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.
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.
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 
I would just remove on or two of the parking spaces and have ‘pocket park seating’.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
From the link @Anotherjohn posted, a pavement licence is required for placing temporary furniture outside for the purpose of selling food and drink. It doesn’t apply to people just queuing outside businesses, services, schools etc…
But I can’t help but feel it should made just a box ticking exercise to get a pavement licence right now. If council staff are visiting businesses, can’t they just take pictures and put some (red) tape on the ground to mark the area while the business fills out a form and pays the fee and then everyone calls it done for a year?
Agree! due to the current situation Councils should do a blanket rule that cafe’s may place tables on the pavement provided there is a sufficient measurement left to allow pedestrians and those in wheelchairs or with buggies to pass safely
Ideally yes, but for liability purposes I imagine there probably has to be a risk assessment of some kind carried out by the council and recorded somewhere.
Also, isn’t there already a blanket rule for pubs? #bringablanket 
There is a sign up in their window now saying Ground and Grapes are reopening on the 18th May, I assume mostly or exclusively inside.
Good to hear. I’ll be going back and spending all my money there to help them out, because I don’t think this shutdown was fair.
As far as I know they were not ‘shutdown’. They didn’t have the required licence and decided they would prefer not to trade rather than get the licence or operate as takeaway only.
I still think the Council should have fast-tracked licences, but I seem to recall G&G purposefully took their time when first opening too (e.g. Grounds and Grapes - #23 by Anotherjohn). I think they do things how they like - and good for them!
There is also a sign showing their application for a pavement licence, dated April 4th (noting this topic started April 14th):
I’m really looking forward to them re-opening though, as there isn’t any really good coffee that I can find in that stretch of Honor Oak Park. I’ve had some above average coffee at On The Hoof in the station, but to get something good you have to go all the way down to Rise Cafe at the bottom. Rise Cafe probably ranks in my top 3 for flat whites in SE23, and Marvellous Greens & Beans is pretty good too.
Two Spoons by the station isn’t bad at all for coffee
Maybe relevant for others:
