‘Ridiculous’: Council blocks juice bar from putting tables outside due to ‘encroachment’ on nearby park

Juice and smoothie bar owner Christoph John. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

A Hackney juice bar has been barred by a local council from placing four tables and chairs outside due to its “encroaching” on a public park entrance several metres away.

The owner of Faith in Nature’s Juices said he had waited years for the council to complete its restoration of Abney Park so he could finally accommodate a handful more customers, only for it to be scuppered by the Town Hall after the project was completed.

“We need to maximise footfall as much as we can in the summer,” said founder Christoph John.

“The last owner utilised this space, but the council says I can’t even put the awning down because it encroaches on their entrance to the park and they don’t want any clutter on the forecourt.

“Yet it’s a huge distance away. It’s ridiculous.”

Speaking outside his cafe, which borders the entrance to the newly-regenerated Abney Park cemetery, Christoph said: “I’m not asking for anything outrageous. Four tables is not a massive ask.”

The 13-hectare park, one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries, underwent a £5m restoration between 2021 and 2024.

Christoph said before the revamp he had been given a quote for the juice bar to use the roughly five metres of space outside its windows.

But the project’s completion last August appears to have buried this prospect.

Meanwhile, inside the gates, patrons flock to the council’s new purpose-built café with scores of seats sprawled across the park’s inner courtyard.

“We had so many obstacles and hurdles to overcome because of the regeneration,” Christoph said, describing site contractors’ accessing his building to deal with a sewage line connected to the park, which released “terrible” smells into the bar.

“I accommodated disruption from the council because I wanted the project to go smoothly, to the detriment of the business.

“The simple reality is now we have someone on our doorstep on the other side of the gates doing the same thing, with at least forty tables outside.”

Christoph measuring the five metres of outdoor space he wants to utilise. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners

Despite being told the council is keen to avoid clutter on the forecourt, Christoph says he has regularly found the space covered in litter or used for e-bike parking, and on other occasions as a toilet.

He notes that other independents in the surrounding areas seem to have tables and chairs in the “wildest places”.

He added: “I feel like we’ve been unfairly treated, and that it has something to do with the fact that we’d be competing with the café inside the cemetery.”

Green party councillor for Stoke Newington Liam Davis said: “There is nothing in the council’s own plans or the site’s listed status that prevents a couple of tables and chairs here.

“Instead, we get the same old ‘computer says no’ excuses about so-called clutter.

“The council would rather leave a bare paved corner than let residents enjoy a drink outside on a space that we’re repeatedly reminded was redeveloped for their benefit.”

Hackney Council said it had no records of officers giving advice to the cafe owners ahead of the revamp regarding placing tables and chairs outside.

Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, the borough’s lead for community safety, said the council was committed to supporting local businesses but granting permission was not in line with its policies and guidelines at the present time.

“[Faith in Nature’s Juices] does not have an area outside of their premises that is designated for chairs and tables,” she said.

“We have been in contact with them directly to tell them that there are no plans at present to offer this location as a trading opportunity, but that they can register in case this or any other locations come up in future.”

Cllr Fajana-Thomas added that hire bike parking was allowed in the park forecourt but bicycles “dumped” there would be reported to carrier companies.

Council gardeners were also actively clearing rubbish in the entrance area, she said.

“Any issues with urine and excrement are addressed as soon as we are aware of them.”