Table trouble (From This is Hampshire)
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Table trouble
11:00am Sunday 31st July 2011 in News By Chris Gregory
Tess and Rod Stoner on the benches outside Poison
A LANDLORD has complained that his business will suffer if highways bosses remove benches and tables from outside his Basingstoke pub.
Rod Stoner, who runs Poison, in Old Reading Road, has been told by Hampshire County Council to get rid of the outdoor furniture by the end of September.
The authority believes that the five tables are on highways land and block a footpath that runs past the entrance of the pub.
Mr Stoner said the tables are one of the main selling points of a pub that is popular with workers in the Basing View business area.
The 48-year-old said: “Running a pub nowadays is difficult, and we took on a number of inherited debts. To lose the tables would make it so hard to carry on. People like to sit out the front and watch the world go by.”
He added that the tables and chairs have been outside the Punch Taverns-owned pub at least 10 years before he took over the lease in 2009, and that he might apply for established rights to keep the tables where they are.
Mr Stoner said: “If we lose the benches, people will stand up. The benches keep people off the footpath.”
Councillor Mel Kendal, executive member for transport at Hampshire County Council, said: “The landlord of Poison has said he holds a licence for people to drink outside the pub, but he does not have local authority permission for tables and chairs on the highway.
“We have no desire to put anyone out of business and the county council highways manager for Basingstoke has been particularly helpful, and gone beyond the scope of his duties, in providing the landlord with the relevant contact details to be able to apply to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for a licence to have tables and chairs on the pavement outside his premises.
“He has also agreed, providing the landlord accepts all liability, not to take any enforcement action regarding the seating until the end of September when, by this time, it is hoped the relevant permissions will be in place and enforcement will not be necessary.”
