Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey Council Cabinet decision a little bit of help for beleaguered tobacco industry
FOLLOWING the Haringey Council scrutiny review of events in Finsbury Park, the Council Cabinet decided late last year to approve another tobacco sales facility for customers at the next Wireless Concert.
This followed the recommendations of the council's watch-dog, the Scrutiny Committee. The Committee successfully resisted the thrust of representations of the lobby group ASH and from the Borough's Director of Public Health.
The Cabinet's unanimous decision should again provide the kind of outlet and high-profile event that is so valued by the cigarette and rolling-tobacco industry.
The industry has been under pressure of late and Haringey-London—working together with their partner Live Nation—continue to do their bit to relieve it and to enhance customers' experience.
Last year's Tobacco Pavilion in Finsbury Park provided a range of products for the mainly youthful audience that numbered between 40,000 to 50,000, some of whom won't yet be using the industry's fare.
2016 will be third year running that our Local Government has given their seal of approval. What will be especially welcomed by the industry is that Wireless for Summer 2016 may be bigger and longer, with enriched commercial appeal.
The map above shows the spread of existing customers in the Borough, with the healthiest consumer-concentrations in the east.
CDC
Haringey Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, fofp, friends of finsbury park, wireless
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Michael some of the public order offences that occurred at Wireless 2015 may have been drug related, although I accept alcohol could have played a part too. There were scores of discarded Nitrous Oxide canisters left behind. Some other Councils have banned them.
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At the December Cabinet meeting (that I attended) a Council officer claimed that this year's cigarette sales area will not be a Pavilion but (variously) a "stall" a "booth" and a "small space".
Someone described last year's Pavilion to me as a "Temple to Tobacco!"
The Council's Wireless partners will have been delighted with the size and sheer exuberance of last year's Haringey Council-approved facility (photos at link at top).
In order to service customers of this summer's extended Wireless (again, up to 50,000) the suppliers concerned are unlikely to be happy with a structure having less capacity than last year's Pavilion.
The actual size of the Wireless 2016 Tobacco Pavilion remains to be seen, but my guess is that our local government is likely again to take fully adequate measures to support this important British industry. Such high profile marketing opportunities are increasingly hard to come by for tobacco companies and they will be grateful.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Well, I've seen people,under the influence of nitrous oxide and they seem silly rather than troublesome. The difference is that the festival organisers and Haringey not give permission for the sale of drugs on site other than alcohol and fags.
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Permalink Reply by Antoinette on
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No event organiser is going to consider hiring a venue that can't serve alcohol for the simple reason that no-one would go to an alcohol-free festival and it represents too big a slice of their profits. So if (as many people do) you think Finsbury Park shouldn't be used for these large events that would be a good way of achieving that.
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No, I don't think that there should be a prohibition on events in Finsbury Park. Without them the parks budget would be in an even worse state than it is at the moment. I just think that there needs to be some honesty about alcohol at events like this. Walk through most town centres on a Saturday night and I bet you don't see people unconscious in the street or having a punch up because they've had one Silk Cut too many or a couple of spiffs. If Haringey are being criticised for allowing cigarette sales in the event area, it seems hypocritical to allow booze sales at the same time.
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MORE evidence of the indirect help that Haringey Council is offering to the beleaguered official industry, was contained in yesterday's 'Tobacco Control pledge'.
The Council is concerned about the availability of "cheap, illegal" tobacco.
And without a doubt, so is the official tobacco industry, that must surely lose large sums of money in this Borough alone through the illegal sales of cheap, untaxed imports and whose availability the Council says is widespread.
The cigarette sales that the Council has again endorsed—if not pledged—for Wireless 2016 in Finsbury Park, will be duty paid and fully legal.
The Council, Customs & Excise and the tobacco companies all benefit from this twin-track approach.
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The Council should be concerned about "cheap, illegal" tobacco not because of the loss of tax revenue but because of the counterfeit cigarettes which are laced with all sorts of seriously carcinogenic fillers.
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I've been thinking about the actual decision made. I know that the sale of alcohol requires permission, both from a premises and at an event. Does the sale of tobacco also require permission? I know that a view can be given but would Haringey actually have any right to refuse permission for the event if the promotors insisted that tobacco sales go ahead?
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I've just had a look at the report that went to Cabinet in December about the Wireless festival and in appendix 1 it says
"Retailers selling tobacco are obliged to comply with various legislative measures but there is currently no licensing requirement for the sale of tobacco products."
In that case would Haringey have any say on selling tobacco at festivals in the park and therefore is what Clive says in the opening of this subject correct, "the Council Cabinet decided late last year to approve another tobacco sales facility for customers at the next Wireless Concert.", if they do not have the power to either approve or refuse?
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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If the Council have a contract with Wireless they can introduce any conditions they like. But alcohol is legal, cigarettes are legal. Why try to restrict their sale ?
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In this council report on public health (a council, not NHS responsibility now) one of the recommendations is
"Take a multi-agency approach to prevention including tighter tobacco control, responsible alcohol sales, healthy high streets and tackling obesity".
That's the Director of Public Health's view, though it's a recommendation not an absolute.
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It's an aim I fully support but what is puzzling me is whether they would have any power to prevent the sale of tobacco
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