The café-bar trade may not after all be entirely isolated in its position on outside tables, chairs, awnings and barriers.

For many years, the trade has fought a constant battle against local authority planning departments and county highways departments – often both at the same time.  Even many of the councils who have spoken of their desire to have a ‘café culture’ in their towns have then changed their tune and been extremely unhelpful towards the very traders who might be expected to provide the continental atmosphere those towns are looking for.

However, the Association of Town Centre Managers has become the first professional organisation to speak up in support of the café-bar trade and its contribution to town centres… including the role of its outdoor furniture.

The beverage trade has long questioned the lack of a joined-up policy in Britain over the achievement of a ‘café culture’ in our towns.  British town councils all appear to want a ‘café culture’, but they differ widely on the most visible evidence of such a culture, that of pavement seating areas.

The situation is that councils desperately want to achieve the ‘café culture’ atmosphere, but are not helping caterers create it – instead, many councils overcharge for the very tables and chairs which are a vital feature of the ‘continental’ look.

Under the Highways Act 1980, permission is required from the local council to place ‘tables, chairs and associated furniture for the consumption of food on the pavement outside premises’.  Approval for such items is known as ‘pavement permissions’.  However, say many café owners, councils who want a local ‘café culture’ should now realise that they have to be flexible and helpful on this.

A typical recent comment is from Swindon: “this has become a Business Improvement District town, which means that as a business we have to pay one per cent of our rateable value on top of our business rates.  One of the reasons given for the extra cost was to make the town centre have a more ‘European’ feel by having cafés with outside seating. But we have to pay the local council for having that outside seating area!”

The progress towards ‘café culture’ elsewhere has been, at best, erratic.
In Wolverhampton, the local press quoted a former mayor as strongly criticising plans to triple the pavement permissions charge. He said that the move would be ‘atrocious’ and ‘a grave mistake’, and added: “people in this city talk about having a cafe culture, and I know how good that can be, but if we go ahead with this charge, we will price the initiative out of the market.”

In Edinburgh, the local paper alleged that a new permission charging system had cost some café-bars an eightfold increase – a licence that was less than £200 had become £1,600.  In a quite typical report, one caterer was quoted as saying: “the council’s expressed aim is to adopt a more cosmopolitan approach to eating and drinking outside, but then they do this to us.”

In Yarmouth, seafront traders simply refused to pay when the licence fee for outside seating was proposed at a level ten times higher than the charge in Blackpool, and even higher than Covent Garden in London! It was reported in the local press that cafés had even been given a heavy-handed threat – if they did not comply, the council would license coffee trailers to compete with them. In Bristol, the city council considered measures that would require operators to submit not just plans of their tables and chairs, but also photos of the proposed furniture, and a certificate of insurance.

The Melton Mowbray Food Partnership represented 15 cafes in the town protesting against a licence fee for external furniture, even though the council said it was ‘fully supportive’ of Melton’s café culture, and that it had proposed the fee ‘to make sure that the businesses can expand and that the pavements remain distinct areas, as is the case in towns and cities across the country’.

In York, the council was accused of inconsistency – Costa had an application for outdoor seating turned down on the grounds of pavement safety, while Starbucks won approval from the same authority to continue operating a 32-seat pavement café in one of the city’s busiest shopping zones.

In Shrewsbury, a councillor protested that the town’s own red-tape was stifling local businesses and, after complaints from constituents who had been put off from trying to get outside seating approved, he told planning officers that they must make the process clearer and easier.

The leader of Worthing Borough Council demanded that he wanted the planning situation there ‘sorted out’, after discovering that a local café-bar had had its permission for external tables withdrawn after fourteen years of use, on the grounds of ‘a highway hazard’, in a matter which had been batted back and forth between local planners and the county highways department, without coming before the elected officials.  The site was in the middle of what was regarded as the town’s ‘café culture’ area, and although the furniture had been deemed a hazard, the local Access and Mobility Group, representing disabled and blind people, said they had no reason to complain about it.

In Nailsea and Clevedon, the local council said it wanted external tables, for the good of business in towns, but the county council said it wanted cafés to pay, ‘for fairness and public safety’. Local councillors complained that proposed charges for outdoor seating could ‘cripple’ their towns, and the town clerk said: “If people are trying to develop businesses that are reasonable and in the interest of consumers, the town council would like to support them.” However, another councillor complained that “businesses that use the pavement spaces are in effect using space to promote and their activity… the taxpayers and other companies should not be subsidising that.” The North Somerset council suspended the matter for three months for further thought.

In Oswestry, councillors were warned that they would be responsible for ‘a massive backward step’ if they made things difficult for café owners, and that they would prevent the very café culture they were seeking to create.  Nearby, the Shrewsbury Business Chamber, said it was ‘disgusted’ with the proposals to charge for outside seating, and that the council should be doing its best to encourage local business, not stifle it.

In several cases, customers have signed petitions in support of seating areas. In Leeds, the city council took action against a café-deli owner for having tables and chairs outside his business, even though 700 customers signed a petition saying they approved, and that the street furniture had improved the area. The owner said: “This building has been a derelict eyesore since 1932. When I bought it, it was covered in graffiti. I’ve turned it into an attractive building which is a central part of the local community, and the tables and chairs are doing absolutely no harm outside.”
Notably, he criticised the council for being unhelpful when he had tried to do the right thing.

“I asked the council for advice when I was applying for the licences but I was told nobody could help me. I wanted to get it right but I had no guidance.”

In Haringey, a café-bar owner was told to remove exterior seating and decking even though 2,700 customers have signed a petition in support of him.

In Scotland, the Perth council was told off by its own legal officer when criticising a café-bar owner during a licensing application hearing. A councillor told the operator off in strict terms for extending his seating area, but was stopped when the council’s legal manager intervened and effectively told the licensing committee that pavement seating was none of their business!

Some constructive help

Gloucester council may be setting a different path. The council ended outdoor seating charges four years ago and last year extended the scheme, making it free to put tables and chairs outside cafes and pubs.  Pubs and café bars say the scheme has helped them and the council leader said the scheme would remain in place until a review in 2012. He added that exterior furniture would be monitored, and in the event of hindrance or nuisance, it could be removed.

In Liverpool, the council issued a supportive statement, which said: “we want to encourage pavement cafes throughout the city. They add life and vibrancy during the summer months and can be a real asset to a city which is attracting more and more visitors.

“Most café operators are being responsible and seeking the necessary authority and that will be granted if it is an appropriate place and visually acceptable. However, in some cases, where permission has not been sought, tables and chairs have been placed right across the highways causing obstruction and even forcing pedestrians to walk in the road. We will be visiting them and giving them an advice pack with information on what they need to do to obtain the necessary permission.”

In Richmond, Yorkshire, the local press have reported last month that the town ‘has set off on a Continental journey after councillors approved plans to encourage a café culture.’ Applications had been received for tables and umbrellas to be set out on the cobbled market square and, although some councillors worried about lost parking space, others were enthusiastic.

More creatively, the town council in Blackburn is reported to have considered a plan for a ‘coffee trail’ around the town, seeing a café culture as a way of re-generating the town centre as an evening venue. The Night-time Economy Strategy group is looking at the idea among ways to revive interest in an area where some businesses have begun to close early, even before commuters go home.

As in all these things, there have been some cases that raise a smile.  A café-bar in Blackpool was ordered to remove its outdoor chairs, which had been in place for a year, for not conforming with local rules about standards of furniture – they were inflatable sofas!  And in East Grinstead, a café-bar owner said that the local council has gone back on its word in ordering him to remove parasols from his external seating. The parasols were shown on the plan he originally submitted, but he was later told that they are not included in his licence.

The bizarre aspect of this case is that the local council’s website carried a story headed ‘café culture has arrived in East Grinstead’, saying how much the council is right behind the venture, illustrated with a picture of that very same coffee-house – including the parasols!

Support from the town centre managers

“The Association of Town Centre Managers is supportive of the growth of café culture,” says chairman Graham Chase. “We think tables and chairs creating an al fresco environment have added an extra dimension to our town centres in recent years and provide a good reason for consumers to spend longer in town centres.

“During the Summer months, by keeping people in town, café culture reduces the pressure on transport infrastructure during peak times spreading the return journey home over a longer period, consequently providing additional spend for other sectors such as retail on the high street. It provides a good transition from the daytime economy to the night-time economy.

“However, café culture is not something that is easy to implement. Every council’s attitude is different and no two locations are the same. One application from a coffee shop could trigger the involvement of council highways, legal team, financial team and licensing department to name a few. If a small business is required to deal with all these departments it can be very time consuming and cumbersome.

“The hurdles are put in place however, because some business owners may set up outdoor furniture in a manner which is not conducive to an improved environment, and may have negative effects… congestion of narrow payments, reduction of adjoining display frontages (especially where umbrellas are in use), environmentally unfriendly patio type heaters, litter, spillage, and damage to the public highway caused by inappropriate furniture.  In dealing with these issues, the response of some councils does sometimes appear to be cumbersome and unthinking and we can understand the frustration some operators may feel.

“This is one reason why we encourage local authorities to consider the importance of town centre management and the positive contribution which a café culture can make. We find that invariably our council-employed town centre managers will be happy to act as a liaison for businesses to help resolve these issues. Unfortunately, not all local authorities have a TCM in post.

“The essence of town centre management is getting local government, businesses and others including residents to work in partnership better. We encourage café culture, and understand that some councils respond better than others in terms of business engagement to make this happen. If Town Centre Managers were consulted on a more regular basis and their expertise utilised, we feel a more effective approach would arise and reduce bureaucracy and inconsistency. We are here to help on this.”

Support from suppliers

It is in the interests of the trade’s suppliers to help café-bar owners have their exterior furniture approved and many suppliers have spoken out in support of the trade.
Strada Café Barriers director Daniel Putnins says: “Applying for street permissions can be a nightmare, requirements are not always clear and decisions can rest on personal interpretation of any planning officer. Different councils even apply their own demands – there is one that stipulates chrome or stainless support posts, and nothing else.

“When it can cost £200 simply to have an application considered, the sensible course is to work with a furniture or barrier supplier which has a long experience in applications and which will help construct an application as part of its service.

Carefully planned, barriers and awnings could make such a contribution to the much-vaunted ‘café culture’ theme of many towns that café owners would do well to use them as a positive when negotiating with councils, says Tony Reynolds, founder of Shading by Design, an awning and barriers.

So, what is the café operator’s best course of action to make absolutely sure that their plans for using an external area will not get them into trouble?

“This is a difficult subject to be precise about. Most people who want to work on a pavement need permission, and a licence. Within that permission, any kind of banner or windbreak will be a part and when you get to an awning and an umbrella, local authorities begin to think of ‘building works’!

“If you are designing an outside scheme, you have to consider the movement of people. Then you have to put in a plan to the council, showing a blueprint plan and an illustration.There are two schools of thought in councils. One is to encourage the café culture, the other is to say they already have too many street cafes. My own feeling is that there are currently more in the ‘café culture’ camp than on the Luddite side.

“So the main advice is this – consider your plan in the context of the whole street scene, not just what’s in your head. Look at what’s going on around you, and think your plan through in terms of the surrounding area.  This will increase your chances of arguing that what you want to do will enhance the area, and it will enhance your chances of permission of you put it across well.”

Do this carefully, because some council policies may be thought illogical, says Simon Cotton, founder of the Breezefree company, which supplies barriers, umbrellas and similar furniture.

“Things have evolved so quickly that local authorities struggle to keep up and frequently need leading by experience. For example, when we introduced branded café screens to the UK market in 2000, local authorities interpreted these like free standing A-boards. We find policy guidelines that are written without input from our sector, and the result can often be of dimensions which quite illogically constrained, and rules which omit to consider the effects of such factors as wind driven rain.
“Local authorities have a duty of care to the local community, and that includes helping local businesses promote themselves, while providing appropriate amenities for the community.”

Why the inconsistency?

Why are councils so inconsistent?  One of the most experienced consultants is Chris Green of DPP, a planning agency that has represented Caffè Nero and others in many negotiations with councils.

“Inconsistency of decisions is because of a number of issues – every council has slightly different policies, and all are open to interpretation.  On each case you are dependant on a subjective judgement by a council. This is how you get inconsistencies.  Even the planning officers get confused, and I have seen different decisions given for premises that are six doors apart!

“The lesson is that one case does not fit all, which makes it very frustrating, but does teach us that we always have to explain clearly what we’re doing, and sell the benefits that the application will bring to the high street.

“You really do have to sell the value of what you propose to do on that site, so the lesson is that you should look at the policies applying to a specific area, and then see how you can meet them. You have to get there, right upfront, and explain it… some of your argument may be that you are opening up in a tired old high street, and that your presence there will enliven the area and generate footfall.

“Of course, this may not what they want to hear when you are applying to do something in a street which is already successful, so you have to accept that different arguments apply in different cases!”

There are so many reported stories of fights between café-bar owners and councils, that it its quite reasonable to assume that planning departments have it in for the catering trade.  There are so many appeals that in the eyes of councils and planning officers, the entire coffee trade must now be seen as troublemakers.
Not so, says Chris Green. “Across all planning sectors and all businesses, there are people who start up and retrospectively apply. It’s quite normal. So, planners don’t look at coffee shops as a breed and think ‘they’re all trouble!’ and they don’t look at any one big coffee-house brand and think: ‘oh, I’ve heard about them – they’re a problem’.

“There have been recent pronouncements by ministers about taking a more pragmatic view of high street matters, and councils are beginning to look again. Certainly, they’re backing off from enforcement actions more than they did before.”
Something which might be useful to the entire coffee trade would be a source of reference from which to find information about how others in the trade have overcome planning arguments, and what arguments they have used to advance the cause of the coffee-house trade in general.

“It’s easier for Starbucks, Costa and Caffè Nero to access the information which helps them put up a very good case.  The person looking to put forward an application for one coffee shop has a far more difficult time making their case and persuading councils to understand the contribution that coffee shops make to their town centres.
“It would be helpful to the independent café bar trader to have access to some evidence of this. A central resource of global data on the benefits of cafés would be a very helpful thing.”

Real life examples

Real examples – recent experiences from the café-bar trade. (All these experiences were supplied by café operators in July 2011)

*   “If you wanted a comprehensive list of things our borough council has done to make setting up our business just that little bit more difficult, I’d have to close for a week in order to write it,” says a café-bar owner in the north-east.   “When we sought planning permission, we were charged £335 and it took five months and eight days for them to approve it. Even then, we are not allowed to put any additional lighting outside the shop, even if it’s in keeping with the style of the building (which is 1920s, decrepit). I have been told off for chaining my bike up outside our building, let alone propping a chalk board on it!  When I ran a coffee van on the open market, I was not allowed to put up even an extra cool box for fruit in case someone tripped over it.
”When I worked at another café a few years back, the owners applied for a pavement café license to put three tables out on a pedestrianised street for the summer. It took eight months to sort out, by which time it was snowing again!
I’d be interested to learn if our council are exceptionally unhelpful or whether this is standard practice?”

*   A very well-known competition barista from Yorkshire told us: “In my experience, it’s easier to get a pardon than a permit. I tend to stick things out in the hope that if and when they do notice they’ll think it’s always been there! But I do know a lot of city-centre based folk who’ve not had much luck with this method.”

*   The operator of the smallest coffee-house in Britain told us: “It took me a year to get a licence for one table and two chairs, but it’s worth the fight – it’s the biggest advert outside the shop and has definitely increased awareness and trade. Being the smallest coffee shop I have nearly doubled my capacity. I would urge everyone to fight for the right!”

*   A greater London tea-shop operator says: “we put tables and chairs outside along our shop where the pavement is wide enough, and a council furniture-police officer told us it was not allowed due to the width, even though our next door neighbour puts out an A-board on the same space, and another on the street puts out plants all along the pavement where it is narrower!

“We also get lots of tuts and headshakes about A-boards wherever they are placed if they are not entirely on our property. The town centre management has banned them from a particular area where there used to be three or four boards together in a large triangular space – one new cafe has now closed shop, blaming the council for their demise due to lack of cooperation in helping the cafe promote themselves.”

*  A very famous and highy-respected barista in central London told us: “when I had my  awning installed, I was told that if it was a ‘plain’ awning then I would need planning permission. If it was to have any form of advertising on it for the business like a logo, which of course it now does… then we would not require planning permission! Happy days!”

*   From the Cotswolds, a café-bar owner says: “We are now in the process of having to submit a new planning application for ‘change of use’ for the public highway where our eight – count them, eight – chairs are situated. This is at a cost of £330 and many hours of time I do not have, which is the same as the cost for any full planning application with our wonderful borough council. It’s only valid for five years so we will have to reapply again in 2016. Note that we are also paying £175 per quarter for the licence, which I’m now told is not being issued until I sort out the planning!

“Starbucks appears not to have to pay this, as their pavement cafe permission was granted as part of their change-of-use for the shop unit itself. Every other independent who had outside seating has had to pay for a new planning permission. One rule for the big boys, another for the rest of us.”

*    A tea-shop owner in Kent reports: “when we thought about external furniture,  the council were prepared to consider it for a fee… then told us we would need £20 million pounds of insurance cover.  We decided we were not that desperate to do it!”

*      A café-bar in Hampshire says:  “the local council has banned A-boards from the pedestrianised high street this year.  We also have an outside seating area for which we have a licence, and we thought it would be OK to put our A-board within this area, as we’re paying the licence to use it … but no, we were sent a curt letter from the powers-that-be to remove the A-board, or else.  If the council wish to continue charging exorbitant business rates and increasing them year-on-year, surely they should helping us increase our sales, not diminish them!”

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The  examples given in this feature are all from the news files of Boughton’s Coffee House magazine, which monitors stories affecting the trade in the UK’s regional press.