It's murder in the West End
A recent newspaper headline, one of many spotted in the past few months, read: "Restaurant groups face tough times as tourists shun capital".
All the stories focus on the lack of tourists since 11 September. But the journalists writing these stories are missing the point. The biggest challenge facing London's restaurants is not the lack of tourists, it's the lack of Londoners.
And now (hold on to your hats) it's about to get worse. London's enterprise-loathing mayor, Ken Livingstone, will next February personally deliver the coup de grâce to many more of London's restaurants. For February 2003 is when he plans to introduce his crazy car-congestion charging scheme.
He is anything but alone in his murderous attempts to wreck the London restaurant industry. Westminster and Camden councils have been doing it for years. The failure of these two councils to co-ordinate West End parking restrictions continues to throw both theatre- and restaurant-goers into confusion.
The two boroughs border two sides of many central London streets, and you'd have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out which borough you were about to park in. Camden allows free parking only from 8.30pm. Westminster used to allow free parking from 6.30pm but, in a move that rather gives their game away, now allows it on many streets only after 7pm.
Ask a theatre-goer to wolf down a meal in 45 minutes before curtain time and you see why pre-theatre dining is dying a death. As a result of having to pay hefty fines or having their cars towed away, frustrated Londoners are staying away in droves.
And while we're at it, what about Westminster's attempts each spring to pettily and mean-mindedly harass and prosecute restaurateurs for "illegally" putting a few tables outside on balmy days?
I live just 20 minutes away and frequent restaurants as often as I can, but hardly any longer in the West End. The sheer hassle factor has worn me down. And if I, as a restaurateur, avoid the West End, what do you think Joe Public is doing?
Do any of our so-called representatives consult with us as an industry on finding compromises, not to mention solutions? They do not. Is any future plan in the works to improve public transport, or at very least tie it in with parking practice? What do you think?
No major city council on Earth so obstructs free enterprise as does London. If the West End is to survive, customers need incentives to come back, not discouragement.
No surprises there. What is surprising is that we're not rioting in the streets.
Maybe we will, come February 2003.
Michael Gottlieb is president of the Restaurant Association and proprietor of Café Spice restaurants and Pencom (Service That Sells) UK
