Saturday, May 10, 2008

A tale of two anecdotes

A comparatively short rant concerning fast food and the enthusiasm of local government in stamping out freedom and innovation. Cont...

posted by Benjamin Nakizo at 9:46 AM

1 Comments:

Blogger Benjamin Nakizo said...

My flat mate works weekends at a burger bar in town. The other day she was telling me a story of how at this burger bar they began putting tables and chairs outside given the good weather of recent days. Business boomed with people taking the opportunity, which very rarely presents itself in Scotland, to sit outside and enjoy the sun. However all this stopped when a furious woman came in claiming to be from the local council and told them to cease this madness at once. Apparently the burger bar had not got the correct license to have outdoor seating. After some frantic phone calls the manager came down to meet the official and assure her that they did indeed have permission from the council. It turns out that the manager had been given the green light by the previous person to fill, what is presumably the very high paying post of ‘Führer of outdoor seating for Edinburgh City Council’, complete with secretaries and a company car. Yet now that this power mad woman has taken up the role she has, apparently without telling anyone, implemented a new system and the burger bar therefore found itself on the wrong side of the law. Accordingly they have been forced to remove their seats and have been told that they will get a response to their new application for outdoor seating - in six months time. I need not remind everyone that October is hardly optimal for sitting outside.

There is a Chinese takeaway downstairs from my tenement. When I first moved in I remember it being open quite late every day of the week. It was wonderful. For a bone-idle layabout such as myself it was perfect. Yet all of a sudden it began closing and was only sporadically open. A small hand written sign in their window informed everyone that they were having difficulties with their license to trade and were not allowed to be open beyond 8pm. So instead I began frequenting my other local Chinese take away, which was, criminally, a good two minutes walk further from my front door. Yet today I saw that my old haunt was open at a reasonable time once again so I popped in for a spot of dinner and to enquire what had been the problem. Apparently the council had come round in September last year and informed them that because they were situated in a residential zone they needed special permission to be open past 8pm. A restriction which of course is completely gutting to a Chinese restaurant. This family owned business supports a family that have at least two young children that attend the local primary school. I know this because they live on the bottom floor and I have seen them – and the whole family comes complete with thick Scottish accents – a picture of successful integration if ever there was one. So how long before this family supporting enterprise could get hold of the correct piece of paper to be allowed to serve their community? Well it is now May and they have only started opening beyond 8pm this week. So that is 8 months it took them to apply, have the application considered, vetted, investigated, re-examined, signed, printed and double checked by whatever bloated local government juggernaut is responsible for such things. That the other Chinese take away is merely a stones throw away and somehow isn’t in a ‘residential zone’, and thereby doesn’t incur this decapitating penalty, is insane.

Then tonight I see smiley smiley David Cameron say ‘We believe in the latent capacity of Britain - the talent and energy and compassion of individuals, businesses and communities. We believe that the job of government is to get behind people, not get in their way.’

How, therefore, am I not supposed to agree with the man?

9:48 AM  

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