on-our-streets/tables-chairs-and-a-boards/a-boards-and-tables-and-chairs
If you go into this address and open the latest application form there are contact details including a phone number for complaints. I think the licence should be public information so you should ask to see a copy of it as it will detail the permitted area. I just walked past it tonight and it does seem to have expanded. But if I was feeling strongly about it that's how I would go about it. Using the phone the old fashioned way and if you get nowhere email them.
The council should be made aware, and if it leads to their privilege—and it IS a privilege, not a right—to use the pavement being revoked, then well and good.
Or you think it's better to grass someone up to the council without even mentioning it to them first.
I prefer the first one. Just seems a bit more courteous and civil.
No, thanks, I'd rather not live in your world of politely stating the bleedin' obvious to people who don't give a hoot. I'd rather live in a world where businesses weren't run by irresponsible chancers, and people didn't take the piss and followed the rules in the first place.
If local business owners are so ignorant as to not know that taking over the pavement is causing a problem - no, let's be frank about this, surely they must know, but obviously they don't care - your polite approach is a waste of breath. Business culture, especially in the food-related trades, often seems to focus on seeing what you can get away with. A cold shower followed by a good rubbing with a stiff wire brush, that's what they need.
After all, how many times have we seen A Power That Be standing out there supervising with a tape measure in hand and saying "no, that doesn't extend nearly far enough, drag it out even further"?
I'm with @Papa L on this - after all, this is the community we choose to live in.
Some may feel that the courtesy of telling them your concern and asking them nicely to do something about it is worth extending.
I fall into that camp.
Not the conspiracy theory one, or the anonymous gripe one, or the run straight to the council one (and bring down officialdom on their head) etc.
@grenners does make a good point as to why someone may feel they couldn't do this (although I reckon they'd be fine).
@JefkeVanHoornzehout I think is just trying to troll me
The point stands though. If you did something that as upsetting, inconveniencing or annoying someone, wouldn't you want them to tell you and ask if you could remedy it rather than dashing straight off to the authorities?
@Papa L -Expressing anything other than a milquetoast attitude is not necessarily an attempt at trolling, and this really isn't.
The "independent business people who care about the area" are surely the ones who play by the rules, and respect the public use of the pavement, so that's not who we're discussing here. Any business person caring about the impact they have on merely the area directly outside their premises would hardly need be told about this.
I happily dash straight off to the authorities (and I do) because I resent the at best thoughtless or more likely indifferent attitude shown by those who clearly don't care, and I don't feel I owe them any imaginary courtesy whatsoever. In a similar vein, if I see someone trying to break into a neighbour's house, I don't go out and say "oh, you really oughtn't to do that, so please stop, now there's a good chap", no, I call the police. (Of course we're talking of a different order of magnitude here: I'm not saying this is a matter of criminality, but the principle is the same: I cheerfully "grass" the buggers up!) If a slap on the wrist from the council makes them care, that's fine. If they continue their indifference, then the council (which may have received more than one complaint, and about more than one issue about the same business) has documentation and is in a better position to take action and resolve the problem.
Bearing in mind all the discussions I had with the council over S*gar Lounge, the council did say they needed as many complaints as possible to support them approaching the business, so if it's only a few people who feel strongly about this, the Milquetoast approach may be better...
@JefkeVanHoornzehout 1) you made me Google the term milquetoast 2) I think you might have got it the wrong way round.
Definition was milquetoast: 'a person who is timid or submissive'.
Speaking to the restaurant in question is directly tackling the problem and involves personal contact and being assertive.
Not doing that and making an anonymous complaint to the council would surely be the act of the person who is timid or submissive.
And who knows, if you do approach Pappagone, they might offer some free meals as compensation - win!