Bagel rings that upset the Games jobsworths
A CAFE manager who displayed five bagels in the style of Olympics rings was stunned to be raided by ‘community wardens’ from the council.
They took it upon themselves to declare the lighthearted window display ‘unauthorised’, and threatened him with court.
They proclaimed it a breach of laws brought in to prevent businesses exploiting the 2012 Games unless they are official sponsors.
Despite no one from the Olympics, the Government or any official sponsors complaining about the display of bread, the cafe had the book thrown at it by Southwark Council in South London.
Two ‘community wardens’ swooped on the House Cafe and Gallery, in Camberwell, within 20 minutes of manager David Adams putting up the display.
They claimed that putting the circular buns on show breached copyright rules.
One customer said: ‘They were being quite aggressive to David, ordering him to take them down immediately and threatening him with court and fines. They said there would be very serious consequences if he did not obey them. ‘It was just some bread hanging in a window, for goodness sake! When a few customers such as myself started telling them off for being silly, they began taking pictures of us on their camera, which I found sinister.
‘If Pippa Middleton can get away with blatantly cashing in on the Olympics, it’s ridiculous to punish a small cafe like this.’
The Duchess of Cambridge’s family business, Party Pieces, is advertising on its website a huge range of goods under the headline Celebrate The Games.
It potentially breaches stringent regulations brought in by Locog, the London 2012 organising committee, which bans businesses from using words such as Games, Two Thousand and Twelve, and using the Olympics five-rings logo. At the House Cafe, which is run as a not-for-profit charity, Mr Adams, 24, said: ‘We put the bagels up in the window to celebrate the Olympics and the fact the cafe is on the torch route.
‘These officials came in and told us to take them down. I was quite shocked.’
Another customer, Evan Jones, said: ‘ I got really cross. I told them it was an appalling waste of money. Is there so little to do that we are asking people to cut down bagels now?’
Southwark’s 43- strong army of ‘community wardens’ – which costs local taxpayers in excess of £1million a year – has the task of ‘ reducing environmental crime, reducing crime and antisocial behaviour and building links in the community’.
In the light of the backlash, council chiefs have apologised to Mr Adams.
Two months ago, a florist in Stoke was ordered to take down Olympic rings made from paper tissue.
And a butcher in Weymouth, Dorset, was also told to remove five rings made from sausages.