Was Bournville Birmingham (UK) right to have Tesco banned from selling Alcohol?!
Was Bournville Birmingham (UK) right to have Tesco banned from selling Alcohol?
Its been in the news Tesco have been refused a drinks licence for their express store on the border of the Bournville estate in Birmingham UK.
Will Tesco win in the end are they playing it "cool" for now but come up with a trump card later on
Answers:
Being from Bournville myself I would say it was very right to oppose the Tesco license. Bournville is traditionally a Quaker village, as are the Cadbury's, and their religion is against the consumation or selling of alcohol on their land. So in keeping with tradition which has been going for many, many years it is within the trusts right to refuse Tesco the license to sell alcohol on their land.
Plus, it's really not too much bother as the closely neighbouring villages sell alcohol, and I doubt Tesco are going to lose millions of pounds from not selling a few bottles of wine in a small village are they?!
THEY WHERE RIGHT
No i think it is right its always been a no drinking area and to keep with the history of Bournville i think the people have the right to keep it alcohol free
I think they were right to stop it, and I think Tesco should respect the fact and sit back and not push it.
My mother in law lives very close to bournville, and literally 10 minutes out of the village (they call it a village, not an estate) is a larger Tesco, plus an off-license.
It wont harm Tesco not to sell alcohol in one store!
They usually come up trumps. Whatever you think about them they do have excellent management, and usually get their own way in the end one way or another.
I think they were right to say no to alcohol in Bournville. The villiage trust is beautiful, and about the only piece of tradition we have left in brum. The Cadbury family built up the area, gave houses and gardens to their workers, and gave locals jobs and an industry. We must now respect their wishes to keep it an 'alcohol free' area. Its not a massive area, so a pub or off licence is only a five minute walk!
Well, they've managed for this long without a pub/off-licence so I think they were right - they were concerned on the impact it would have on their community so quite rightly spoke up for themselves and didn't allow the 'big boys' to run roughshod over them.
If were all a bit more community minded then perhaps we wouldn't have the burden of anti social behaviour to contend with.
J.D.Wetherspoons will eventually get a foothold in Bournville as they eventually did in Frinton-on Sea, another formally teetotal village. Just give it time..
if its a covenant on the land (ie a previous owner sold the land with a restrictive covenant) then its perfectly legal.
covenant are often used on commercial land or premises to stop a competing business setting up there. in this case Id guess it has something to do with Cadbury originally being set up by a Quaker. SImilar covenants used to exist in and around the Rowntrees factory in York.
Tesco may be able to overturn the covenant if it can prove the covenant is unreasonable or illegal, or if the original reason for the covenant is no longer valid. Eg if it was installed as a non compete clause and the organsiation has ceased trading then it can be overturned.
in this case I don't think Tesco can or should be able to overturn the covenant
however Tesco has ridden roughshod over planning and building law in the past (as shown by its flagrant flouting of planning permission in its 'Extra' store built at Portwood , Stockport). so it may well find a way to weasel their way ouit of this 'problem'
Well excuse me folks, but we have this odd thing called law in this country! Not too many other countries do. As the law stands local justices can refuse a liquor licence as they choose having regard to local conditions.
Tesco is not making the law here as yet , but "money talks" & I daresay they will have their way. They won't get my money though.
they were right, it's a quiet area with no trouble til recently when the hoodies started going there at night; this would have made it worse and spelt the beginning of the end for the people of the area.
they should ban that rank dark chocolate