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Bowes Park Palmers Green Southgate Winchmore Hill

Could boundary proposals mean all change for Enfield Southgate?

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The Boundary Commission has published its revised proposals for Enfield Southgate as part of its national review.

In March, the Commission proposed that Haselbury ward should be added to the constituency, while  Bowes ward was to be shunted into Hornsey and Wood Green, currently a Liberal Democrat constituency (Lynn Featherstone is the current MP there).

The latest proposals, published on Tuesday, bring Bowes back into Enfield Southgate constituency, which is currently represented by Conservative MP David Burrowes. Bush Hill Park, currently in Labour leaning Edmonton, also moves into Enfield Southgate.

Following disagreements and deals within the (‘still very much a’) coalition, it is unclear whether the changes will happen, as the Tories will need Lib Dem support to get them passed. The Lib Dems are of course still smarting from the Conservatives failure to back their proposals for changes to the Lords.

But it is interesting to speculate what impact the changes could have on the constituency’s representation.

To see the new constituency boundaries proposed by the Commission, see http://assets.boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/proposals/111%20North%20Thames/Enfield%20Southgate%20BC.pdf

 

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Community Uncategorized

Woodman: breweries’ policies come under scrutiny

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.