‘I loved selling ice-cream there’: the 13-year battle for a Mr Whippy pitch in Greenwich | London

When he was rising up, Paul St Hilaire Jr thought his dad was the following neatest thing to Willy Wonka: nobody else’s dad offered ice-cream for a dwelling.“I bear in mind sitting within the van, consuming my Mr Whippy and feeling superior to kids queueing up outdoors,” St Hilaire Jr remembered.However for the previous 13 years, the son – now a solicitor – has been preventing to get his dad’s ice-cream pitch again in a David and Goliath battle with the native council. The household have been to courtroom about 10 instances. Subsequent month they are going to take their case to the excessive courtroom.“It might be humorous if it wasn’t so heartbreaking,” mentioned St Hilaire Sr, 70. “All this fuss, upset and expense over ice-cream.”St Hilaire Sr started buying and selling on King William Stroll in Greenwich within the early Nineteen Eighties to help his seven kids, who now largely work within the NHS and schooling. The contested pitch on the historic boulevard is likely one of the hottest spots in Greenwich: look north, and you’ll see the Royal Naval School and the Cutty Sark – look south, and you’ll see the park and the Royal Observatory.“I cherished promoting ice-cream there, it was stunning and busy,” mentioned St Hilaire Sr. “My prospects got here from all around the world however had one similarity: they didn’t need the costly ice-cream offered by the Nationwide Maritime Museum close by – they needed a Mr Whippy.”However in 2004, the council began regulating ice-cream vans. King William Stroll was closed for enterprise as a result of it was too slim to accommodate ice-cream punters and pedestrians alike.In 2011, nevertheless, the Nationwide Maritime Museum opened its Sammy Ofer wing, considerably widening a bit of King William Stroll. The St Hilaires noticed an opportunity to nab the perfect ice-cream pitch in Greenwich and utilized for a licence.That’s when battle commenced: the council rejected the appliance and held agency to its determination: “King William Stroll is a slim and busy historic avenue,” mentioned a spokesperson. “We’d like to ensure everybody can transfer round safely and simply, so there are restrictions on avenue buying and selling right here to keep away from queues blocking the way in which.”In actual fact, the St Hilaires challenged this declare within the magistrates courtroom in 2013 and received, the Justice of the Peace granting them the gold-ticket licence the council had refused. However Greenwich council doubled down, paying legal professionals £52,000 to attraction towards the case in Woolwich crown courtroom in 2015.Once more, the ruling got here again in favour of the St Hilaires. This time, the council was ordered to grant the licence and reimburse the household £4,500 in prices.When St Hilaire Sr utilized to resume his avenue buying and selling licence, nevertheless, it was rejected – on the idea that the council had, with out session or publicity, determined the solely of King William Stroll was not an authorised avenue on which to commerce.St Hilaire Jr factors out that the declare the pavement is just too slim on the contested pitch was rejected by each the Justice of the Peace in 2013 and the choose in 2015. However the council additionally says that it consulted on the proposal for itinerant ice-cream vans on the stroll. “The vast majority of responses agreed with our method,” it mentioned.St Hilaire Jr disagrees. “There have been simply 25 responses to the session,” he mentioned. “Should you low cost all the inner ones and the general public ones citing the identical overcrowding concern the courts rejected over a decade in the past, that session comes out in our favour.”In any case, he added, the session was about itinerant vans. What the household need is a everlasting pitch.“The council made the choice towards everlasting pitches as a result of they claimed to have had 13 complaints towards my dad,” mentioned St Hilaire Jr. “However the so-called complaints weren’t complaints in any respect; they have been simply questions on buying and selling,” he mentioned. “There wasn’t a single grievance about my dad.”In actual fact, the one grievance towards St Hilaire Sr was present in an e-mail written by a neighborhood councillor and launched underneath the Freedom of Data Act, who referred to as him a “pest”. “After I took them to the ombudsman, they have been discovered responsible of service failure maladministration and [the ombudsman] ordered them to rethink,” mentioned St Hilaire Jr.It isn’t the primary time, St Hilaire Jr mentioned, that the council has used regarding techniques. “At one level, a member of the council referred to as my employer, suggesting I used to be serving to my dad throughout working hours,” he mentioned. “However I wasn’t, in order that didn’t work.”He mentioned the household really feel victimised by the council’s deal with them, pointing to 19 enforcement notices levied towards his father between April and Might 2016. “We efficiently contested each single advantageous and enforcement discover, however every one price us appreciable money and time,” he mentioned.The council even lowered the kerb at precisely the place the place St Hilaire Sr parked his van – at a value of £4,138. The museum’s personal ice-cream van now trades simply metres away from the contested pitch.After the ombudsman informed the council to rethink its stance on everlasting pitches … nothing occurred. Within the hiatus, St Hilaire Sr was compelled to promote his ice-cream van. He now works as a lorry driver.Then, amazingly, in 2021, the council informed the St Hilaires a part of the stroll was to be designated for avenue buying and selling. A number of months later, nevertheless, this determination was reversed. The council has by no means defined why.Lastly in 2023, Greenwich council confirmed the stroll was not designated for avenue buying and selling. It’s St Hilaire’s problem to this that will likely be determined on the excessive courtroom subsequent month.As for the council’s assertion that there are a lot of different locations to commerce from, St Hilaire Jr mentioned he has repeatedly requested the council to present them a unique website. “They’ve by no means given us a date for any of the conferences they vaguely point out may occur – and have now mentioned they’ll’t see us as a result of courtroom proceedings are ongoing.”