Car park fees spark outrage among Almondsbury parents
A village pub has incensed residents by introducing pay- and-display charges in its car park.
Welsh brewery Brains, which took over The Bowl Inn in Almondsbury last July, has installed ticket machines in its 38-bay car park opposite.
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It now costs £1 to park for three hours, or £5 for the whole day. Signs in the car park on Church Road state that anyone who does not pay could be charged £50 by private traffic enforcement contractors. The move has angered parents at the nearby Almondsbury C of E Primary School in Sundays Hill, who have used the pub's private car park to drop off and pick up their children for more than 25 years under an informal agreement with the previous owners.
Many are now threatening to boycott the pub altogether.
The Bowl Inn's manager defended the charge, saying that parents using the car park forced out the pub's hotel guests, and that delivery vans had to stop in the road. Customers will get their parking fee back when they buy something from the bar or restaurant.
But parent Brigid Hewett, whose two children go to Almondsbury Primary, says the move ignores the needs of the community, and that there was no consultation.
Mrs Hewett, 43, an academic registrar who lives in the village, said: "I have used the car park since 2004 but I won't park there now, and I won't drink there either.
"It is very disappointing that a community pub takes no notice of its community's needs and its situation. We know Almondsbury is congested and has parking problems, so taking away one of its only parking facilities shows a complete disregard for the needs of the community."
She said the first parents knew of the change was when the signs went up on Wednesday.
Fiona Kettle, 37, a sales assistant of Upper Almondsbury, has two children at the school and said she was concerned the move could put children's lives in danger.
She said: "There are cars parked everywhere throughout the village, and children will have to walk in the road as there are no proper footpaths."
Tanya Andrews, whose son Joseph, eight, is in Year 4 at the school, said charging to park was "exploitation".
Mrs Andrews, 43, a trainer for Royal Bank of Scotland, said: "I could understand if we were parking there at noon, but no one uses the car park at 8.30am, and that is when the children need to be there.
"At £10 a week it will mount up – it is exploitation."
The Bowl Inn's manager, Nick Torrance-Jones, said the decision to install pay and display machines had come from Brains' head office. They also want to extend the pub's opening hours from 11am to 11pm.
He said: "We have a massive problem where customers can't park because the bays are being used by parents from the local school."
He added: "Parents have been given the right to park in the garden centre on Over Lane in the mornings and afternoons. It is safer to use that path, and it is only about five minutes away."
Sheila Cook, chairwoman of Almondsbury's Parish Council, said: "This is a growing village, and there have always been two schools of thought about whether a car park should be provided somewhere. Perhaps now it is time to have that wider debate on whether we need one."
21 Comments
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by Nicola, Bristol
Monday, March 23 2009, 4:42PM
“I read with great delight the comments and think it's genius that a pay-and-display meter has at last been installed, many a time I have tried to park to conduct business at the bowl and have been stopped from doing so, not to mention having to avoid children running around unsupervised! It's about time the parents realise they don't own the car park, the bowl owners do. Seems its about time you found somewhere else to park!”
by Daniel, Bristol
Monday, March 23 2009, 10:25AM
“Shut the pub down...Don't be so stupid you silly fool!”
by Dan, Bristol
Monday, March 23 2009, 10:23AM
“The Police?? It a private car park so what the hell would they do? Customers using the car park are refunded once they have made a purchase. The pub owns the car park so why should non customers be given the right to use it subsequently disadvantaging hotel guests and customers alike. Get a grip people and walk your kids to school!”
by anil, south glos
Monday, March 23 2009, 2:45AM
“Shut the pub down. Country pubs encourage drink-driving which costs lives. In my experience, nowhere in this country is such a thing as sensible drinking.
My village pub closed before christmas. The locality has been a safer place since. I have watched many a tanked-up individual stagger to their 4-wheel drive and speed off. Unfortunately, the police have no resources to monitor this.
Once the pub has gone, you can do what you like with the car park.”
by Shelly, Bristol
Sunday, March 22 2009, 7:32PM
“Mrs Hennessey.
I have no idea what you are talking about. I have never said anything that is untrue and I don't understand how, from reading these posts you could claim otherwise.
Personally I don't care what you think however If I were you I'd make sure I had proof before I called someone a liar!”
by Mrs A Hennessey, Portishead
Sunday, March 22 2009, 7:01PM
“Dear Shelley
I read your previous posts and thought they were true.
My apologies, I wont believe anything you post again.”
by Shelly, bristol
Sunday, March 22 2009, 12:58PM
“Mrs Hennessey.
Not that it is any of your business but I HAVE arranged work around my children. You know nothing about me and I resent your insinuation that my children don't come first. That's why I start at 9.30 finish at 3 and get school holidays off I work in a school so I am limited to the hours I can actually work. In point of fact I have taken a significant pay cut and have put my own career on hold in order to be around for my young children before and after school and during school hols My oldest is on a part scholarship at a private school and this part of the reason why I work. I like my job and all of my children are settled in their respective schools. My local 2 schools were over subscribed and I had no choice but to go to one a mile away.
I suggest you butt out and keep your ill informed comments to yourself”
by Mrs A Hennessey, Portishead
Sunday, March 22 2009, 12:20PM
“Shelly? Why are you unable to balance you work and your children?
Surely the children come first then then you adapt the work around them!! No excuses
Perhaps less children would have been the answer if you are such a slave to work.”
by Amanda, North Bristol
Sunday, March 22 2009, 9:37AM
“To blame the school for this action being taken by The Bowl is a cop-out. The pub isn't open at 08.45, and hotel guests are already parked and about leave. For the lunchtime patrons, they are already parked when parents come into the village at 15.45.
The comment that it's safer to walk down from the Garden Centre is just as ridiculous, with two main roads to be crossed (Over Lane & Sundays Hill).
Everyone accepts that the pub is a business and needs to make a profit - the car park is private land and the pub can do as it see's fit. Sadly, for The Bowl, it will won't make any profit from school children as parents won't pay £2 per day. A reasonable charge, say 20p for 1/2 hour on the other hand, may bring in revenue for the pub, and they can be proud of the profit they make from kids.”
by Alex, Mangotsfield
Sunday, March 22 2009, 7:27AM
“With regard to the selfishness of the local residents & the pubs parking charges I would like to make two observations,the land is private therefore any charge made by the owners is theirs by right & unless the purpose of the residents visit is to avail themselves of the pubs facilities, they can either pay & use the car park , or park elsewhere .The second point is the comment made by Nick Torrance Jones, ie: The massive imaginary problem of a surfeit of customers, I think NOT ,since the advent of the no smoking in hostelries & the like we have seen a vast numerical reduction in the pubs how fortunate is he to be able to beat the trend with this MASSIVE problem, Incidentally I have not got an axe to grind I am a non smoker”