Common sense has prevailed in a battle between north London Budgens retailer Andrew Thornton and Haringey council over his Stall4All scheme.
Andrew has been offering space outside his Crouch End store to local traders to showcase their businesses, but the council closed the stall earlier this month on the grounds that it needed to be licensed. When Andrew applied for a licence, he was told that it was not considered a designated trading area, despite it being Budgens property. After petitioning the council it relented, granting Andrew a temporary licence while it “looked into the issue long-term”.
The scheme, which also sees stallholders donate a share of their income to local charities, has been in operation for a year.
“It seems bizarre that Haringey council would want to prevent a burgeoning enterprise like this,” said Andrew. “We are hopeful that the situation will be fully resolved soon.”
A spokeswoman for Haringey council said: “The council fully supports the initiative and will assist in getting a licence approved so that Stall4All can be up and running as soon as possible.”
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