The Cut - New Shops

Holly wrote:

Oh I miss the pie and mash there. I heard its going to be a starbucks, maybe a rumour?

Everything's going to be a Starbucks eventually!

I think around here everything's going to be an M&S eventually, they seem to be breeding.

Auntie Pat wrote:

Everything's going to be a Starbucks eventually!

Hopefully not, they are not doing too well:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23854521-starbucks-loses-its-froth-as-uk-arm-losses-reach-pound-10m.do

Apparently they have even now unbranded cafes (Stealth Starbucks ) masquerading as private ones, as people won't use the brand.

I fully expect the double premise to be another coffe/sandwich/takeaway/ready prepared food outlet maybe even a restaurant with license. I say that is what I expect because Waterloo Quarter seem intent on making The Cut a continental type eating area with pavement dining an essential part of that strategy hence the narrowing of a main road linking the A2 and A3 and the widening of the pavemnts for the use of the restaurants not for pedestrians. None of the "improvements" add to the convenience of local rate-paying residents although they do provide good seating for the drunken beggars. Jobs for locals? Let us know if you have one. The road improvements are ill-thought out and dangerous, vehicle damaging and noisy, the noise from vehicles traversing the speed tables must drive the residents on The Cut mad. But hey-ho that's the future cater for outsiders not the people who live here
Having vented my spleen over The Cut can anybody especially those from Lambeth council tell me the justification for giving the knitting shop on Lower Marsh a retail alcohol license. Do the knitting community need to get drunk to knit or is it a cunning way to become a bar because the council feel unable to challenge such a community?

I heard them 2 shops converted into 1 are going to be a drive trough McDonalds.....

No honestly Pret look like steaming in there and trading blows with the 3 other Sandwich shops on The Cut.

I think to even up the street we need a good old burger and ribs American Restaurant, It would fit snugly into that Evans bike shop.

Thebunhouse wrote:

Having vented my spleen over The Cut can anybody especially those from Lambeth council tell me the justification for giving the knitting shop on Lower Marsh a retail alcohol license. Do the knitting community need to get drunk to knit or is it a cunning way to become a bar because the council feel unable to challenge such a community?

Iknit has had a license for some time, and I don't think it's been the cause of any rowdy behaviour (on a road which is mainly empty after 6pm anyway).

If you have a look in, you'll see that the shop is arranged around a central table/seating area, and you'll often find people spending the odd hour or so knitting in there. They also have more formal organised events, often in the evenings, where people gather there to knit and catch up over a drink.

There's a fridge in the back of the shop which has a range of soft drinks, and a handful of alcoholic drinks. It's hardly bacchanalian.

Why do you object to it so much? Why do you think the council would "feel unable to challenge such a community" (and, indeed, who are "such a community")?

What does challenging a knitter involve?

I think that all you have to do is to ask them nicely.

Unless you mean "challenge" in the sense of give them a really hard pattern, with lots of colours and cables and whatnots.

re the remodelled Cut,

Just a couple of things.

The Cut isn't a main road joining the A2 and A3. It's a B-road and there aren't even any bus routes going down it. It might be an important link (hence being managed by TfL rather than the council), but it is a local shopping street, and has been for over a century. Given that, it would be nice to have a few more shops and fewer take-aways.

Only a minority of local residents have cars. Most of us aren't bothered that it's difficult to drive down. If driving through the neighbourhood is unpleasant, there are plenty of other roads you can drive your noisy and polluting machine down.

However, most of us do use the pavements, so making the pavements wider does help local residents.

There was extensive consultation before the last remodelling of the Cut and, at the meeting I attended, most people (although not all) wanted the street to be more pedestrian friendly.

Finally, I enjoy going out for an evening on the Cut, and would far rather do that than have to head into the West End.

Completely agree Phil, The Cut is much nicer now.