Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

I was wondering if anyone else had noticed the replacement of Agora's curtains with transparent ones? They used to have a shop front which fully obscured the gambling machines behind, but with these new transparent sheets you can see straight in. Our 3 year old noticed the gaming centre for the first time the other day thanks to the transparent frontage.

Wasn't a condition of them opening that the frontage had to fully obscure the inside of the premises? Did they successfully appeal this condition from the planners?

Tags for Forum Posts: 48 grand parade, agora, betting, gambling

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Good question. Have copied your question to the responsible office at Haringey Council (cc Cllr Canver - responsible Cabinet member). We'll see what they say.
And I've had an impressively quick response from Daliah Barrett, the Licensing Officer:

I have had a look through the Code of Practice issued by the Gambling Commission and there is nothing to help there.


The license itself does not have anything on it regarding the ability to see into the shop from the outside.


The Planning permission speaks of the window display being utilised for various articles for sale with correct prices, but nothing about seeing into the premises.

Ah well, how disappointing...

Thanks for looking into it Hugh.
This is not a licencing issue, it's a planning issue. The planning inspector made a condition that the window display should "at all times have a display of goods available for purchase on the premises by members of the public and the retail prices of the goods shall be clearly displayed" Agora have made no attempts to have this condition waived to the best of my knowledge.

Agora have been found in breach of this condition in the past following a complaint to planning enforcement, but enforcement found the breach "to be of a minor nature for which enforcement action is considered not to be expedient."

However, shortly after a visit by enforcement officials, the display reverted to the condition as stated above.

So, D. Barratt is partially correct, but licencing are not the people to talk to. Try planning instead.

If you feel like pursuing this via licencing, perhaps the angle to use would be about not encouraging minors to enter as per the Gambling Act 2005.
They did abide for a while, but did you see the prices the put on the goods? £50 for a toaster you could get in Argos for £9.99, Always had the feeling that they didn't really want to sell anything.
Sounds from what Daliah wrote that she's looked at the three relevant sources Peter. However, it'd be great if there are other folk you can cross-check with. Please make sure to come back and let us know what they tell you.
Would it not be a good idea to take a photo or three and post it to a flickr group?
Surely this, combined with previous incidents (door left open, keeping the place open for longer than allowed..) all adds up and should warrant some action from the people who granted this piece of s**t the license in the first place?

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