I’ve taken it upon myself to do some reconnaissance and can confirm the pavement is nice and clear and the coffee is tasty.
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Good stuff - it looked ok in photos to me also, do you think it would still be ok with all tables occupied and chairs obviously then not pushed in? I hope so but if not the initial concerns raised might be valid.
Yeah even with people seated the pavement is broad enough. In an ideal world would like to see the parking bays commandeered for some more space, it really is nice when the sun’s out and donde, grounds and grapes, two spoons etc all have people outside.
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That’s good to hear. I agree, people eating outside is great to see, and do!
I’m not sure how much pressure there is on those parking bays, and there are certainly some areas that could be considered for pavement widening like the area outside Marvelous Beans / Querce etc.
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I wondered if the businesses would support that or not. I guess the parking spaces are also loading bays for the shops, and without those, Honor Oak Park could be blocked by deliveries. I also wouldn’t like to sit right next to the road while I enjoy my coffee, but a nice cycle lane, or green verge with some planting could also be nice. I’ll keep dreaming for now 
Fantastic to hear.
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I don’t think there’s anything better at the moment than seeing our local businesses opening back up and people enjoying what they have to offer. There’s plenty of room in the current seating situation and most importantly it is allowing a small business to open
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Its just a shame the weather has turned so chilly this week!
I had my lunch outside a local cafe today and despite being clad in a sweater and a coat actually didn’t enjoy it at all because it was so cold.
I remember this time last year during the first lockdown the weather was lovely.
this year I’m still wearing winter clothes!
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Our booking for tomorrow was cancelled. Apparently they were visited by somekind of “covid police” (not quite sure what the official term is hence the speechmarks). And there isn’t enough space on the pavement to be covid-safe, so they’ve now gotta go takeaway only, I guess for the meantime.
Quite a shame, I walk past this cafe a lot and in my opinion it has never been an issue with space on the pavement. I guess there are covid regulations, but I’m sure these are broken in many other places, so sad to see this cafe targeted.
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I really hope no-one has taken the petty step of reporting them for ‘breaching’ regulations (which I honestly can’t see that they’ve done) while Soho and Shoreditch are being allowed to get away with chronic over-crowding.
I guess the footfall in the centre of town is worth more £££ to the local authorities than the little local cafes. What a disappointment for a small business to be allowed to open up only to have their wings immediately clipped.
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That’s such a shame, I hope they encourage the council to turn the parking bays into a walkway to allow more space, seems mad that we have a high street that accommodates parking on both sides but without space for a cafe to have a table out the front.
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It could be as simple as the Council wanting their fee for a pavement licence, which is kinda fair if other businesses have applied and paid the same, noting Donde next door still have tables (and menus!) out.
To be clear I don’t know what l that G&G don’t or haven’t applied for a licence already, though it does seem a bit mean spirited of the council not to allow them a bit of the space providing it is safe and a pavement licence is applied for.
I also noticed that Grounds and Grapes hadn’t yet opened this morning when I passed, and Google Places now shows it as ‘temporarily closed’. I hope they haven’t changed their mind about re-opening 
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I would just remove on or two of the parking spaces and have ‘pocket park seating’.
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Electric scooters and cyclists on the footpath are a far bigger problem. You can,t get knocked over by someone sitting down having a drink! Add the randomly placed A boards and mopeds parking on the footpath picking up takeaways, you’ll then see there are far more important issues regarding keeping them clear for the intended purpose. Not just Honor Oak but almost everywhere.
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The Pavement Police have now been to Moustache on Kirkdale and asked them to submit a Pavement License. I know nothing about this, but apparently this is a TFL owned street which usually the council do not have any powers over because, well, TFL…
Apparently it is possible to write to the council and support their application by emailing them.
There are chairs and tables all over Southwark on roads like Lordship Lane that have narrower pavements to begin with.
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Interesting how this one venue seems to have been mentioned both here and visited by an enforcement officer. Yet the Sainsbury’s queue which forms outside at least two other businesses and the same for the Post Office go amiss. Fully appreciate peoples perspective on the “necessity” of each but two are large public companies and the other is a local business. Shame it’s come to this and hopefully they can open again in the near future.
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My stance is generally sympathetic to the business owners, who are only trying to get a living.
Okay, the licence is another bit of red tape, but I guess Lewisham does have a responsibility for public safety on its streets, which is catered for by the requirement for £5M public liability insurance (normally included in a business premises insurance package).
And, as the licence fee appears only to be £100, it’s not prohibitive.
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We will see if the council approves the license, but they have already banned them from putting tables and chairs outside.
I agree, and Sainsbury’s often has loads of storage cages outside too. I’ve noticed grounds and grapes hasn’t reopened since last week, I hope they’ll be able to open again soon.
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