Post in Not another coffee shop?

Jun 10 12:29 UTC

Subway will be joining the following six Headington retail shops which have not
sought planning permission to operate as A3 cafés:

• Café Bonjour
• La Croissanterie
• Copacabana Café (formerly La Plaza)
• Mojo's Café
• Squash Fresh Food and Juice Bar
• Starbucks

Presumably they all maintain that they are A1 retail shops, but while they all
undoubtedly are part retail (as some sandwiches and coffee is taken for
consumption off the premises), I think most people would agree that they also
have a sizeable (if not overwhelming) café element.  All six have tables and
chairs out on the pavement as well as inside.

Three of the business actually have the word "Café" in their name, which is
surely a naïve admission of majority A3 usage? Starbucks is much more
circumspect: you won't find the dangerous word "café" anywhere, and when you
search for a branch on its website, you are presented with a list of their
"retail shops".  Similarly, Subway only has "stores".  The big boys are clever,
and have clever lawyers.

The Use Classes Order needs tightening up to establish what constitutes a café,
because at present any local authority which tried to force a business like
Starbucks or Subway to apply for joint A1/A3 use would be eaten for breakfast
and washed down with an espresso.  The Brighton & Hove Issues forum has a
thread on a situation where Starbucks was refused planning permission by a
brave local council because it was not an A1 shop, but it opened anyway:
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/bh/messages/topic/7J6BwoYLLYh5PygTiOv5fQ

The other cafés in Headington all have A3 planning permission, or (in the case
of Queen's) joint A1/A3/A4 usage.  As for the Café Online, it is a special
case: internet cafés were exceptionally classified as A1 retail in the 2005
amendment to the Uses Classes Order 1972.