Cafe owners hit out at new £100 licence fee
BUSINESSES NOW NEED TO PAY FOR OUTDOOR SEATING PERMIT
BUSINESSES owners have hit out at a new fee for pavement licences across Gedling borough.
Shop owners can now apply for a pavement licence which gives them authorisation to put removable furniture outside. It had been free but now there will be a fee for applications.
Gedling Borough Council’s Environment and Licensing committee says owners must not obstruct the highway and there will need to be a smoke-free area.
The new fee will cost businesses up to £100 to process the applications due to the amount of officer time involved and the expectation that more applications will be submitted.
The fee will also cover possible site visits and liaising with other partners, such as the Highway Authority and police.
The fee for a one-year licence was approved on September 7 by the council’s Environment and Licensing committee.
Business owners on Arnold High Street think the fee is too high and the pavements are too narrow to add additional seating.
Hailey Marsden, 43, manager of Organ Grinder, explained how the licence wouldn’t benefit her business.
She said: “The pavement is too small and I don’t think customers would want to sit out there.
“It’s not beneficial for us and we’ve already got garden seating that can hold 150 plus customers. “I wouldn’t want to sit there with all the car fumes.”
The pavement licensing regime was due to expire on September 30 2021, but has been extended to September 30 2022.
Mexhit Osmamaj, 51, owner of Santorini Gyro Bar, thinks the fee is expensive and there isn’t enough space on the pavement.
He said: “For outside seating, there isn’t enough space.
“I’d only be able to add two more tables, maybe.
“The fee is too expensive, with rent and bills it is too much.
“After 4pm no-one is on the street so there is no need for more seating.
“Especially in winter, it can get very quiet here.”
As part of the Government’s ‘Road Map out of Lockdown,’ hospitality venues can now serve people outdoors.
The council envisages that extending the pavement licence regime will make it easier and cheaper for businesses to serve people outside.
Delcci cafe bar reduced its outside seating to eight to nine customers after lack of business. Tina Mehr, 48, who works at the cafe, said: “If the place gets busier then we might do it but it is very quiet here usually.
“A £100 fee is not good for this part, it’s dead here.
“Only smokers use it.
“If the weather is nice it does get busier.”
Leader of Gedling Borough Council, Councillor John Clarke, said: “Pavement licences are a new type of licence introduced in 2020 to assist the hospitality sector in response to Covid-19 restrictions.
“The licences have always been subject to a fee, however to assist business that were affected the most by lockdown restrictions, when these licences were introduced in 2020 the council made the decision not to charge a fee to support businesses, allowing them to continue to trade when customers couldn’t sit inside.
“Now that businesses have been allowed to reopen fully without restrictions, those who want to have extra outdoor seating require a licence to ensure they do not cause obstruction on the highway, block access for pedestrians and wheelchair users or create other health and safety issues.
“Due to the cost to the council for providing the licence, a charge of £100 for a one-year licence was approved to cover the administrative costs of dealing with applications and granting licence.”