More than 11,000 people have, at the time of writing, backed the call for landowner the City of London Corporation to put the brakes on the handover of the sites to a new owner. The leases for the cafés, located in Hampstead Heath, Queen’s Park and Highgate Wood, were put up for tender earlier this year, leading to a concerted campaign to retain the existing operators.
The Corporation, which manages green spaces including Hampstead Heath as a registered charity, announced on December 19 that the four cafés at Queen’s Park, Golders Hill Park, Parliament Hill Lido and Parliament Hill Fields would be run by the Aussie-inspired chain Daisy Green.
The fifth, in Highgate Wood, is yet to be announced with discussions ongoing amid due diligence checks. The current operators are to give up the cafés by January 31.
Following the news Patrick Matthews, director at Hoxton Beach which runs the Lido, Queen’s Park and Highgate Wood cafés, started a petition calling on the Corporation to pause Daisy Green’s takeover and re-run the retendering process.
Mr Matthews said the responses so far, in particular given the winter break, “speak for themselves”.
The Corporation’s announcement over the summer that it would be putting the cafés’ leases up for tender drew concern from many visitors to the spaces and locals. Celebrities such as Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy were among those to back the campaign to stick with the existing operators, as was Tulip Siddiq, MP for Hampstead and Highgate.
A previous retendering process in 2016 had led to the leases being awarded to Belugo, though the chain backed out after push-back including from now-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, MP for Holborn and St Pancras.
Alberto D’Auria, who started running the Parliament Hill Fields café more than 40 years ago, expressed some confidence prior to the decision in holding onto the site. Mr D’Auria, whose son now runs the café, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I think we are going to win again. Because we have got so many supporters.”
The City of London Corporation has said the retendering process was launched to ensure the cafés continue to deliver “a high-quality visitor experience” and that the operators have, until now, been trading under ‘unsustainable’ tenancies at-will.
It has also said the applications to run the cafés were reviewed with several factors in mind, including the concept, menu and food offer and community and social value, rather than purely for income. All existing operators were invited to submit their own proposals.
In the petition Mr Matthews, however, accuses the Corporation of running a commercial exercise to raise money.
He wrote that charities, such as those managing the green spaces, “exist for specific purposes, not just for income”, adding: “Battersea Dogs Home might be offered a tempting sum by Cruella de Vil to rehome stray Dalmatians, but legally they would have to refuse. No comparison is intended with the new preferred bidders – but the principle stands: not everything is, or should be, for sale.”
Mr Matthews added a legal challenge is being prepared, for which a GoFundMe page has been established to which supporters can contribute.
Mr Matthews told the LDRS: “The committee were told that the 20,000 signatures on the old petition were out of date and weren’t a guide to public opinion. So we thought we would reset the clock to check. I think the results over just nine days in the dead of winter speak for themselves.”
Doug Crawford, who has been part of a campaign group backing the current operators, said: “Yet again the voice of the local community has been drowned out by corporate greed. There has been an overwhelming level of public outrage regarding the decision to award café tenders to a chain with no local knowledge or experience and to decimate the livelihoods of the long-standing incumbent operators. This came about as a result of a highly suspect tendering process where the City chose to put its own financial wellbeing before the needs of the public that it is ostensibly supposed to serve.
“The City’s aversion to public scrutiny and its lack of transparency and accountability should be a matter of grave concern to all those who cherish London’s open spaces and who want them to be run for the benefit of the local communities. Today it’s the cafés – tomorrow who knows what other ‘community assets’ the City will seek to commercialise.”
Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee, Alderman Gregory Jones KC, said upon the announcement of the decision: “These cafés play an essential role in the life of our green spaces, and we are delighted to be moving forward with an independent operator that will bring energy, creativity, and investment to each site.
“Daisy Green demonstrated the strongest blend of quality, sustainability, affordability, and community value – all central to our role as stewards of these wonderful places. Their commitment to enhancing facilities, keeping menus fresh, and celebrating the distinctive character of each café will ensure visitors continue to enjoy warm, welcoming spaces for many years to come.
“I would like to thank all operators – both past and present – for their dedication and service. The standard of bids we received was incredibly high, reflecting how valued these cafés are by the communities they serve.”
According to Daisy Green’s website it has 21 sites in London, including one at the National Portrait Gallery.
Prue Freeman, Co-Founder of Daisy Green, has said the team is “delighted” to have been selected to run the cafés.
She said: “As an independent London-based business, we are proud of our long-standing support of local suppliers and charities, providing family-friendly activities, and running environmentally responsible operations. We want these cafés to remain welcoming spaces where everyone feels included and connected to these very special spaces.”
Visit https://www.change.org/p/require-the-city-of-london-to-retain-current-cafe-operators?source_location=search to sign the petition.
