Younger days yes, but I can’t comment on others going bald:(
Some healthy debate on the parking issue is welcome. The staff have worked bloody hard to find this venue originally and have been faced with the impossible challenge of trying to find a new venue that can accommodate the ever-growing LB membership.
The Market are clear in their view; they are not willing to negotiate with us further and have no interest in accommodating us, even at the expense of the obvious business we bring to the area.
Whilst we try to look after our own, we aren’t in a position to act as marshals and either encourage or tell people not to park on the Market’s property. That’s not what we’re about and who wants to listen to that? We’re looking at some stop-gap measures, i.e. the road that’s currently unused round the corner of the meet, but still in view of the area. We will still have to ask people not to park on the Market’s property though as this will only result in the authorities being involved and we know what that means from Chelsea Bridge and Soho.
Unfortunately we are a victim of our own success. Finding a new venue is an extraordinarily difficult task as there’s so many criteria to satisfy, such as:
- Atmosphere from local environment (car park in the middle of nowhere is boring)
- Agreeable residents (everywhere in London has residents)
- Legal parking space (i.e. no private property without agreement or double-yellow lines)
- Enough space to accommodate 100+ bikes
- Ability to keep bikes in view
- Local facilities, i.e. food, drinks & toilets
The obvious place is a business with grounds that would welcome the considerable business we bring for food & drinks and associated rise in appearance due to our presence. Find that place and you would get a medal.
At this point, we may well have to cancel the meet temporarily until we find a new venue. It’s that serious. Constructive feedback welcome!
i made use of parking further up the street…
in my car
lol
even got told it was alright by pc plod
possibly silly question but what is the actual legality of that road? there are yellow lines on the left (which we are being considerate to the business owners about but could park all the way up there anyway) and then there are yellow cross-hatches on the tarmac before the curbing.
cross hatching is a no-stopping entry box for junctions isn’t it? does BM actually own the road? what are the actual enforcement rules?
Outside of London there are loads of places that would love to see 100 bikers turn up, plenty of pubs with large car parks and beer gardens and no immediate neighbours but I guess holding a meeting like this in the centre of London on a weekday evening is a bit of a problem.
Isn’t there somewhere around Docklands/Canary Wharf that would do ? When I go there in the evenings it’s deserted and weekends looks like a ghost town, even the pub along Marsh Wall on the water is shut weekends.
problem round there is most of its private land(canary wharf) and most of the pubs dont have car parks ! cant think of anywhere obvious but will have a look round, wouldnt have much problem with the oldbillround there !!!
The area of cross hatching falls under the roof of the market - it’s their property.
Jay>
have you tried opening lines of communication with local councils?
they may prefer an open approach to the benefit of both sides, we may get a parking waiver/arrangement for a meet
another possibly completely crap (but heck lets throw some out there) idea is to see if the parking lot round the back of BMM would open up for us each meet, then maybe we could operate a voluntary marshall system of some sort?
its fenced and only got one point of entry
did the council confirm that? (not trying to be difficult, just curious)so is it a public road outside of the cross hatching (hence the single yellow on the other side). does the cross hatching count as a double yellow line according to the council?portobello market has designated slots marked out on the road but aren’t enforceable outside of the market hours for instance
We’ve been in touch with all these bodies. The council’s position is they don’t mind us there so long as the noise does not become a problem - if it does they have to act on behalf of the council tax payers living there and move us out.
The car park around the back is owned by the market. So far they have not responded to recent attempts to contact them about the matter other than to tell us that the Market Trustees do not want us on their property
" the Market Trustees do not want us on their property "
I’ll wager that this doesn’t include the " sausage man " :Whistling:
a few go slow protest rides through the streets around the market at lunchtime on a friday should get some attention (or us permanently kicked out)
shame they are not open to talks as using that car park would be a reasonable solution
I’m looking at this at the moment there are similar areas at Smithfeild market in the City - hatched areas on the market side of the road fall on market land - although the signage is better and clearly states this and it’s on the road running along the market. It can be checked just need the time so if anyone wants to help out give me a shout! (via PM)
fair enough. had some recent dealings with managing agents myself and via some a very large project and often when presented with quite reasonable requests, they just turn them down flat as they cant be bothered/unwilling to consider out of principal when asked for express permission (but are in fact already tolerating the actions from others as it hasn’t been expressely raised). its the ol expression its often easier to get forgiveness than permissionwhilst i’m not advocating being dismissive of the BM, if the alternative is pretty much to be looking for other venues, is it not worth parking in those areas and seeing what happens? everyone has been pretty well behaved when i’ve been there, the bikes dont cause an obstruction (if there are deliveries to a particular bit then we can leave a gap as we do for the businesses on teh other side of the road) etc. If anything if it does then come up with the BM, then we can state that people have been parking there without incident and may in fact strengthen the argument for the usage of the area?
Good to see you again after so many years mate 
Hopefully see you out on some rideouts :)Take no notice of AndyP, he thinks coz he wears a flea infested, brylcreamed up (it is brylcream aint it 
) badly made syrup that he’s a cool cat…but can you imagine wot he will look like when he lose’s it :D:P Anyone good with photoshop :DNice to meet a few more LB’ers
Greenwich?
Blackheath?
The Serpentine park whatsits name?
BM may be more amicable if we gave them some parking monies??
There must be somewhere, a large car park area with maybe a macdonalds or summit like that?
I arrived later than usual last night and didn’t have any hassle parking (thanks to paramedic guys). The flower shop was closed, the last of the traders had gone (except sausage man), and it seemed parking was more relaxed-no aggro from lorries an stuff.
On a more lighter note, who thought that the old Blade was gonna coliide with the pink pig then :w00t:
Good luck in your search and quest to find a suitable meeting place guys. We are all behind you.
What are the curent options with regards to an alternative site?
What areas are you looking at and how far out are you prepared to go?
hehe I did!! - well you did have two go’s at it… 
how about the spaniards inn up on hapstead heath. it’s not directly next to houses, it’s easy to get to even though not so central, has food toilets…, also has a pretty big parking lot?
Amersham is great for a meet. It’s very convenient for me so that’s my vote. hehe