The weather is set to ‘sun’, and all the planning is done. This Sunday’s Palmers Green Festival is set to be huge. Held in Broomfield Park, it runs from 12-7, and music from the festival is is being streamed live on Tropical FM. Why not plan your visit with the help of this brilliant map from Pauline Hazelwood (www.paulinehazelwood.co.uk) and the festival website http://www.palmersgreenfestival.org.uk/Festival/welcome.html
The Palmers Green Festival is just a week away and the festival website is now live for you to plan your day.
Running from 12-7 on Sunday 2 September in Broomfield Park, the festival aims to offer something for everyone – food, music, dancing, crafts……. and our very own community games.
The aim of the Community Games is to bring the inspiration of London 2012 to Palmers Green –activities will include a chance to climb the world’s tallest climbing wall, 7 hours of nonstop dancing and dance lessons, children’s 5 a side football, girls rugby, tennis lessons and bowls. Many of the local sports groups will be welcoming new members – there is more information on how to get involved on the website.
If you don’t fancy getting hot and sweaty, there will be music from 20 performers during the day, including rock, folk, indie, Americana, rap and hard groove. Live performances will also be streamed on Tropical FM at http://www.tropicalfm.com/ (so being on holiday is no excuse!).
Funds raised by the festival will go to the on-going work of the Friends of Broomfield House and the new Improvement Opportunity Fund, which aims to help local people develop projects which will benefit the community (see last week’s post).
The organising committee have put a huge amount of work into the event. All they need now is for you to go along and make it all worthwhile!
Visit the Palmers Green Festival Website at http://www.palmersgreenfestival.org.uk.
There seems to be no new news on the fate of The Woodman.
Over 350 people have now signed the petition (have you? – see sidebar). According to discussions on the Woodman’s Facebook account and recent emails from the brewery to local residents, it seems that discussions are still on-going.
Meanwhile the issue of the closure or otherwise of The Woodman , and the general policy of the breweries towards their tenants is becoming a hot topic in the local press. In this week’s Enfield Gazette and Advertiser, Mark Leaver from Winchmore Hill writes of the experiences of his family when they ran the Salisbury Arms. At that time new rent was negotiated every three years and an acceptable figure was agreed by both parties. The breweries were fair in in what the charged for their products, so in turn an affordable price was charged to customers – result, the pubs were able to survive as viable businesses.
Now, he explains,
“tenants are tied to buying draught beer, cider, all bottle of wine, spirits and minerals from their respective landlords at grossly inflated prices…. As a free trader you can buy 11 gallons of lager for £95, as a tenant you will have to pay £200 for the same barrel.
“As a tenant you have to pay rent. As a rule of thumb your rent is approximately 10-12% of turnover. But as pubs struggle and takings reduce, your rent [to the brewery] doesn’t.
If you contact your business development manager trying to negotiate more reasonable prices, you are told that it is bad management on your part. How far from the truth that is.”
Solving it isn’t rocket science says Lever. It simply takes political will: Supermarket prices of alcohol should be regulated and the prices breweries are allowed to charge tenant should be capped.
“The price of drinks would be reduced, bringing a tenanted house in line with the pub companies’ own managed houses and encouraging the return of customers, which in turn would directly kick start the survival of the great British pub.”
We aren’t sure about the stance of local MPs on this issue.
Emails sent to David Burrowes (david@davidburrowes.com) more than three weeks ago have yet to receive an acknowledgement. Mr Burrowes may very reasonably feel that he can’t get involved in the specific issues surrounding The Woodman, or indeed the other two local pubs which have closed this year (The Willow, Winchmore Hill Road and the White Hart, Chase Road).
But we hope he might have some interest in the way in which policies of breweries impact on his constituency and others up and down the country.
The sun may have taken an age to come, but it feels like time for a party.
The Palmers Green Festival is just two weeks away, and this year is set to be the biggest and best event ever. Set in the historic Broomfield Park on Sunday 2 September, this year will feature community games, a top London DJ, 70 stalls, over 20 performers on stage at the bandstand and , more.
The festival promises to not only be a fantastic day out, but a launch pad for new activity aimed at improving life in Palmers Green. Half the proceeds are to go towards setting up a new Improvement Opportunity Fund – anyone with an interest in the local area will be able to apply for funding to assist with a project idea to improve the community. It could be anything from setting up a Credit Union, a community internet Radio station, improving a local green space or help buying equipment to set up a local sports club. There will also be ongoing support for successful applicants from community Mentors. The aim is, for a small amount of money, to see the largest possible impact on our community. More details will be available on the new festival website, coming very soon.
The event runs from 12 til 7. The full festival programme can be downloaded here http://www.palmersgreenfestival.info/PGFestival/2012_stalls_files/PGF%20Program%20A5%2024pp%20mail%20AS%20PRINTED.pdf
The festival team are already thinking about 2013 so if you are inspired by this year’s festival and want to make it even better next year, why not send your ideas to info@palmersgreenunited.co.uk.
Work has begun on new housing to the rear of Green Lanes alongside the footpath which once ran across Clappers Green Farm.
There has been a footpath extending west in this location for over 500 years – the Clappers Green footpath once extended as far as the entrance to The Mall.
A section of the footpath between Green Lanes and the railway line will be narrowed by 70 cm to make way for an access road to the new properties.
Curtains were closed at The Woodman this afternoon, while local residents continued to campaign to persuade owner Marston’s brewery to reconsider closure.
We understand that the pub officially closed last weekend, but has been open a couple of evenings since to run down stock.
Campaigners on the pub’s Facebook page have blamed the closure on Marston’s anti competitive business practices – in which landlords are encouraged to invest and become increasingly indebted to the brewery – combined with high rents and beer tariffs for the beer which landlords are obliged to buy from the brewery and the effects of the current economic climate.
A petition was launched on Sunday when publican of the Queen’s Head, Sue Ritchie posted news of the pub’s closure on the Love your Doorstep Facebook group – the second recent closure in the area. Love your Doorstep went into action and set up the petition. Over 200 people have signed in the first week – and over 80 Palmers Greeners have already clicked on the story on this site in the last few days. We have also contacted David Burrowes MP and local residents associations in the hope that they will offer support.
This week the Enfield Gazette contacted a spokesman from Marstons who stated that they had been working with the tenants for some time to resolve issues with the business but these had yet to reach successful resolution. However, they continued to ‘hope that we can reach a resolution with the tenants of The Woodman.’
Local residents are being encouraged to write directly to Ralph Finlay, Chief Executive at Marstons. (Marstons website states that it is ‘at the heart of thriving communities across the UK’ ).
Meanwhile, if you haven’t signed the petition, please do it now, and tell your friends and neighbours. There is a link on the right hand sidebar of this site.