Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Wireless Festival
Living as I do just adjacent to the festival site, although I can't see (for the trees) what is going on over there, I can certainly hear it.
The first things I heard were pneumatic tools and saws. Now they could be being used to build the barriers, saws to cut the timber and air spanners to bolt it all together. But looking at the erected barriers on Sunday they look as though they are not newly built. So what was the sawing all about? Not the trees surely?
And then there is the areas as marked on the map. No-where on there does it mention that the lower end of the park road, from the basket ball courts to the Oxford road gate, is a no-go area for vehicles. H&S will be the excuse given I expect as they seem to have a base camp set up on the hard standing next to the road there. By why would they need it? Of all the concerts that have taken place in the park I have never seen this piece of road commandeered in this way. So why now? And the amount of use it was getting certainly didn't warrant this section to be closed. Just one man (who was already sitting there waving drivers away) could come out and temporarily stop any traffic if need be.
So already the agreed rules are being bent a little.
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, finsbury park events, wireless festival
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Carrie on
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This event is way too big for our park, and at the licencing meeting I attended the provisional plans didn't cover this much of the park, and they said that set-up would start the Friday before, not the Wednesday, and that access along the carriageways would remain open until the day before the concert, and they implied they would keep the Richard Hope Play area open.
In the vain hope of stopping the council approving such large scale events next year (maximum size should be Arctic Moneys size at the most), and approving 2 concerts so close together, I'm emailing complaints to parkscustomercare@haringey.gov.uk , starting with the wording "please log and record this complaint" , so if anyone feels similarly, please email them too.
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Permalink Reply by Madeline on
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In the reply I got from Livenation about the piece of 'unauthorised' road closure I was told that this had been discussed and agreed by the council at residents meetings. What residents meetings? I don't remember being invited to any such meetings and as I (and my neighbours) are directly affected by these concerts I am surprised and disappointed that we weren't invited. Not all of us actually use the park so won't see any notices posted there but as I said we're still affected by all the noise and disruption.
Over the years I've seen more and more of the park being fenced off for these huge events. In some places trees have been pruned right back and even some cut down although they denied the latter. They say that they are going to look at ways of protecting infrastructure and the grass areas in the future. It's my belief that slowly but surely some sort of semi-permanent, leading to a permanent surface will be put down on what is, at the moment, a large, family friendly grassy area.
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We've just had the boom boom of a sound check. Not too bad (yet) but I notice that the wind is blowing your way so you'll all be getting the benefit of it all.
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Does anyone know how much money the council will be taking from this? It seems to be a lot of park closed off and a lot of people inconvenienced (and it's not even started).
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Can you hear it! That is loud and they haven't even started yet.
Our local school has been suitably gift wrapped against dirty doings into the playground. The Oxford Rd gate will be closed from 4pm onwards to help prevent people from straying around these roads and it does work as proved by the AM concert recently. But it's yet another disruption for residents. That gate is well used by families and dog walkers who now have no option but to walk round to the Endymion rd gate. For three days it will be out of bounds.
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I can already hear loud crowd noises from around the Finsbury Park gates entrance, which just happens to be where two pubs are situated.
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I've just been watching a strange woman across the street wondering what she was doing. Well now I know. She's come across to my side of the road, taking sound samples from right outside my house. Just as the music has quietened down.
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At least she's not in the nearby carpark and is out in the street where she'll get the echo effect on her recorder. I've just spoken to her and she's going to be here until the music stops. I'm presuming that there are others like her dotted around the perimeter of the park.
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Permalink Reply by Jacqui O'Beirne on
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To play devils advocate, yes its a distutrbance for few days but what about the postives, bringing money into the local businesses, businesses they will photograph and tweet/Facebook/blog about and raise awareness of. Getting Finsbury Park and areas on the tourist map. Bringing celebs and with them journalists to our area that may not even be awre of its existence before. Making people aware of what the area has to offer. I personally think we should embrace it for what it is and they will soon be gone. So what if I had to cycle round the park not through it to get home for the last few days, I'd rather the local shops and pubs thrived than we end up with an empty high street. I know I won't be popular but there is always a bigger picture.
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That's a non-argument. I'm sure not many people would want to live in Soho or on Oxford street. Residential and commercial areas are not the same thing. A boom to local businesses equally isn't that important. Most businesses need constant local custom, not once-a-year windfalls to survive. Are you advocating more of this?
This use of Finsbury park is a commercial parasitism at the expense of the residents. The only reason why the festival is held here is because it's cheaper and they struggled getting a more central location (because of the impact on the locals). Thanks for fucking us over Haringey council. Once again.
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One business that I am aware of and that directly impacts on me, is my local pub. Today, tomorrow and Sunday is out-of-bounds. It'll just be too crowded. Any extra monies they make will be spent on the extra door staff, extra bar staff, extra cleaning and plastic glasses. I was in there briefly during the beginning of the AM concert recently and by 5.30pm the toilets were a disgrace. Such nice looking young ladies turned into dirty little pigs once they got behind those doors.
I usually go for a pint or two on a Friday but not today. And on Sunday I usually go there for the diddly-dee music, but not this Sunday. I could murder a pint in this hot weather.
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