Just how many coffee shops do we need in Chislehurst High Street?

Count up the number of places where you can get a cup of coffee:



1.    Cafe Nero
2.    Cafe Rouge
3.    Prezzo
4.    Chestnut Cafe
5.    Mirage 2
6.    2gether Shop
7.    The Queen’s Head
8.    Annabel’s

Not forgetting the estate agents. (Pop into any one of them and they may well make you a cup if you ask nicely enough; you probably won’t even have to ask if you buy a house while you’re in there).

So do we really need another one?

Village News has just learnt from a reader that there is a planning application in to Bromley Council to turn the right hand side of Wrattens into a Costa Coffee shop.

Last year Costa Coffee founder, a Mr Costa – believe it or not, likened coffee chains to Tesco, saying they have "taken over".

At least we don’t live in Purley, Mr Costa’s home town, where there are no fewer than six Costa Coffees, let alone other coffee outlets.

If you think eight coffee outlets in the High Street is enough, write to Bromley Council (www.bromley.gov.uk) and tell them. The planning application reference is 13/03091/FULL1.

But hurry up. The closing date for comments is.....tomorrow!

Photo: www.amazon.co.uk

www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk

Chislehurst fraudster gets 4 years

In the Metropolitan Police’s excellent “The Little Book of Investment Scams” it reports that investments where fraud is commonplace are land, wine, carbon credits, gold and jewels as well as stocks and shares.

Back in October 2010, Jim Budd of www.investdrinks.org was warning about Finbow Wines Ltd. Finbow’s representatives were talking about low value, high volume Italian wines to be supplied to China and Hong Kong that one could not normally invest in as an individual “...but demand is high and contracts to supply in place” with a buy back guarantee after 12 months. Jim Budd said, “All in all this is not a deal I would want to invest in”.

DINA SNELLING

Five months later and investors were beginning to realise that they were unlikely to get their money back. And earlier this month Dina Snelling of Invicta Close, Chislehurst, was jailed for 3 years and 11 months having earlier been convicted on two counts of conspiracy to defraud.

Along with her brother and cousin, Snelling tricked a large number of investors into investing in Australian wine, which would then be sold after a few years in storage.

This started as Nouveau World Wines Ltd which turned over £2.5 million, followed by Finbow Wines Ltd.

Although the trio sold thousands of bottles, only a fraction of the total sold was ever produced.

The combined monetary loss was over £4.5 million.

In sentencing Snelling at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Michael Grieve said, “These were highly sophisticated frauds over a very substantial period of time, a total of two-and-half years.”

“Nouveau investors for the most part lost the whole of their investment, none certainly had any return.”

“The victims were individuals and in many instances elderly retired persons looking for a better return on their modest savings.”

“They were not for the most part seasoned investors and the conspiracy relied on slick sales techniques.”

“There were a large number of victims, no figure has been put on it but over the time frame of both frauds it clearly ran into hundreds.”

“'You personally benefited through the payment of your rent in Australia, your removal costs when you went to live in Australia, and some £10,000 to fund your cosmetic surgery.”

Here at Chislehurst, Petts Wood and Bickley Village News we reckon that instead of spending money on a “boob job”, Ms Snelling may have been better advised to have had some facial plastic surgery, judging by the hundreds of individuals that she has scammed.

In the meantime, it’s worth repeating, “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is”.

www.met.police.uk/docs/little_book_scam.pdf

www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk

The Price of a Pint (+free beer mat)

The girls here at Chislehurst, Petts Wood & Bickley Village News like their pint. Not the fizzy yellow stuff but the proper British brew.

Which is why, after a little argument, we had a little ring round last week to find out the price of the cheapest pint of bitter in the Chislehurst pubs. (Petts Wood and Bickley to follow soon!)

This is what we were told:
The Queen's Head.....£2.49
The Tiger's Head.....£3.34
The Crown.....£3.40
Gordon Arms.....£3.40
Imperial Arms.....£3.50
Rambler's Rest.....£3.50
The Sydney Arms.....£3.55
The Bull's Head.....£3.59

If you think the prices are a little steep, remember, that at £3.50 a pint, Excise Duty and VAT make up (on a 5% beer) an incredible £1.12 of the total, a 32% tax take.

Since 2008 the beer duty escalator has meant a beer tax increase of 2% above inflation automatically every year. Since 2008 beer duty has risen by 42%!

After a year-long campaign in 2012 the Campaign for Real Ale achieved a huge win at this year's Budget as the Chancellor axed the beer duty escalator and announced a 1p cut in beer duty, the first time beer duty has been cut since 1959.

However, with a staggering 7,000 pubs having closed in the last 6 years we all need to do our bit to make sure that our local pubs survive, whatever price they charge.

FREE BEER MAT: Email us (info@chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk) and let us know you support our local pubs in Chislehurst, Petts Wood and Bickley and we will send you a FREE beer mat. Don't forget to give us your postal address (which will only be used for this offer; it will not be retained / sold on).

Cheers!

www.chislehurstpettswoodandbickleyvillagenews.co.uk

Loony joins the Conservatives: Bob Neill MP set to gain 132 more votes!

CONSERVATIVE

LOONY

Word reaches Chislehurst Village News that John Cartwright, who nearly toppled Bob Neill in the 2006 Bromley & Chislehurst by-election, will not be fighting him in the 2015 general election. The reason for this is that this former Official Monster Raving Loony Party candidate has left to join.....the Conservatives.

Although Mr Cartwright made this decision several months ago, the fact that the announcement was made on 1^st April did make us a little bit suspicious. However it appears that the announcement was genuine although, as at today’s date, Mr Loony does not yet appear to have secured himself a constituency as a Conservative candidate in the next general election. Bob Neill, on the other hand, back in the summer was reselected as the Conservative candidate to fight Bromley and Chislehurst in 2015.

N.B. In the 2006 by-election:

Bob Neill (Conservative): 11,621 votes

John Cartwright (OMRLP): 132 votes

2010 general election

Bob Neill (Conservative): 23,569 votes

OMRLP Candidate: No candidate

www.bobneillmp.co.uk

www.croydonloony.co.uk

www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk

Fireworks at The Sydney Arms

No, no, no, no, no!

Anyone expecting to go to The Sydney Arms to find a punch up in full flow has got completely the wrong end of the (rocket) stick.

Not only are the residents of Old Perry Street, Chislehurst, going to be treated to the Rotary fireworks over the road in the grounds of the Old Elthamians this year on 2nd November, (tickets available from www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk) one week later The Sydney Arms is putting on its very own display; an altogether more intimate attraction with the added benefit of being in a beer garden; and they're free.

If you're in need of some (more) fireworks, a drink or two and a BBQ, come along on 9th November in the evening and see sparks fly.....so to speak.

BBQ from around 6pm.
Fireworks from around 8pm .

www.sydneyarms.com
020 8467 3025

www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk

Get your Christmas eating in early

Now we all know that mince pies are for life and not just for Christmas, but it's nice to know that with less than 3 months to go we can start to stock up on such essentials.

We sent Jane down to Sainsbury's to start off our Christmas party bottom drawer, but on her way to the sherry and Baileys she went past the mince pies, or what was left of them. The bottom shelf looked at little bare. Not wanting to miss out she put a pack in her trolley and brought them back to the office, having queued up to speak to "the friendly man on the tills". (And hopefully to pay).

They looked a treat. The picture showed and the wording described not just mince pies but "deep" ones, the front of the pack also reminding us of "Christmas by Sainsbury's" although we think that there are possibly others with a greater claim.

However, what really drew our attention was the Best Before. Not Boxing Day or the middle of January when everyone's run out of money, but 4th November!

So if you see a small group at the Rotary fireworks on 2nd November munching on a box of Christmas mince pies, you'll know not only who they are but why they are!

Rotary firework tickets are available from our online Shop.

Christmas mince pies are available from Sainsbury's - but we suggest you wait until the beginning of December.
www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk

Atheist Scouts and Guides in Chislehurst?

From 1^st September Guides in Chislehurst, Bickley and Petts Wood have a new Promise.

The words “to be true to myself and develop my beliefs” will replace “to love my God”, and the words “to serve the Queen and my community” will replace “to serve the Queen and my country”, following an “in-depth consultation process earlier this year” which we at Chislehurst Village News have yet to be able to lay ours hands on.

So it’s “goodbye God” and “goodbye country”. It is somewhat ironic that several Guide groups in the area meet, and are attached to, Christian churches.

Whilst local Guide leaders shrug their shoulders with an “oh, well” or something similar they don’t have the former Bishop of Rochester, Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, on their side. Bishop Michael challenged the guide leadership to allow those who wished to retain the former promise to do so.

He said: “If there are others [like a group in Harrogate] – indeed I would hope that there are many others like it – why should they not be allowed to continue to have a reference to God?

“If [change advocates] really believe in diversity they would allow them to do that.

“Why should they face expulsion from the Girl Guides movement which is rooted in the Christian faith?"

Meanwhile, up at the 5^th Chislehurst Scouts, promises also appear to be on the march - or not? Today it has been announced that with effect from 1^st January 2014 there will be an additional promise which allows Cubs and Scouts to “uphold our Scout values” instead of “To do my duty to God”, following an “extensive consultation”. Again we have been unable to lay our hands on the report and findings despite having been asking since last July.

 

5^th Chislehurst’s Scout Leader commented that although the existing promise will remain “on the books”, as far as he’s concerned the alternative won’t be on offer.

“The daft thing about all this,” he said, “is that it is already possible for atheist young people to be full members as the Scout Association’s policy does not prohibit any young person from joining”.

So, in Chislehurst at least, it appears that if you want to make a promise that involves God you need to join Scouts. And if you don’t want to make such a promise you will have to be a Guide.

Then again, you can’t be a Guide if you’re a boy.....

In the meantime, we wait for the first atheist scout challenge. Why do we here think that that wait won’t be very long?!

www.chislehurstvillagenews.co.uk