Barbara Brett who ran Babilicious in St Leonards, East Sussex, gives us an update on her current situation
Barbara is hoping that she can reopen her very popular kiosk/cafe.
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00:00So obviously I've contacted C-Change and I've contacted Dyer and Hobbs and they've basically
00:06told me that they're supposed to be negotiating a new lease with somebody. But what I can't
00:11understand is why they will not separate the business. So if they were to separate it and
00:16make it into three different businesses, let me back in my space. Yoga can get funding
00:21to turn the offices into their yoga studio and then someone else can go in the sunroom
00:25and run their events. There's no reason, no viable reason, why they can't do that but
00:30they're just telling me that they can't. So I've also applied to the council to try and
00:34put something up by the car park on the grassy area and they're telling me I can't get planning
00:39permission to do that. All the simple reason being is that the people that live in the
00:43flats opposite will oppose it, which I can't understand. I don't play music, I'm not open
00:49stupid hours but unfortunately at this moment in time there's nowhere else I can viably open.
00:54So it's really frustrating. Well my next steps are to try and find somewhere that I can open
00:59but there is nowhere around at the moment. I don't want to be in Hastings, there's enough
01:03coffee shops in St Leonard's on the seafront from Goat's Ledge further down. I want to be down
01:09St Leonard's side in between the car park by Marina or somewhere down towards the bathing
01:16pool. But every time I try to go to the council to ask if I can put planning in to do something,
01:22they're telling me I can't get planning permission. So at the moment I'm in a catch-22,
01:26I'm still trying to find somewhere but there isn't anywhere viable until I can try and get
01:31past these obstructions to be able to open again. So I still get people approach me in the street,
01:36phone calls, emails, asking me when I'm going to open again but unfortunately at this moment
01:42in time I can't. My name's Indra, I started the petition to get Babs reopened. Unfortunately
01:48nothing's happened yet, we've got nearly 800 signatures. We meet at another coffee shop now,
01:53loads of us on Saturday and Sunday mornings. There's plenty of places they could really
01:59offer her, they could offer her the place back, split it up into three like she says.
02:04There's a lot of community activities that went on there and the council seem to have just
02:08disregarded the fact that we've lost our space. Yoga's had to move to the hotel, it's not great
02:14at all. So basically I set up Babalicious because I was doing takeaway during lockdown
02:22and I wanted a space where people could come get a coffee which was working great, it was brilliant,
02:27it was amazing but obviously due to what happened with the building unfortunately I've had to close
02:33my cafe at the moment. But the reason I set the cafe up is because it's affordable for people,
02:38so I didn't hike my prices up. Basically I wanted something where people could come,
02:43have a walk, meet up, have a chat, it was a community hub but I tried to make it affordable
02:48for people. So as long as I made enough money to be able to cover my costs and buy my goods so I
02:55could serve to people, that's what I did and it worked well and I love it and I really miss it.
03:00One of my customers has set up a petition to basically try and understand what's going to
03:06happen in the future and whether there's a chance I can reopen here because there is nowhere
03:11down here I can rent another unit. Unfortunately there's nothing from the car park down
03:16where I could actually move into and open my business. I don't want a shed because of the
03:21weather but the council seemed to build everything from the pier down and nothing this way,
03:28so there is no other viable space I could move into to continue my business unfortunately.
03:33The reason it's good as a community hub, it's great for people's mental health,
03:38it's great for people that can't walk far, they've got access from the ramp coming down
03:41from the car park, they've also got access to the beach, they've got access to the toilets,
03:46so the reason it works so well is because it's easily accessible for everybody to get to,
03:51to sit and have a chat, to meet up. Sometimes it would be an hour,
03:54sometimes they would come down with their family but that's why it's so good.