STAR RUCKS

Anti-Starbucks protesters in Brighton have been stepping up their year-long campaign against a new branch of the giant coffee chain as a public enquiry against it got under way this Wednesday.

A make-shift alliance of small businesses, local residents and campaigners started protesting outside a former bookshop in the Kemptown area when Starbucks opened without planning permission just over a year ago. It has managed to stay open as a coffee shop despite the trading license being for retail use only. The campaign has succeeded in bringing Starbucks to a public enquiry, and protesters showed up in force outside Brighton Town Hall at the start of the three-day hearing. One member of the campaign who attended the hearing said the first day went well as the Starbucks representative “got roasted”. The planning inspector is set to decide on the issue in six weeks time.

Despite the council filing an enforcement order against the branch - which has been flagrantly ignored - it is the protesters who have faced a clampdown from the authorities. Police have kept a constant presence and protesters have been photographed and warned under council noise by-laws for speaking on megaphones. Earlier this week the American anti-consumerist performance artist Reverend Billy came along in a lively show of support for the campaign.

Locals are concerned that the vibrant St James Street will lose its character as local businesses are squeezed out by multinationals. Local campaigner Jon Barrenechea commented that “there are already sixteen other coffee outlets in the area so there is no need for it. Those local, independent businesses need all the help they can get.”