Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
Covent Garden Area Trust
In St Marks' Square, Venice, the outdoor chairs belonging to the cafes are all of the same design. They have light, shiny silver frames and seats of woven plastic. They stand in different coloured blocks - thirty blue-seated chairs outside one café, twenty yellow chairs outside another. Waiters stand by the chairs ready to serve anyone who sits down. They dart in and out of the café doorways carrying trays or taking orders to the kitchen.
In Covent Garden's Piazza - another elegant and historic square - things are rather different. By contrast to the strictly imposed simplicity of Venice, some caterers in the Piazza have created large, permanent outdoor rooms with canvas roofs edged with guttering.
These tented structures are warmed with gas heaters and they are fenced around to stop customers running off without paying. There are on-going complaints that they look untidy and block views of the outstanding architecture of the square.
A debate on the look and management of outdoor catering in the Piazza is taking place as part of the updating of the Covent Garden Area Trust's Environmental Study of Central Covent Garden (first published in 1997). Together with Westminster City Council, English Heritage and freeholders Scottish Widows, the Trust has commissioned Peter Heath of WS Atkins to produce a second version of its useful handbook of guidelines. Two public meetings have already been held this year and everyone with responsibility for buildings within the Piazza area is being consulted.
If you feel strongly about the style of al fresco dining in the Piazza or would like to know more about the Covent Garden Area Trust, contact Leana Pooley, Trust Administrator on 020 7497 9245 or by e-mail to admin@cgareatrust.org.uk
Leana Pooley
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