Imbibe Occupiers Eviction Imminent

Very sad to report that the very nice young and idealistic occupiers who moved into the Imbibe pub in Blackfriars Road mid-December lost their appeal and have now been given their marching orders by Lambeth County Court on Fri 3 Jan after the owners of the site successfully applied for an IPO just before Christmas

They had lovely ideas about opening up a BitCoin establishment for the benefit of the community and to celebrate the spiritual home of Charles Dickens and Charlie Chaplin

Would like to wish them well wherever they go to next

The site is due to be redeveloped, so why would you expect them to be able to stay?

Of course the site is to be redeveloped and they have no right to be there and no one expected them to stay but many locals liked their idealism and enthusiasm and they have done no harm to anyone except maybe delaying the developers a day or two over the holiday period

And there they go
https://twitter.com/Fantastical_Dom/status/420891933364740096/photo/1

Just because 'big money' has plans to re-develop the site, does that mean we should all bow down before it? I agree that the occupation was a rearguard action, and would inevitably be defeated, but are you over-joyed at the prospect of Blackfriars Road becoming an adjunct of the City of London?

Genuine community re-investment might have enabled better use of properties for local use, rather tnan the conversion of the Road into a bland annexe for colonisation by our friends in the financial services...

jimfearnley wrote:

rather tnan the conversion of the Road into a bland annexe for colonisation by our friends in the financial services...

This is no better than racism. You're discriminating against people because of what they do. The financial services industry is one of the largest employers in the UK, and particularly London. If I'm a secretary, or an IT technician or an HR assistant, am I not allowed to live here?

our "friends in the financial services" are working for us all investing our pension funds in a world wide market to ensure we can have a dignified retirement.

GeminiX,
Get real and stop the hysterical outburst. "No better than racism" where did that come from? How can one possibly be racist against the buildings and the organisations that will occupy them?
Of course you are allowed to live here but by the continuing development of Blackfriars Road for offices neither you nor anybody else will be to live there.

Boroughmark I disagree with you that "our friends in financial services" are working for us all, I take the view that they are working for themselves and Mammon and those who can afford their fees and hidden charges.

Those who work in public services are the people who can be truly said to be working for all of us.

boroughmark wrote:

our "friends in the financial services" are working for us all investing our pension funds in a world wide market to ensure we can have a dignified retirement.

And I don't think anyone objects to this.

I think people DO object to:

- the fact that most of these fund managers do nothing more or less than follow indices, yet still claim enormous management charges (i.e. reducing your chance of a good retirement) which are then passed on to the employees via huge bonuses, and;

- the demonstrated lack of morality of huge chunks of the financial services industry over the last decade or so.

If someone chooses to work in an industry which is commonly perceived to be hugely overpaid, untrustworthy, and driven by values that most people find immoral, then I don't find it at all surprising that those people are viewed as immoral themselves.

Thebunhouse wrote:

GeminiX,
Get real and stop the hysterical outburst. "No better than racism" where did that come from? How can one possibly be racist against the buildings and the organisations that will occupy them?

Sorry. In my hysteria, I obviously missed that we were discussing an office development rather than a residential one.