Wigham: It’s summer 2012 — do our councils know?

Yet why do I feel underwhelmed? Was it the 40-minute train journey that took 2¼ hours last week? Two days of tube-signal failures? Or the 20-miles- in-two-hours car ride from the Olympic Stadium area last night? No. It is the attitude of the authorities to the whole thing that annoys me.

I know some of this is south-east-centric but I bet the sentiment resonates. We are not too optimistic about the Jubilee — extended bank holidays + school holidays = customer vacation in our area. However, we have tried.

We asked for a street party in a west London service road that could easily be closed. Refused. OK, what about the 150-yard cul-de-sac that goes to commercial premises next to it? “No.”
Obviously we’re asking the wrong people so let’s go and talk to the famous council that has royal property in its area. Can you let us have a party in a road normally blocked by lorries delivering to a theatre? “No.

And because you have two people who walked out onto the pavement with drinks in the heat at midday, we think you should have doorstaff.” Makes me think of the Audley Arms after the BII lunch — that typifies the situation.

We received similar responses about the “Olympic opportunity”, when we enquired about selling soft drinks and food from our street- licensed areas: “Not possible.” Then we asked  about selling BBQ and soft drinks from our external area in Brighton, situated near the Olympic torch route. “No. And we are sticking a bus stop in front of your newly refurbished pub...”

It is almost as if local authorities do not want this summer to happen. I accept that the Olympics is a unique event, of which most people in the UK have no experience, but let us have a go. Let’s face it — over four weeks this summer, 11m visitors will have to deal with negotiating our transport system to a difficult location. People are going to need a drink to retain their sanity!

But it is the reaction of councils to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee that I find most disheartening. I remember the fantastic celebrations and parties that surrounded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee: we had a brilliant day, characterised by great community get-togethers. This is our heritage that we are celebrating, but councils are too tied up in PC rules and petty regulations to see the big picture.

And they were given licensing…