Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Open Arms - Finsbury Park - five days a week from 17 May to 17 September
Yesterday I saw a notice fixed to the Finsbury Park Manor House Gate giving notice of a licence application for an event in the park – The Open Arms. When I got home I had a look on the Council’s licensing application web site. The information was as on the attached screenshot. I then did some further searching on the Council web site and found further details - see the attached file.
To sum up the area to the north east of the Mckenzie Gardens (the garden near the lake) is going to be let out for four months from 17 May to 17 September. The event will take place on five days a week – Wednesday to Sunday.
The event description is:
“The Open Arms is a performance-led pop-up occupying Finsbury Park for summer 2021. As a recipient of the Arts Council England’s ‘Culture Recovery Grant’, we will be looking to bring to life an activation that celebrates and supports the rich pool of talent living within the borough. Essentially we providing a stage for local performance in the midst of rapid venue closures.”
It will involve live entertainment; live (amplified) music; food stalls and a bar. The area will not be fenced and access will be free and not ticketed. The organisers anticipate a maximum of 200 attendees at any one time.
I can see some potential problems. Whilst the idea of free entertainment is nice, there is the problem of the music noise. Local residents could be faced with having to put up with this five days a week for four months. The Council document states:
“Due to the low numbers within the venue at any one time (200), it is anticipated that any noise levels emanating from the onsite performances will be kept to a minimum, with minimal effect on park users, and local residents”
However, there is no information given as to noise levels permitted and how the Council are going to monitor this – if at all.
A second issue is the number attending. The organisers say 200 at any one time. However given that there are no controls on numbers there could be any number turning up, and as the numbers increase the amplified noise levels go up inevitably as people want to hear the music.
A third issue is the application to sell alcohol. With completely free access to the bar will there be any checks on under-age drinking?
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, the open arms
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Most events in Finsbury Park have a bar. Oktoberfest was nothing BUT a bar
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Permalink Reply by Giovanna iozzi on
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700 people and it will be cordoned off.
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Permalink Reply by Lauren on
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Sounds great! I can’t think it’ll be any worse than the thousands of people drinking booze from supermarkets in the park. My impression of it would be small stage music... like an open mic event at the pub... maybe a singer with a small amp or a couple of guys with guitars, or a folk band... rather than U2. Don’t think underage drinking will be a concern as the bar will have licensing conditions and staff will have been trained. Plus underage drinkers tend to get an older sibling or friend to buy them booze from the supermarket (in my youth it was Sherry as we worked out you got more alcohol per pence and 4 of us could get pretty wasted on two bottles at £3 each) we wouldn’t have paid £6 a pint or glass of wine from a bar.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Aren't you grateful for the attention you gave your maths lessons! I was probably over paying for cider.
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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Sorry, but I don't think this kind of thing is what the park is for - it's for families with children who need to play, people enjoying nature, sitting quietly on benches, walking with friends. A large group of drinkers and live music smack in the middle almost every day is going to ruin much of that atmosphere. The festivals were at least only on some weeks, whereas this looks semi-permanent.
Who is going to be responsible for clearing the rubbish generated, and for keeping people off the flower borders? And how will the toilets cope, as there are already long queues at weekends?
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Permalink Reply by DTW on
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The parks for everyone - not just children and families. There is also no doubt extra toilets will be added.
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Permalink Reply by Konrad B on
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Maddy didn't say just children and families, she also mentioned "people enjoying nature, sitting quietly on benches, walking with friends"
Perhaps you should apologise for mis-quoting?
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Hackney on
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The Friends of Finsbury Park have objected based mainly on the creeping scope and the lack of information so far.
Haringey says the conditions of the hire come in the next step. https://mailchi.mp/4fd4c1f90155/events-dear-boy-events
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If the purple square is what they mean by land to the East of McKenzie Gardens then it is the perfect site catching the passing trade from 1) the cafe 2) the boating lake 3) the children's playground and 4) the four sports clubs based at the track
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Today I added a post about a proposed food court that will be par fo this event.
I also happened to notice a little coverage in Horticultural Week.
The Friends of Finsbury Park has strongly opposed an application for a four-month long ‘cultural festival’ planned for the Mackenzie Gardens area of Finsbury Park, London.
The Land Use Agreement has received approval from the cabinet of Haringey Council although a license has yet to be granted for the Open Arms premises to serve alcohol for up to 200 customers five days a week, Wednesday to Sunday, between the hours of 12pm and 9:30pm.
A statement from the Friends of Finsbury Park said: “The Friends welcome small to medium-sized events to Finsbury Park that do not exclude the general public, nor dominate the park. A good community example is La Clave Festival, which is practically a model event.
“Whilst we would support well-managed cultural events with local performers, we worry this [Open Arms] risks becoming an unmanageable ‘off-license’ in the middle of a park.
“Far from being a one-off ‘event’, this application risks turning our park into an open public house, for four months with few, if any controls.
“The published details are light and we have yet to see terms and conditions over noise from any recorded music.
“The ‘premises’ appear to be the entire park with a free-moving audience, supposedly 200, but in practice, unlimited.
“If the pub in the park is unfenced and the space is unsecured, with free access to a bar, how will the Licensing Authority check that there is no sale to minors? The proposed site may be separated from the children's playground by little more than the length of the MacKenzie Garden. Is the beer etc. to be restocked daily or will alcohol supplies be held in the park overnight?
“The application implies that this event will be local and cultural, but we have yet to see details of any artists.”
According to the group, a summary description of the application sent to stakeholders on 5 February did not mention a pub. The details posted on the Friends Group’s website reads: “The Open Arms is a performance-led pop-up occupying Finsbury Park for summer 2021. As a recipient of the Arts Council England’s ‘Culture Recovery Grant’, we [Haringey Council] will be looking to bring to life an activation that celebrates and supports the rich pool of talent living within the borough. Essentially we are providing a stage for local performance in the midst of rapid venue closures.”
The friends group concluded: “The turning over into a beer garden for the summer appears to be unprecedented for our park and possibly nationally also.
“Without additional detail and material clarification on how it would be managed, the Friends of Finsbury Park strongly oppose this application and we would urge our members to write in to express their views.”
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This is a process which seems designed to succeed in gaining the premises licence (consumption on and off the premises).
Step 1 is for the well practised applicant to go the Arts Council for a grant. Clearly the backing of the Arts Council lends credibility. The backing of the "Lets Have another one for the road council" would not.
The applicant promises music , dance , film and the spoken word. Bizarrely the application form for the grant contains a tick box "and other entertainments of a similar kind" which GALA have ticked. My evidence for this was the licence application on the Haringey website which has now been removed, and the GALA application to a park in South London. other entertainments of a similar kind reads like carte blanche. (sorry, I've mislaid the links to the originals)
Step 2) Stakeholders are informed of a lovely event involving local artists, actors and musicians. At the worst anodyne, but quite possibly uplifting and "giving back to the community".
Step 3) Having got the grant the applicant then goes to the local authority for permission to use the park for an event with the vague Arts Council definition. Kirsten Hearn has approved this application. To her credit she did ask about the impact of an unticketed , unfenced event serving beer for nine hours a day. She was assured by officers that the situation could be managed and that to refuse the permission would be contrary to Haringey policy.
Step 4) the applicant puts in for an alcohol licence. Opening hours are added to the detail (or lack of it) already published. Nothing has yet been said about security or stewarding or other management of the possible consequences of the sale of (lots of?) alcohol, the applicant's only source of income. It is possible to object at this stage but only to the vague idea of an all day boozer. Few details are available.
Step 5) The applicant offers to meet the objectors. The Friends of Finsbury Park are advising not to attend but to wait for the licensing committee meeting. I reckon this is a lose-lose. If we attend the meeting we will be said to have been consulted and therefore complicit in whatever is decided however little we like it. If we don't then they will argue we cannot expect to have our views heard.
Step 6) The licensing committee will consider the application put forward and , subject to protocols and procedures, the opinions of objectors will be heard.
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I've been invited to that meeting and said I would attend, but now I wonder if I should?
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