Chomp may be forced to stop trading in the harbourside as their delicious burgers and bacon sandwiches are not in keeping with an area whose food offering consists of the likes of Tesco and Caffe Gusto.
A grand total of two people have complained to Bristol City Council about the independent business founded by Jake Black which employs four people and trades every Friday in Cathedral Walk (although the converted horse van can be found today next to the Spiegeltent).
The public safety and protection committee of the council now intend to refuse Chomp street trading permission at a hearing on January 7.
One objection sent by Lib Dem ward councillor Mark Wright complained that “the location is totally unsuitable” and that Chomp “competes unfairly with venues who pay rates and high rents for their locations”.
The other objection, from local office worker Sally Holt, said the operation is “out of character for the area and represents unfair competition to those traders operating from fix premises… that give the area its character and vibrancy”.
In his thoughtful response, Jake said: “Chomp is a high quality independent business. The area is currently occupied with larger outlets that are part of big national and multinational chains such as Tesco, Pizza Express and Costa Coffee.
“While we are certainly not arguing that there is anything wrong with these businesses, it seems odd to object to the presence of a new, enthusiastic, high quality, independent, local Bristol enterprise on the basis that it might interrupt the ‘character and vibrancy’ provided by Tesco.
“We feel that if anything, it is businesses such as ours that are the ones that bring character and vibrancy, not those that are part of vast chain operations.
“We therefore don’t recognise this as a valid objection, but rather think it is more an argument in support of us being on Cathedral Walk on Fridays.”
Chomp have been one of the leading lights of the vibrant Bristol food and drink scene this year, trading at Temple Meads as well as at a variety of one-off events.
It would be an absolute travesty if this new and much-loved independent company, serving some of the best street food in Bristol, were put out of business by two people making illogical complaints.
In happier news, Chomp will be trading indoors between Christmas and the new year, running the kitchen at Small Bar on King Street on the evening of Friday, December 27, and all day on Saturday, December 28.
I have also had two objections to my application for a trading pitch off Whiteladies Road in Clifton, for my mobile food van serving fresh, vegan food in an ethical manner.
The council now intend to reject my application based on these two objections.
One of the objections to my application is worded EXACTLY the same as one of the objections quoted in the article, although strangely from a different person:
““out of character for the area and represents unfair competition to those traders operating from fix premises… that give the area its character and vibrancy”
Very weird.
I reckon maybe Sally Holt works for Tesco?
Either that or she has a keen interest in planning applications in this area of Bristol…
In 2010 she was listed an an ‘interested party’ in the planning application for Tesco on Canons Way.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:XFA0G58j72IJ:https://www.bristol.gov.uk/committee/2010/re/re004/0819_5.pdf+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss
Looks highly dodgy. Wouldn’t expect much less from Tesco but what can we actually do? If sally holt is a Tesco employee, this is illegal, surely?
Officially the consultation has now ended but Jake says it wouldn’t hurt his case if people felt like emailing licensing@bristol.gov.uk or sarah.flower@bristol.gov.uk – the senior licensing officer.
Goodness me. We don’t want this dirty van blocking up the thoroughfare, obstructing our view to all the lovely local shops like Tesco, Costa and the like. Why on earth would we want this young man in the area with a real passion for food and an entrepreneurial attitude that keeps all the money we spend in the local economy, when we can keep buying our horsemeat ready meals from companies like Tesco that put plenty of effort into making each and every one of their thousands of stores look different and unique and add positively to the local area? Not me. No way. Never in a million years.
This is unbelievable. That area is a wasteland of bad planning and worse architecture, it hasnt got a shred of ‘vibrancy’ or ‘character’. The Chomp van is a massive asset
I fully disagree with the whole ‘vibrancy’ side of things – we all know that area is otherwise a soulless pit – but the unfair advantage to street traders policy is a partially legitimate one.
If I’d paid high rents on a unit, only to be rivalled by a mobile vendor with low overheads, I’d be pretty miffed too. If it was another independent in those units making a complaint I don’t think there’d be much of a backlash, and while I’m no fan of Tesco or Gusto, there isn’t one set of policy for multinationals and another for indies.
I don’t know how fair that policy is in this area as I don’t see Chomp affecting Tesco, but it’s absolutely legitimate to the above comments complaint about White Ladies road.
I worked in Melbourbe town planning for a short bit and local trading impact studies had to be done for all street vendors lisences. That said, Melbourbe also has much better policies to protect local indies. Including impact studies for any chains looking to open on a street.
Apologies for the Melbourne/Melbourbe typos. Bloody autocorrect.
This is absurd! I really don’t think that street vans like this are ‘unfairly competing’, and least of all with large national/multinational chains. The permanent places have the benefit of a roof and walls, and have far more stable customer base whatever the weather. Street traders are much more at the mercy of weather or whim. It’s not a level playing field, but there’s space for both to operate alongside one another. You could easily make an argument that companies like Tescos are competing unfairly because they:
-have lobbying power
-can afford to run a site at a loss for strategic reasons
-can hoard land for strategic reasons
-are able to get free labour through government run ‘back to work schemes’
-have vast buying power that new businesses cannot compete with
Etc.
Surely George Ferguson can step in here?
What a disappointingly one-sided article. This van operated illegally without a licence for many weeks. It parks right next to a block of residential flats, directly underneath the bedrooms. It turns up first thing in the morning, engine/generator going, smells of cooking blowing out. Residents have complained to me that their children are woken up first thing in the morning by this. This is social housing, not posh flats.
Perhaps if a van turned up outside your bedroom and started trading illegally and waking you up first thing in the morning you might all have a different view of this. Perhaps you would want your councillor to stand up for you and oppose the licence. It doesn’t make any difference how “independent” the trader is to the disturbance caused.
Finally, the insinuation that Sally Holt works for Tesco is disgraceful. She lives 10m from the van and objected to Tesco as well. Try to imagine being in her situation.
Dear Councillor Mark Wright,
I live in the social housing you mention. So this van parks outside my front door, outside my window, my daughter’s window, and I think it does a brilliant job in bringing some much-needed vibrancy to the area in which you claim to represent.
As Jake says in his letter, the disturbance caused by his van is minimal. Tesco playing Christmas CDs at full volume in their shop is louder than Chomp’s generator and the food that Chomp serve is infinitely better than anywhere else in the vicinity.
Do we really want to send a message that only businesses like Costa and Pizza Express are welcome here?
I am still unable to understand why you are so vociferously opposing a licence of a trader trying his best to make a living. And of course Jake didn’t set out to illegally trade; this was obviously a mistake that he is attempting to rectify through the correct channels, but instead is facing two letters of opposition that could bring a stop to this valuable community asset when the vast majority of people living and working in this area support what he does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Wright_(politician)
If you live in a vibrant area you’ve got to expect a bit of noise Mark. And as we all know, this is a massively vibrant area. Why, it positively throbs with energy most days.
Also I’m trying to put myself in Sally Holt’s situation as you suggested. Actually her objection is based on the proximity of her workplace, not her home, and she doesn’t mention the noise or smell nuisance. Frankly it would have to be quite a loud generator to be heard from 10 mins walk away anyway.
The reasons for objection she does list are so demonstrably ridiculous they cannot not be taken seriously.
You say she also objected to Tesco. If this is the case then I wonder which shops she is trying to protect from the ‘unfair competition’. There are no other shops there.
Cllr Wright,
Costa coffee operated within Bristol without correct planning permission for months, your council had no objections to this despite very strong objections from local people and traders. Now you’re opposing an independent vendor who operates outside of a Costa branch. Have Tesco or Costa complained about Chomp? No. Have any of the residents lodged an official complaint? No.
You talk about the intrusive smells from Chomp yet neither yourself nor Sally Holt felt they were bad enough to be included in your objections to the council.
Sally Holt clearly states her objections are based on issues raised from her place of work, not her home. Again none of the issues raised are bad enough that she complains of her home life being intruded on.
You say residents have complained to you yet not a single resident was bothered enough to lodge a complaint to the council. The van is there for a single day a week. I’d dare say that the local construction traffic, which starts much earlier, is as much if not more intrusive to sleeping children.
I regularly walk and cycle through the area. It’s depressing. Boarded up commercial units and anonymous chains that don’t reflect the actual vibrancy that Bristol trades on.
Adam
PS Note that in my objection I even suggested a more suitable location less than 100m away, but the author of this article didn’t bother to mention this. Very shoddy.
I linked to a PDF of your letter of opposition.
Shoddy? No need to shoot the messenger.
…you _begrudgingly_ suggest another location.
Councillor Mark Wright – what an absolute tool. Show me a scintilla of vibrancy in this area and I’ll buy you a drink; just not from any of the businesses in the Lego development that is the harbourside.
…”smells of cooking blowing out” – heaven forbid anyone should have to endure that sort of horror in the mornings.
I don’t live in Bristol but my daughter does and we visit quite regularly. The ‘street food’ is tremendous and adds to the diversity available in the city centre, Whiteladies and Gloucester Rd. To stop this business trading on very tenuous grounds would be a great shame. I wish we had this sort of thing in Bradford.
I don’t know who he thinks he is rocking up outside the office of the most well paid workers in Bristol without a licence!
There are plenty of events where he can serve his food, it shouldn’t be one rule for him
I can assure you all the fat cat bankers in the lloyds bank DO NOT want this ghastly van outside their offices. Most of them are far too partial to a big fat burger. I’m with the councilor ditch the van before all the bankers are too fat to walk – fat bankers
Mark Wright,
Spend a bit of money on getting some decent PR. You’re very good at coming across as a prick, which I suspect turns voters right off you. Change that picture for a start…
I’m sure the standard of the food and ingredients is superb but, if push came to shove, I can understand the argument.
If I was spending £25,000 on rent and a further £20,000 on rates, I’d be pretty frustrated if a trendy bus serving better food rocked up outside every week. I’d complain to the council and get their lazy, rusty, civil servant wheels in motion.
Indeed I know someone that attempted to setup a hotdog stall on the strip and failed because he tried to do it properly and came up against commercial objections.
The funniest thing about all this of course is how the democratically elected councillor can’t articulate the concerns properly and instead comes across as a corrupt, scruffy turd.
I say this is the correct decision. There is no place for freshly made quality burgers and sanwiches sold from a van, when we can buy great pre-packaged sterile sarnies from Tesco.