Saving George's

THE Canal & River Trust's attempt to close George's Pork & Poultry Shop at Audlem (CaRT closes handy shop—3/12/2012) has descended into farce with CaRT now offering its volunteers to 'help' Mr George clear his smallholding by Lock 15 on Audlem Flight, writes Allan Richards.

George's supporters claim that its proprietor, Danny George, has been told by CaRT not to comment on the matter. A petition to save George's Pork & Poultry, started just a couple of days ago by boater and volunteer, Alison Tuck, has already attracted over 300 signatures. (The photograph by Graham Phillips that started it all in narrowboatworld.)

Lock keepers' hut

CaRT's predecessor British Waterways entered into an agreement with Danny George in July 2010 to rent land and a small lock keepers' hut (about 6ft square) in full knowledge that he intended to use it to sell produce. At the time it was agreed that the hut should be considered storage rather than retail premises for the purpose of setting rent because it was so small.

However, it now seems that CaRT are finding reasons to stop Danny from continuing his business by ordering him to remove a shed and gazebo from the land and threatening to terminate his agreement.

The threat

In a letter dated 26th September 2012, Mr George was told 'We must therefore insist that the offending structures are removed forthwith. We appreciate that this could be problematic given the current weather conditions and therefore give you 14 days from the date of this letter to do so'.

The letter goes on to say that if he does not comply then the agreement which allows him to use the land will be terminated.

View impeded

The reason the structures have offended, according to the letter, is that the view of the landscape is impeded.

....and now it seems that volunteers will be used to improve the view of the landscape by 'helping' Mr George remove these temporary structures.

Bearing in mind that it was a volunteer that started the petition to save George's, and the public view that this small trader is a massive asset to the waterways rather than an 'eyesore', one suspects that CaRT will not find many willing to undertake the task.

Of course, CaRT could try bullying them!

Petition:
Save-georges-pork-poultry