Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Tricky dealing as Kinleigh Folkard Hayward rides roughshod over community interest
(Retrospective Note: This image was a spoof version of the KFH masthead which was part of their 'Completely London' campaign in which they sought to portray themselves as community champions. See end of post for original masthead)
The claims of estate agents Kinleigh Folkard Hayward to being upstanding corporate citizens and even community champions are ringing very hollow in Harringay today.
Despite the proud boast of Kinleigh Folkard Hayward to be "bringing your city to life", the tricky dealings by the London estate agents seem to suggest that community interest and community wellbeing are of little concern to them.
Back in July this year, Salisbury boss Dave, heard rumours that the office premises next to Tesco, on the corner of St Ann's Road and Salisbury Road (originally leased for a KFH office), was to be sublet by Kinleigh Folkard Hayward to a betting shop operator.
There's strong awareness in the neighbourhood that we have about as many betting shops as any high street could bear. So I was keen to find an alternative letting solution. I'd heard about a couple of London examples recently when the community had approached either a betting shop operator, or a landlord and persuaded them not to open a betting shop. Given the case to be made for Green Lanes having a surfeit of betting shops, I suggested to Rob Chau of Harringay Traders that an approach be made to KFH.
I felt that there must be a solution that would satisfy KFH's legitimate commercial requirements whilst also delivering on community interest.
Rob picked up the baton and passed things over to the GLA team involved on the Green Lanes regeneration project. As summer progressed and turned to Autumn, all seemed to be going well. GLA supported plans had been hatched to let the shop and use it as a community pop-up space for an interim period.
About a week ago Rob told me that negotiations had progressed well and that the arrangements for a community pop-up shop were about to be finalised. Then out of the blue yesterday, the Haringey Council licensing team received an application for a licence to operate the premises as a betting shop.
My first thought was that perhaps the betting shop operator had made a speculative application in the hope that they would come to terms with KFH. I haven't completely abandoned hope of this being the case. We don't know for sure that it's not. But, when I spoke to Rob Chau early this morning he told me, "It's 90% certain that KFH have decided to lease to the betting shop. You don't submit a licensing application unless you're certain you have a premises to licence". Then Councillor Nilgun Canver told me, "Kinleigh Folkard Hayward abandoned our proposals and the licensing application is being progressed".
It seems like bad news. It seems like KFH could reasonably face accusations not only of riding roughshod over community interest, but also of what might at best be described as a rather tricky approach to negotiating with a local community.
Rob Chau commented, "I'm very disappointed. No one from KFH has bothered to visit. They just don't care. This is only a commercial issue for them."
"They've been very two-faced. They put on a community face and got involved in drawn out discussions and negotiations; with the other face, they did a deal against community interest.
I asked Dave at the Salisbury what he thought of the way KFH had conducted themselves, "I think it's disgusting. It's really disgusting. We really don't need another betting shop. I'm not happy at all"
Those of you who caught my angry tweets last night might suspect that I'm keen to see if we can get together as a community to fight this. You'd be right! I respect KFH's right to make a commercial decision, but there must be a way, where between them, the GLA, the Council and the community we can come up with a solution where we're all winners.
If KFH truly have shut the door on negotiation, then there are a range of options open for fighting this. More over the next few days.
Retrospective addition - KFH 'Completely London' masthead which was spoofed in the image at the top of this post.
Tags for Forum Posts: betting, gambling, kfh, kinleigh folkard hayward
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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KFC?? No idea. Who brought them into it? Kinleigh Folkard (KFH) are the only ones involved.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I think he (Clive) is being ironic/
I hold no brief for KFH or for estate agents, but surely KFH are simply acting as agents for KFC.
Otherwise it's a typo
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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If KFC are not involved, then its an acronym confusion. My understanding has been that Paul Simon own the building, so there's still some confusion.
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Paul Simon own, KFH let about two years ago intending to open it as a KFH office. They never did. They're now subletting to offset the cost. As for KFC, I can only assume you were hungry? Sorry if I wasn't clear.
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This entry on the council's licensing page this evening, shows two lines (two premises?) and the form doesn't seem to have been filled out wholly correctly. However, it mentions just one gambling operator:
Paddy Power
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Yes, it's two premises. No, it's not Paddy Power hoping to open in Salisbury Parade. I've been told the name of the operator, but before sharing it, want to check that there's not a reason the name isn't shown on the Council website.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Well dammit. I've lost me thrup'ny bit. Not sure who collects.
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Tug on that thread, Ed. The Thrup'ny bit can now be spent.
I've just spoken with the Council's licensing department and, as you'd suspect, the name of the applicant is public (I just wanted to be sure).
It's a new(ish) to the UK operator (aren't we blessed) called Tipico. The web tells me they're a Maltese registered company with significant operations in Germany, Austria and online.
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Permalink Reply by L F T Snowflake on
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Well, the easiest way to do that right now is to go see whats in their front window and then go round to those houses and ask those people to sign a petition against the betting shop - and also at the same time to ask them to consider changing agents. And there is another tactic too that will work very well. But I don't want to spoil the surprise.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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I thought it was difficult to find premises with the appropriate permissions for a betting shop, which is why ex banks are so popular. How come this space allows this?
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Alison these premises are zoned A1 and A2 (see the big notice in the corner window). A2 is the class for financial services, such as banks, in which - against all logic in my opinion - gambling premises fall (!?).
The upshot is that it is not a "change of use", for which Planning Permission would need to be sought. The Applicant, who will already hold a corporate gambling licence, only needs a gambling premises licence for particular building.
Nowadays, thanks to the Gambling Act (2005), this is just a formality, even though the Applicant may have to mouth lots of platitudes at a Licensing Hearing.
Permission for change-of-use is exactly the hurdle over which Paddy Power fell down at their attempt about a year ago to gain control of the long-time music shop. Everybody's Music is still on the corner of West Green Road and Tottenham High Street (across the road from Seven Sisters Tube station).
Everybody's Music was a rare victory against the rising tide of "betting" shops.
In truth, these premises now have less in common with old-style bets on horse racing. So much of their profits now come from the four Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in each 'shop', a kind of automated or mechanised remote-casino.
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Permalink Reply by Zena Brabazon on
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Like everyone else I am completely disgusted by this. We don't need another betting shop on Green Lanes and we don't need estate agents who behave in such a hypocritical manner. Its not just that we approached KFH about this a few months ago, but that bringing in another betting shop further undermines the area. At the same time these estate agents try and sell the area to new buyers!
I will be objecting to this as a ward councillor and agree we should have a very vigorous and public campaign. Can I urge everyone to object formally to this application as a first step. Perhaps the owners of KFH and Paul Simon would like umpteen betting shops near their homes.
Zena Brabazon
Councillor, St. Ann's Ward
Chair, St. Ann's and Harringay Area Forum and Committee
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