Anger over £750 licences for outdoor café tables

RESTAURANT owners have been ordered to pay hundreds of pounds to place tables on their own land.

Kensington and Chelsea council wants up to £750 for a new "outside seating" licence - even though owners have been doing it for nothing for 50 years. Proprietors today attacked the "absurd" rule.

John Thornhill, who runs the Troubadour Café - the last Fifties café in Earl's Court - said: "During this difficult economic period we do not want to remove the tables; it may appear we are closed. We pay hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in VAT, taxes and rates. Is the council here to help businesses or impose petty rules without being interested in the circumstances?"

Julie Mok, 37, owner of Dragon King rice and noodle bar in Earl's Court Road, said: "Our business is down 20 or 30 per cent and this is just another problem for us. Tables outside make the place vibrant." A spokeswoman for Kensington and Chelsea said: "We are all for open-air living but not if it means that our pavements become an obstacle course for pedestrians.

"Café and bar managers do need a licence even when the highway is privately maintained."