Romford Cafe Owner Fears For His Future Following Increase In Parking Charges Sees Customer Drop.

“They pull up and go to the ticket machine, see how much it costs to park and then get in their cars and leave.” tells us Mehmet the owner of the Rosie Lee cafe on the London Road in Romford.

“I have run this cafe for eight years now and have a seen a big drop in customers since the parking charges have increased, people do not want to pay £2.10p to park and buy breakfast, they want to be able to have the one hour free parking back. This increase has seen the number of customers I have drop considerably. It really has been a nightmare.”

In the latest budget, the parking charges rose to £2.10p across the borough, which can rise to £2.40p on some parking apps.

“Business owners are struggling, the cost of living crisis is making a huge impact on all of us. Bread has gone up three times since the start of the year, butter used to cost me £2.50p, it now costs £5.50p, all this adds up. I now work everyday as I have had to cut staff and cannot afford to keep people. Electricity has gone up ridiculously and now we have another stupid idea, ULEZ to add to it. All these factors make it very hard for business owners. and the increase of these parking charges locally have been the final straw for me.”

Mehmet now fears for his cafe’s future and has called upon the help of local councillors Viddy Persaud, Keith Prince and Tim Ryan to ask for help. A meeting was organised on Tuesday evening that was attended by the three councillors who have been working hard to help Mehmet save his business.

Councillor Persaud told the Havering Daily: “Councillor Tim Ryan, myself and GLA member for Havering Keith Prince visited the cafe on Tuesday as we had a number of unhappy businesses since these charges have changed and there is no free parking, no one can even stop for a pint of milk or to buy a paper and this is destroying the small businesses there.

“We have to support them and we have a plan of action. I have written to the lead member to ask if he can visit the cafe for a follow up meeting to hear for himself the devastation this is causing to businesses on the London Road.

“The parking charges in Romford on whole have angered residents and we are launching a petition asking the council to listen to our residents.”

Following the work by the two local councillors Viddy Persaud and Tim Ryan and the GLA member for Havering Keith Prince, Cabinet Member for parking Councillor Barry Mugglestone and Havering’s Leader of the Council Councillor Ray Morgon, are now looking to see if they can expand the free 30 minutes parking to that part of the London Road to support the local businesses there.

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