How rude!
Late-night coffee drinkers in Glebe need a new fix, after City of Sydney Council reduced the trading hours of Badde Manors Café.
The café has traditionally operated until 2 or 3am but must now close earlier after Council would only approve trading until midnight.
Badde Manors regular Martin Hala, 28, of Manly said he visits the café religiously every weekend. “It’s not necessary to close it early,” he said. “It’s a great place; good people come here; there’s no trouble.”
Michel Elias, general manager of Badde Manors, said he does not understand the council policy because there have never been any complaints about trading past midnight. The business has lost revenue and staff hours have been cut by 8 to 10 hours. “They’re not being fair to the business, to the locals as customers and to the employees,” he said.
According to the City of Sydney, the cafe’s Development Application only requested permission to keep trading until midnight. “Badde Manors café lodged a Development Application in April 2009 for hours of trading from 7am until 12 midnight,” a spokesperson said. “The City approved the application, subject to a one-year trial. If the applicant wishes to extend the approved hours of trading they can lodge an application with the City.”
But Mr Elias said the café only limited its DA to midnight because of advice from Council they would not approve anything later. In addition, he said attempts to re-extend the hours had fallen on deaf ears at Council. “At the moment we’re trying to be good citizens and play by the rules, but they’re making it tough, very tough,” he said.
“They’ve even showed up here on a couple of occasions and forced us to close.”
Inspector Sean Daley of Leichhardt Local Area Command said that he could not recall any problems with Badde Manors Café trading past midnight. “As far as we’re concerned, the more cafés and shops that are open, the better,” he said. “If there’s more people in the area, it tends to reduce crime.”
City of Sydney councillor and Glebe resident Meredith Burgmann said she was very surprised by the situation: “Badde Manors is very popular and as far as I know there have been no complaints of noise late at night,” she said.
Another regular customer, Dien Tran, 29, of Liverpool, said he enjoys meeting friends for a coffee after a night out, but choices in the area were limited. “The other option is [the] Leichhardt McDonald’s,” he said.
Badde Manors café has operated for 27 years. The café was under the jurisdiction of Leichhardt Council before Glebe was incorporated into the City of Sydney in May 2003. Mr Elias said the need to lodge a new DA arose after it was realised the café had never had DA approval with Leichhardt Council.
The business is considering whether to take further action to try to restore trading past midnight.
by Aaron Cook
