Federation of Small Business Network Breakfast with Mike Freer (how do you like your cheese?)

This morning we had the regular FSB North London Network Breakfast.  As part of the FSB's engagement with local political leaders, the FSB invited candidates from the main parties to speak to the meeting. This month it was the turn of Mike Freer. Mike is the Conservative candidate and has been the MP for the last five years.

Mike was nice and early and spent the first hour mingling with various people and chatting informally. I used to see Mike quite regularly when he was leader of the council, but realised that this was the first time I've seen him in the flesh since he was elected as MP in 2010. As he isn't my MP, I suppose that this is not really surprising. Unike some MP's who have aged visibly over the period, being an MP seems to be agreeing with Mike. He actually looked younger than he often did when he was council leader. Mike stood up and gave his presentation and I actually thought he gave a very good presentation.

He started by talking about the work of the coalition. He said the coalition had done a good job and that he wasn't going to denigrate his Lib Dem colleagues. He felt the two parties had worked very well together to put the country back on its feet. He reminded us that the treasury secretary had left his successor a note saying he'd spent all the money when Labour vacated office. He gave us some facts and figures about the economy and how well the coaition had done. Employment up, people lifted out of tax, lending improving.  Mike told us that he'd run a small business for three years and didn't enjoy the experience. He said he was glad to get his old job back at Barclays. As he was addressing an audience of people who haven't thrown in the towel, I thought this was a brave thing to announce, given that regulations were one of the reasons he cited and that has got worse with every government. Mike also told us that the government was taking a serious look at business rates reform. This would be a major boost if it could be abolished. I believe it could create up to half a million new jobs.

I have no idea whether Lynton Crosby has ordered Tories to "nice up" following the debacle of last week, but Mike was in a very jovial mood and I thought his pitch was excellent ( regular readers will know I am not generally a fan, but credit where its due).

Then on to the questions. I got in first with a question about parking. Mike said he had worked with Eric Pickles to try and improve the situation. He said that he'd had cross words with former Tory Councillor Brian Coleman over the botched scrapping of cash pay and display. He said that he didn't think parking was as important to the High Street as many businesses claim and that it would cost  £2 million. Cafe Buzz owner Helen Michael was not impressed. She told Mike that Barnet that Barnet Council had £7 million in the special parking account, which is reserved for such matters. Mike stated that if it was simple, Labour would have proposed something in the council budget. Helen was not impressed with this

The next question was on the EU. Mike (who interstingly was wearinga  purple tie) siad he thought we should have an election and he beleived the UK would vote to stay in. He was questioned about the uncertainty this would create, but pointed out there is already a degree of uncertainty and this hadn't stopped the UK attracting more investment than the rest of the EU put together. Mike stated that having the referendum would allow the UK to get a better deal. Rather bizarrely he then stated that he visits France regularly and in France no one enforces EU regulation in Cheese Shops. It seems that Barnet Tories have a bit of a cheese shop obsession. First Matthew Offord promised us a Cheese shop in Mill Hill, now Mike claims that David Cameron will change the law to make it easier removing EU bureaucracy. I suspect that Mikes hopes will prove as vain as those of us in Mill Hill who like a bit of the smelly stuff on top of our crackers! Mike very skillfully avoided actually saying whether he was for or anti EU membership.

The next question was about HS2. Did Mike personally support "wasting £80 billion" on the project. I found myself in complete agreement with Mike. He supports HS2 and would like to see such projects built far quicker. He pointed out that in France, communities campaign for such projects to come to their region and questioned why the British are so NIMBY in their attitude. He didn't mention that in France the government pays you a premium for suffering property blight, so it can be a nice little earner to have a line at the bottom of your garden. In the UK you will get screwed over by dodgy compulsory purchase legislation.

Another question was on the subject of commercial property being converted into housing. Mike quoted the example of a few office blocks that were not fit for purpose in the Finchley and Golders Green area, that were under utilised and stated this was a good thing. I asked him about what happened to Trafalgar House in Mill Hill, where dozens of businesses were thrown out of a perfectly good office block to allow developers to cash in. Mike rather ducked the question with "I cant comment it isn't on my patch answer".

I spoke to a couple of the local business owners after the meeting and asked what they thought of Mike. I was a bit surprised by the answers. The response wasn't as positive as I'd expected, given that I thought he'd done quite well "Typical politician, promise the earth before the election" was one comment. Another one was "Same old C*** as the council about parking, didn't seem to happy when the £7 million in the reserves was mentioned". Another one reminded me that they had the inheritance tax cut in the last election manifesto and said "if it won't cost anything as they claim, why didn't they do it this time?". I think people who own and run businesses are a tad cynical.

One interesting little side note. We were graced with a visit from the local Tory blogger Dan Hope,  who video'd the procedings, so if you were unlucky enough to miss the fun, you may be able to catch the repeats (strangley Mr Hope did not attend the Green or Labour sessions) on his blog at some point. I am rather hoping that the Cheese comments are preserved for posterity. 

FSB Business Breakfast at Cafe Buzz - 2/2/2014

Now I don't normally blog too much about these meetings, unless there is something which warrants bringing to a wider audience. This morning we had just such an event. Poppy, the local Green party parliamentary for Chipping Barnet candidate addressed the meeting. One may think that of all the parties, the Greens share the least common ground with the small business communitee. I would certainly have jumped to this ill informed conclusion, but in actual fact, Poppy did an excellent job to dispel this impression.

So this morning I set off for Cafe Buzz for the regular first Monday of the month network meeting. This normally is a chance to catch up with a other local business owners, make new contacts and have a very pleasant breakfast. This morning it was freezing when I set off (see picture below), in fact as I have damaged my ankle, I thought twice about going. Bed seemed a better option. Anyway, you don't get to be Barnets top blogger by lying around in bed on a Monday morning!

She used the meeting to canvass business owners and find their views on how we can enrich and enliven our High Streets. The Green Party are supportive of the concept of local micro businesses, rather than huge multinational conglomorates, who siphon cash away and avoid paying taxes.




Poppy used her presentation to discuss some of the feedback. She spoke of the need for better public transport for local High Streets. Ideas mooted were free bus services on a Saturday, periods of free parking in local bays. Poppy noted that large supermarkets and centres such as Brent Cross have free parking, allowing their huge multinational chains an advantage over the small local High Street retailers. This cannot be fair. She talked about using local markets to reinvigorate the High Street and bring footfall in, but not in a way that canibalises the existing local trade. She said a recurring thing is that many see local High streets more as a destination for cafe's, restaurants and niche outlets, rather than for your weekly shop. I tend to think this is more true for affluent areas suchg as Mill Hill than working class ones sugh as Burnt Oak, where there is a thriving and vibrant retail environment, catering for the specific needs of the locality. It is interesting that you can get a better selection of fresh fish in Burnt Oak than you can in Mill Hill, which has a far higher retail turnover. Is there a lesson there for us.

Michael Lassman who organises the events has done a brilliant job in setting the events up. He's organising for the next three events before the election to have candidates from the other main parties. It is good for business to engage with politics.

As for Poppy, much as  I love her and believe her heart is firmly in the right place, I think that the Greens have zero chance of doing anything in the Borough of Barnet other than splitting the progressive vote. I think this is a real shame, because the House of Commons would benefit from a few MP's who are concerned about sustainability rather than vested interests and corporate sponsors. I've thought long and hard and it is a scandal that in the UK a party can have a majority in Parliamemnt with 37% of the vote. That means that 63%, the majority, have no representation at all. Whatever you may think of the Tories and Labour, it is 100% clear that both represent very clearly defined powerful vested interests. In a grown up, sensible democracy, we should have a bit more consensus. The one thing all of our mass media are keeping very quiet about is the fact that under the Coalition (love it ot hate it), we are now seeing the UK economy performing at levels far better than the rest of the developed world. Strangely no one has thought to say "Hang on, maybe the fact that decisions are agreed between two parties has resulted in a better quality of decision being made". None of us know what state the economy would have been in had David Cameron had an absolute majority or had Gordon Brown managed to secure another term. What I do know, is that under the coalition, our national GDP is increasing at levels unheard of under either Tory or Labour governments, compared to our nearest competetors.

One thing I've learned in life is that no matter how good a plan I've come up with, it has aways become a better plan when I've discussed it with another intelligent person and asked for their input. I cannot believe that George Osborne's economic planning has not benefitted from some rigorous analysis from his Lib Dem colleagues, in a way that a bunch of his own colleagues, keen to jostle for promotion and favour would not.

As a nation, we really need to have a long hard look at our political structures. I think everyone was impressed that Poppy came down and talked to business owners. I think most would feel she could play a positive role in the way we run our community. If this is the case, is it a good thing that our political system excludes her and the 13% of the electorate she represents. I am not a Green and I would not vote for them, but to exclude them is completely anti democratic. It does our country no favours at all.

If you run a small business and want to meet other business owners, pencil in the first Monday of every month, 8am at Cafe Buzz. It is well worth the effort. It costs £5 and you get a drink and a snack for yoru money. If you are lucky (or unlucky) you may even get to say Hi to me!

Notes on the Breakfast Meetup this morning - By Paul Evans of Finchlinks

By Paul Evans,
(This article was originally posted on the Finchlinks website- http://www.finchlinks.com/2012/12/notes-on-the-breakfast-meetup-this-morning/#more-409 )

Thanks to everyone who stepped out in sub-zero temperatures this morning for the Finchlinks Business Breakfast at Cafe Buzz in North Finchley. There was a good crowd there to hear Hugh Flouch of Harringay Online outline the success of the Hyperlocal website that he runs covering the streets around Green Lanes in the London Borough of Haringey (note the difference in spelling!)
Harringay Online was the subject of a 2010 study by London Councils into the hyperlocal online communities. It concluded that sites such as this (and there are a few comparable sites elsewhere in London) help to improve the sense of collective efficacy within the area that they cover. In plain English, it means that – where such a site exists  – the people living in the area have more of a sense that they can achieve something by working together.
Other benefits range from there being …

• a more vibrant network of local community groups,
• a place where people can get genuinely useful recommendations for local tradespeople,
• a greater sense of trust between local people and the local authority / police,
• a more effective local  business community with some business relying significantly upon custom that is generated by the site

Rog T of The Barnet Eye was there this morning talking about the kind of issues that he covers, and he made a very good point about the relative disengagement of the local press from the area. Rog covers politics and news throughout the borough – often filling the gaps left by the commercial press. But –for me – even those gaps are often of mixed relevance. Rog covers stories in Burnt Oak. He lives and works in Mill Hill, and both of these places are within the borough of Barnet, and are relevant to the task he has set himself as a blogger covering this borough.
There’s no question that its a good thing that they are being covered now that the press have lost interest, but we really need a network of people doing what Rog is doing – providing a volume of stories that are relevant to individuals about their own locality.

On a personal note, I’ve lived in the borough for over 20 years and I’ve visited Mill Hill and Burnt Oak precisely once each.

Everybody’s notion of locality is different. Critical mass is important to a local community site and I think that defining locality along local government lines is to cast the net too widely. I remain convinced that Hyperlocal communities would benefit both North Finchley and Finchley Central / Finchley Village and I’m happy to work with anyone who wants to get one going in the area. But I do think that it’s important that we keep focussed on the hyper part of the term hyperlocal.

We have at least two more similar breakfasts planned and we’ll be announcing the guest speaker for the next one shortly. The next breakfast is on the 17^th January. Please pass details on to any local businesses that you think may be interested.
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Finchlinks is a Hyperlocal site covering North Finchley. More info here - http://www.finchlinks.com/about/

North Finchley Traders Event

NORTH FINCHLEY LOCAL TRADERS CRIMBO BUSINESS NETWORKING BREAKFAST Event to be held at the following time, date, and location: Thursday, 13 December 2012 from 08:00 to 09:00 (GMT) Cafe Buzz 783 High Road North Finchley N12 8JY London United Kingdom View Map Attend Event Share this event:    Join us for a business breakfast to meet other local traders and discuss issues that concern us Guest Speaker Hugh Flouch of Harringay Online (and find out why we're not mis-spelling Haringey as well!)... Read More Share this event on Facebook and Twitter We hope you can make it! Cheers, Helen Michael & Finchlinks

Helen Michael assault latest

Helen Michael with fractured wrist

As readers who have been following this blog will know, I've spent a fair bit of time recently at Cafe Buzz with Helen Michael, who was victim of an alleged assault on Thursday afternoon. Helen has been badly shaken up by the incident and is highly appreciative of all the support from the community, including the flowers and cards.

Yesterday evening as she was closing the cafe (after a truly bizarre incident with a rather confused vicar), she sat down and had a coffee with myself and Paul Shea, who owns another business in the locality. Both Paul and I were extremely concerned that Helen had not had a medical checkup since the incident. She claimed that she hadn't had the opportunity, because she had been too stressed on Thursday evening and then had to open the Cafe at 6.30 am. She had been working all day. She informed us she was in excruciating pain where her wrist had been grabbed.

We suggested that she attend A&E and get it checked out. To my horror, I was later contacted by Helen who informed me that she has a broken bone in her wrist. As she is a chef in her cafe, this is a massive problem for her (on top of the pain). Helen is a tiny woman of slight build. I cannot see any possible excuse for this injury being caused. I trust that the person responsible for this injury is reflecting on what happened and will in the course of time come to regret his behaviour.

We understand that Mr Coleman has been instructed to not contact Ms Michael in any way, either personally or via a third party.

Fr Adrian Benjamin caught removing chairs from Cafe Buzz

Today I experienced the most surreal and bizarre sight in all of my years of blogging about The London Borough of Bonkers Barnet. The bloggers of Barnet have committed to support Helen Michael in every way we can. Given the horrible experience she experienced yesterday and Helens worries about what might transpire as a result, we have been keeping a close eye on Helen and her cafe today. Whilst none of us believe that this is because she faced a direct threat, we felt that the reassurance would be most welcome.

That was why I found myself at Cafe Buzz at 5pm having a cup of tea with Helen and local publisher Keith Martin (as well as a highly esteemed member of the legal profession who would rather remain nameless). We sat chatting and drinking teas, discussing what may transpire, when a truly bizarre incident happened. Fr Adrian Benjamin, a Church of England Vicar and long time friend of Brian Coleman turned up and started hanging around outside. He is known to all of us for various reasons. Helen Micaels children attended his establishment. Rather bizarrely he seemed to be hanging around rather furtively.

We then noticed that he was removing Helens out door chairs and placing them by some rubbish bins up the road. Immediately Helen and myself challenged him as to what he was doing. He replied "They look better over there". He refused to give any other answer and seemed rather confused. He then wondered in and started a conversation with Keith Martin, before shuffling off into the night.

Helen Michael was completely bemused by the incident, not least because she knows Rev Benjamin. We all speculated as to what he was doing. Helen said she cannot remember him visiting Cafe Buzz before, although she has always got on well with her. Given his appalling lack of respect for other peoples property displayed when disposing of the BAPS banner at a festival last year, I was perhaps less surprised.

I guess that unless Rev Benjamin explains his actions, it will remain a mystery. I subscribe to the view that maybe he is losing his marbles.

Finchley traders forum - 17th April 2012 - Cafe Buzz

7.30 am this morning I arrived at Cafe Buzz for the inaugural North Finchley traders forum. The meeting was set up by Paul Evans of the Finchlinks website, with the mission to start the process of reinvigorating the North Finchley High Street shopping Centre.

Paul kicked off the meeting by stating that the aim of the meeting was to bring business owners together to try and reinvigorate the High Street. He said that although Parking charges were the hot issue, there were other issues and other things which could be done to help.

Helen Michael, who is the owner of Cafe Buzz on the High Street mentioned the Mayor of Londons fund and the opportunity to spend some of the £1million fund on tarting up the High Street. Although she felt that this was a minor issue, compared to the damage caused by parking charges, she felt that as the cash was there, it should be utilised as effectively as possible.

Dr Julia Hines, attending as a representative from Age UK, suggested that shop owners should consider ways to enable elderly customers to shop more effectively and suggested a home delivery service was one way to assist elderly shoppers.

Veronica Woolf, who owns www.traxtoworks.co.uk a company assisting people to find better jobs assisting in personal development, stated that the day Owen Owen department store closed was the start of the decline of North Finchley.

David Boxer, a local businessman suggested that the migration of "The Multiples" (ie large chains) was symbolic of the decline of the High Street. He asked how business could combat the funding requirement, which the council use to justify an unfair parking regime. He suggested a scheme to welcome back shoppers.

John Greenaway from Kinleigh Folkard and Howard KFH.CO.UK estate agents suggested that High Streets were not reliant on multiples and succesful High Streets such as Crouch End had "moved beyond the multiples". He suggested that traders must see beyond the parking issue (many other people felt that it was such an overriding issue that this was impossible).

Helen Michael stated that the Arts Depot should be an engine driving the North Finchley trading community, but it seemed to exist in it's own little world with no interaction with other businesses.

Roger Tichborne of millhillmusiccomplex.co.uk (and author of this blog), suggested that traders should consider pooling resources for advertising and leveraging better deals from local papers. he also suggested that local papers should focus advertising by area, so that we have a focus on a specific High Street or area. Mill Hill Businesses have done that this week for the local Press newspapers.

Keith Martin suggested that the formation of Barnet Council in 1966 had destroyed local accountability and suggested that decision making be devolved to a more local level.

Paul McCrossan suggested that traders needed to work to create a sense of community and outlined several ideas for doing this.

There was much lively discussion around these issues. It was agreed to hold another meeting in approx 6 weeks and to concentrate on the subject of High Street regeneration.

Many of the delegates suggested that it would be nice to see representation from Barnet Council at the next meeting.Check http://www.finchlinks.com/ for details of future meetings.

North Finchley Traders protest against Brian Colemans parking charges

Barneteye TV - Barnet Traders North Finchley Protest

Fight back against Rip Off Barnet - North Finchley Traders to protest against Parking Charges - Monday 6th at 10 am

If you care about the impact of the ludicrous parking charges in Barnet and the abolition of Pay and Display parking, please be at Cafe Buzz in North Finchley  on Monday morning at 10am. Local traders are conducting a funeral services for the local High Street, officiated over by Brian Coleman (clearly this role is being played by an actor, as Coleman never takes responsibility for his own cock ups).

Please attend if you can. The protest has been organised by North Finchley trader Helen Michael.

The next leader of Barnet Council?

Cafe Buzz in North Finchley, hit by Barnet Parking charges

What qualities would you look for in a leader? Here's a few I'd go for. Charismatic, eloquent, passionate, caring and intelligent. What about for a local political leader? I'd go for someone who understands the area, is familiar with the local issues and someone who has backbone to stand up to council officials. Now here's the tricky bit. What about if they have to lead the Barnet Conservatives? This is a very damaged brand at the moment. The parking policies championed by Brian Coleman have alienated huge swathes of people who are natural Conservatives. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that their vote will go into meltdown before the next council election. The first big test of this will be the GLA elections where Brian Coleman is trying to hang on to his £50,000 a year job scrutinising the Mayor (yes, he gets £50K a year for a part time job, suggesting ways Boris could be a better mayor). So what sort of person could save them? Well if they had all of the qualities above, it would be a good start. However we are talking about leading a right of centre group. The natural domain of local government Conservatives is local business. Get someone with experience of running a local business. Get someone who understands the average High Street in Barnet and the people who use it. Get someone who understands that a strong small business sector is the only way to maintain a pleasant Borough. Most of all, get someone who will not stand by as local businesses are thrown to the wolves to plug the holes in the budget caused by management incompetence. A person with these skills, would no doubt also have the wherewithall to actually address the waste and incompetence within the council that this blog has spent nearly 4 years exposing.

On Tuesday morning, I attended a Business Breakfast, hosted by the current Leader of Barnet Council, Richard Cornelius. As detailed here, I thought it was a great meeting, not because anything actually happened, but there was at least a glimmer of a sign that Barnet have woken up to the fact that local business must listened to. The meeting was sold out. These people, who I guess were mostly natural conservatives, were incensed. The parking issue is killing many of their businesses and the council has no strategy whatsoever to address it. A speaker suggested that Barnet allow 1/2 hour free parking to boost the High Streets. The Leader of the Council, Richard Cornelius said "We can't do that, we'd lose £2 million in revenue". In effect, this was an admission that Barnet Council is unlawfully using parking as a cash cow.You see councils are not allowed to structure parking policy to raise funds, the purpose is to efficiently regulate traffic. As the High Street is a place where some people come to buy a pint of milk or buy a sandwich and a cup of tea (which takes 10 minutes and the spend is 50p - £3), whilst others come for a haircut or meal (or both - spending £50 -£300) and stay 3 or 4 hours, the policy is hugely discriminatory against a certain sector of retailers.When Richard Cornelius took over as Leader of the Council, I had assumed that as a small businessman (he runs a jewelry business), he'd understand. What he doesn't seem to grasp is that half the shops in the High Street are not dealing in a market where the average spend is several hundred pounds. Wheras a Jeweller like Richard can afford to give his customers a £2 parking voucher, because they are spending £2,000 on a diamond tiara, a cafe selling someone a cup of tea for 80p, would be losing £2 on the transaction. In answer to Richards comment about losing £2 million in revenue, the has wasted twenty times that amount on botched projects, bad investments and inept decisions over the last few years. They have lost up to £27.4 million in botched Icelandic investments (who knows what the real figure is, with lost interest etc), they overspent £11 million on the £12 million Aerodrome Road bridge replacement project. They have had to pay Catalyst Ltd £8 million because they have outsourced care homes with a badly drawn up contract. They have spent £26 million on their SAP procurement project, which former Leader Mike Freer said would cost £6 million. They have spent at least £5 million on consultants for the One Barnet project, over 4 years, to deliver savings, but all they have delivered is reports, suggesting more consultants reports. This week the Barnet Eye detailed how they were spending £374,000 to buy play equipment, which they are then going to put into storage for £10,000 a year. The list goes on, but I'm sure you get the idea.

There is no lack of money for pet projects that benefit no one, but a parking policy which would regenerate the High Streets, breath life into local shops and provide employment for local people (taking them off the dole and delivering tax income) would lead to a huge improvement in the economy of the Borough. Sadly, the leadership of the council just do not seem to get it. The parking charges are a stealth tax, full stop. As Conservatives, the Barnet Tories should recognise the fact that such taxes hurt businesses and jobs. They don't. It is time that the current crop of Conservatives admit that they are not up to the job. They should resign their seats and ask for local business people who do understand the local economy to replace them.

Going back to the meeting on Tuesday, one particular speaker stood out. Helen Michaels, who runs cafe Buzz stood up and wiped the floor with the parking policies of Barnet Council. Not only that, but when someone intervened to try and shut her up, virtually every member of the audience backed her. What was she arguing for? Sensible, business friendly policies.  She used the examples of old ladies, mums with kids and one off shoppers in a hurry to illustrate her point. It was unarguable. She ticked all of the boxes I listed at the head of this article. In a sane world (or at least a sane Borough), the Leader of the Council would be off to Cafe Buzz today, to sign her up as a Conservative candidate. If I was Richard, I'd parachute her into a safe seat and give her Brian Colemans cabinet job. Many people tell me Colemans one redeeming feature is that he's not afraid to speak his mind. Neither is Helen. The difference is she has business experience and cares about the locality. I doubt anything would make me personally vote Conservative, but if she replaced Coleman in the cabinet and scrapped his awful policies, I'm sure a lot of natural Tories who wouldn't currently touch them with a bargepole would swarm back. She is an example of someone who clearly would make a decent council leader, for all the reasons listed above.

I've no idea whether she'd even want to get involved, but she's the kind of person we need in Barnet politics. I spoke to her briefly yesterday, nothing to do with this. She told me that if she can't get the parking problems sorted out, it will kill our local high streets. She's right. The sad truth is that whilst Barnet Council needs a Leader like Helen Michaels, the chance of us ever getting one is probably more remote than me becoming the next Pope.

PS. I urge everyone who reads this blog to support their local High Street. Please use the local shops, cafe's and pubs. With petrol at it's current prices, a short walk to the local shop may actually be cheaper, if you add in the transport costs.