WHAT SIDE ARE YOU ON? THE PUB OR THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED YOU? |
Cllr Condon-Simmonds......
Your earnest wish was that our community be destroyed.
You continuously express your regret it never happened.
You know, had it happened, we would have lost our homes, our jobs, and our community.
Now, you openly express your strong support for the proposed planning application by The Riley Arms Public House, 433 Kings Road, London SW10 0LR
WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS ?
The Riley Arms Public House, situated on the western end of the Kings Road, has submitted a planning application to have a rear patio built for the use of it's noisy, often drunken, and frequently badly behaved customers.
This pub extension will be next to the homes of elderly and disabled residents and many young children's bedrooms will overlook it
Children will be forced to have their bedroom curtains closed during the day in order to avoid witnessing drug taking and drug dealing outside their homes.
It is a 'known' that groups of patrons congregate smoking drugs on residents' entrances at the back of the pub during daylight hours on a daily basis.
Children are forced to walk through these groups as they come home from school.
A terrible example and frightening for residents.
The building of a patio at the back and an extra exit will further blight our children's lives.
Children will witness and normalise drug taking, the fencing of stolen goods as men with ruck sacks weave their way in and out of the pub through the back door, drinking, smoking and violent behaviour.
Their development will be further adversely affected by the building of a patio, an extra door and the installation of concertina doors at the front.
Concertina doors are proposed at the front. on the Kings Road . This will open the front of the pub seven days a week from 10 am to 11 pm . Mothers with young children at present desperately try to avoid the leery comments and the frequent sexual references as they force their way through crowds of drunks on the way to the supermarket on a daily basis. Having larger crowds will further compound the feeling of entrapment as they suffer this onslaught of antisocial and criminal behaviour at the front and at the back of the pub. They have no choice but to face this on a daily basis as they walk to the supermarket, shops and bus stop.
Other commercial premises are too frightened to complain or object as they clean up the vomit and urine every morning from their doorstep. The last time one did a microwave was thrown through their window.
The police attend the pub regularly in response to violence between drunk patrons.
Many of us as young children have grown up with instructions from mothers " Don't go past the pub at the front or at the back. Cross over to the other side of the kings Road to the supermarket "
Now we give our children the same instructions.
Many of us have worked very hard to improve the lives of the most vulnerable and in particular the children in our community as they are our future.
CLLR CONDON-SIMMONDS....WE ARE APPALLED THAT NOT ONLY HAVE YOU TURNED A BLIND EYE, BUT ARE SUPPORTING THE EXPANSION OF A ROGUE PUB....WHY?
KEEP YOUR COMMUNITY SAFE OBJECT NOW BY CLICKING HERE
PLEASE DON'T LEAVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE
Deadline the 19th of July 2016.
This councillor seems to have strong links with restaurants and local public houses.
ReplyDeleteVery often to the detriment of residents.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should ask her about her personal friendship with the pub owner.
ReplyDeleteI hear she is a good friend of Ralph.
DeleteWho's Ralph?
DeleteWho's Ralph ?
DeleteThe pub owner
DeleteA property developer with no interest in the community. Just a pub manager who is often drunk on the premises.
DeleteAnd the owner of a certain Italian resto in New Kings Rd.
ReplyDeleteWell it seems that italian restaurants seem to be very good to her.
ReplyDeleteDon't bother trying to raise support from our MP because she is even worse. Her attitude is that the lower classes should not even be inthis borough, we should commute in to our work and then disappear out to the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteWe are lucky to have Victoria Borwick. In any case is this not outside her constituency?
DeleteYes it's in Chelsea not Kensington. Ask Greg Hands. See if he replies and Kensington residents be grateful you have Victoria not Greg!!
DeleteHe has already responded. Very supportive. He saved our community.
DeleteWould prefer to have neither. She adds nothing to the borough only see her when there is a camera or microphone planted in front of her.
DeleteShe's a relic and with so much rubbish going on in the borough think she will find it harder to get back in 2020 most of the votes she received were fear votes from Miliband becoming PM last year.
Would genuinely like others to tell us what she HAS done.
She did vote for reduction in support for the sick and disabled (ESA) by £30 a week. She's not one of us, she is one of them!
I hear that she is under the protection of Cllr Moylan
ReplyDeleteHand in hand
ReplyDeleteShe is placing undue pressure on RBKC officers to approve the planning application.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't care for residents. Only her special friends.
DeleteSomeone should investigate.
DeleteI hear that she openly tells constituents that the planning application will be approved. Does she know something we don't?
DeleteTMO officers are at their wits end as she demands free visitors parking permits for her restanteur friends. If they refuse she bullies them.
DeleteThis has a stench ...
DeleteThe stench of corruption.
DeleteShe has not updated her register of interests.
Deletehttps://www.rbkc.gov.uk/pdf/cllr_condon-simmonds_interests_aug_2012.pdf
Maighread is so ineffective that most have concluded that she's just useless/dim/bonkers (take your pick, or all three). Looks like she's more than a little bent too.
ReplyDeleteSimmonds is often not only unhelpful but intentionally obstructive. She opposed the new planters on World's End Place for God only knows what reason had popped into her head. Hargreaves and Berril-Cox had to set her straight.
DeleteThey call her " the nutter " in the corridors of power at Hornton Street
DeleteQuite apt.
DeleteThe problem is that she is dangerous.
ReplyDeleteYes. Corruption corrodes.
ReplyDeleteShe is putting pressure on RBKC officers involved in the planning application in order to help her friend.
ReplyDeleteI hear that she is whispering in the ear of her councillor colleagues so that they will approve the planning application.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should investigate.
ReplyDeleteWe pay her £ 10, 000 a year to make our lives worse.
ReplyDeleteShe stops all improvements to the area through her with the TMO. The gardening man Dominic Davies is very obliging.
DeleteYes, he manages the Area Review Board funding and the Housing Regeneration Funding. He takes instructions from his patron on what estates get funding for improvements.
DeleteShe really is a smelly pooper!
ReplyDelete& she lives in one of the poshest places in the borough; Rileys is her closest boozer and I know when I'm tanked up & falling over the road eventually making it to the front door on all fours I prefer my tavern to be close to home.
DeleteYes, it must help to be a personal friend of the owner.
DeleteWe will never vote for her again.
ReplyDeleteThe Riley's has a problem. Some of the punters are a massive pain, cause trouble, sell stolen goods and deal drugs. It wasn't that long ago the boys in blue were parked outside every Friday and Saturday night dealing with the aftermath. And the occasional drug sweep of the toilets is pretty much permanently positive. It's no surprise the owner appears to want to change things.
ReplyDeleteBut the problem isn't the building, it's the customers. They drag the pub "down-market". They need to get rid of them if they really want to change things. The problem is: it's not easy. The first fly in that particular ointment is the fact that many of those "dodgy" customers simply don't want to leave, they have nowhere else to go. The second is that if they were to actually get shot of their dodgy customers they might find themselves without any customers at all; the locals with any sense already go elsewhere. The compromise appears to be to try and fiddle with the building. But that will change nothing. The customers will still be a nightmare. The neighbours will still have to put up with hell. The owner and landlord will be a load of money down. You do wonder whether they've really thought this through properly.
As for Cllr. Simmonds: it's been clear for years that she's happy to act against her constituents when it suits. And when it comes to the local businesses it does appear to suit an awful lot. It does make you start to wonder why ...
Sounds like the very down-market equivalent of all those "posh" borderline vice-dens/nightmares elsewhere on the Kings Road that cause no end of trouble. We should be shot of them all!
DeleteThe Riley's is a dive. I don't blame residents for objecting to whatever scheme the owner has dreamt up on the back of a napkin.
DeleteNapkins would be an improvement.
DeleteCareful, that is social cleansing, any illegal acts must be dealt with. Otherwise this will go the way of THe Tournament pub on Old Brompton Road empty for years & now being demolished for flats.
DeleteCareful what you wish for.
I suspect what people wish for is for the landlord to at least look like he's trying to deal with the problems within and around the pub. The pretty overt acts of fencing stolen goods and dealing drugs for example.
DeleteTarting it up a bit won't actually make that go away. Even increasing the prices probably won't make that go away. As long as those peddling stolen goods and drugs can find willing buyers frequenting the pub they'll stick around too. The landlord needs to make it clear that those kind of activities just aren't welcome.
But then pigs might fly as well.
The landlord is a property developer who has just bought it. He has no interest in our community or the children he is affecting by these proposals. He is quite happy to continue the same staff - a manager who drinks while on duty and has befriended all the local thugs. The only way for this to change is to turn it into a restaurant, change the staff, change the name , refurbish it and leave the exterior as it is.
DeleteThe old worlds end pub works very well. It changed the staff, the name, it was refurbished, maintained the layout and was turned into a restaurant. It is now an asset to the area.
DeleteThis landlord is making use of his personal friendship with Councillor Simmons to make the area worse.
DeleteRileys is not my choice of place to go to but this does smack of social cleansing choosing who goes where. It is not the first time a pub landlord drinks on the job.
DeleteSocial cleansing is what Cllr. Simmons had planned for us without us knowing. To demolish our homes and displace our community.
DeleteIf you feel so passionately about The Riley's you are very welcome to it outside your front door. Drug dealers, shop lifters, drunks, drug users night and day. The only place for them is at her majesty's pleasure. Not outside children's homes and bedroom windows. What is classist is to assume that is all are good for.
DeleteYou would not be the developer would you? He doesn't have it on his doorstep affecting his family. Our friend Ralph and his best friend Cllr. Simmons.
DeleteThis is not about social cleansing. This is about fighting to save our community. For the right to bring up our children in a safe and stable environment. That is all any parent would want.
DeleteThe sooner that dump is gone,the better. Was lied to by the manager after being physically attacked for no reason. He told me the cctv cameras did not cover the part of the bar I was standing at when it happened. Making friends with the local thugs? He is scared of them. Luckily for him I was not seriously injured as I would be pressing charges.There is precedent of pubs losing their licences for refusing to rrlease evidence to the police. With that attitude,it is only a matter of time...
DeleteFree meals, free haircuts, free meat products, etc, etc
ReplyDeleteAs a result we have eighteen commercial premises that do what they want. Rubbish dumping, noise, damaging of pavements, the parking of five vehicles with two parking permits, dodgy electrics, a stationary van full of rubbish, etc, etc
ReplyDeleteRBKC officers are told to "make it all go away"
ReplyDeleteWhen residents complain our beloved councillor intervenes and marrs all action by making things difficult for officers who are trying their best to help residents.
DeleteI know officers that have been shouted at.
DeleteShe once threatened a police sergeant by telling him that if he helped the residents association he would be sent back to Peckham.
DeleteHe was a wonderful officer. He felt forced to hide his involvement with the community. He asked a resident to enter the police station through the locker room where officers do their ironing in case Councillor Simmons came through the main door.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of a councillor leaning on the police. An investigation should be carried out.
ReplyDeleteShe also uses her position on the board of The Tenant Management Organisation to do special favours for her favourite commercial premises.
ReplyDeleteResidents bid money to improve the area at the back. Eighteen commercial premises have loading rights in front of residents homes. Lorries park all day on pavement thereby damaging paving slabs. Bollards were installed to prevent this. A favourite Italian restaurant was annoyed. His lorries could no longer mount the pavements. He turned to his patron Cllr. Simmons. She surreptitiously tried to have them removed through The TMO. Luckily residents became aware.
ReplyDeleteWe will never vote a corrupt Councillor again.
ReplyDeleteWe ask the question Cllr. Simmons
ReplyDeleteWhat have we done to deserve everything you do to us and our children ?
All the above comments seem remarkably ill informed, they make accusations about which they know little or nothing. Rileys is an eyesore it should/will be closed and refurbished. The company that owns it is a responsible landlord who is only waiting for planning permission to improve the pub before reopening it.
ReplyDeleteA new team will be put in place, as will a new kitchen which will produce good food. The new owners have a sister craft brewery, so the beer will be special.
The owners do NOT know Cllr Simmonds personally and have briefly met with her twice, as they have with other council officers as part of an open dialogue to discuss how best to improve the offering at 433 Kings Rd., both in quality of environment and product.
It seems to me that the very objective that in the main you are seeking, being the reformation of the 433 Kings Road as a good and pleasant place to eat and drink is what will be hampered by the type of reaction we witness above.
Surely it would be more sensible to actually find out what is intended by those involved before jumping to the type of offensive conclusion we are being fed in this blog.
I do not know Cllr. Simmonds well at all but if I were her I would be sorely upset at the comments made about her in regard to 433 Kings Rd. which I know to be unfounded and almost wholly wrong, she, the new owners, the council and I suspect the nearby residents all want the same thing - a good public house with great reasonably priced food and drink which they can enjoy in the company of their friends and others.
Why don't some of you check out the realities before you write to this blog.
The residents that were born in this area and are fighting to bring up their children despite drug dealers, shop lifters, drug users and drunks day and night outside their homes. It is not us who have misled RBKC on the planning application for the windows. Building a patio at the front of our homes with an extra entrance in front our homes and concertina doors on the Kings Road will only compound the misery we are already exposed to by your lack of management. As a developer you have every right to try to maximise your investment but not at the expense of our children's safety and well being.
DeleteYour intentions are obviously to be trusted when you employ builders who throw doors and basins out of windows at midnight onto the pathway, your beer lorry mounts our pavements and damages the front of our homes that we as residents have paid for. Your intentions are obviously to be trusted. So I do apologise if you are highly offended at our summation of the situation but you will find us formidable opponents as well Cllr. Simmons knows when she and others attempted to demolish our homes and displace us.
DeleteIf that is indeed true why haven't the Pub's new owners approached the local community? There are plenty of local community groups working in the immediate vicinity of the Riley's Pub. None have been approached about the plans for the Pub and the Pub's owners haven't made any effort to discuss their plans with those living right next to it. However wonderful their plans are they are clearly monumentally crap at communicating them.
DeleteAny allegations made with regards to Cllr. Simmonds are probably inspired by the output of her own gob.
DeleteIf people think she is openly supporting the application, and perhaps even trying to influence the planning committee's decision or the behaviour of planning officers, it is probably because she's told them as much. She isn't exactly known for being discreet.
Re: 23:43.
DeleteThe Pub's owners probably decided that it was less work to get a local Councillor on-side rather than try to engage with the locals.
Who wants the hassle of dealing with residents when it is far easier to "go to the top" and make sure the planning consent is in the bag while you're at it?
That sounds brilliant. Except it's not what the staff are saying and it's not what the customer are saying either. You're describing a complete re-imagining of the Pub. Staff and customers aren't. Who are we supposed to believe?
DeleteWhat the drunk abusive manager and the toothless barmaid ?
DeleteVery reassuring.
DeleteThe customers who drug deal, shop lift and smoke drugs in front of our homes when our children come home from school ?
DeleteHow can we think that we are fortunate in having a patio built in front of our children's bedrooms, a further entrance in front of our homes and concertina doors at the front when drug dealers and shop lifters are outside our homes day and night. How arrogant can you be to think we don't know what is good for our community.
ReplyDeleteThe side and the back of the pub are the centre of our community and the front of our homes are where we stop to talk to our neighbours and where our children play. Most of us have been born here and many us are fourth generation born in the area. We are not your financial opportunity.
DeleteWhy don't they turn it into a restaurant, change the name, refurbish it and leave it with the existing entrance. The reason the side entrances are sealed is because the police sealed them so that the drug dealing could be managed. They are on notice to keep their fire exit closed at the back. This was being used by known drug users to come in and out during the day past our homes without being noticed. But parents notice and fear.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the new owners have consulted the Police about their proposals? The Police would know all about the problems the Riley's has suffered from in the past and what steps have been taken to try and address them. The new owners really need to make sure their plans aren't going to make things worse than they are now.
DeleteThe police are extremely supportive of the community.
DeleteThe police have been aware of the criminal behaviour by some of the patrons for many years. They attend on a regular basis. The doors at the side and at the back are kept firmly closed on police advice.
ReplyDeleteThe Maighread thing knows which side her bread is buttered. She looks after number one
ReplyDeleteThat is the sad reality. We have a councillor who we have to fight against on a regular basis in order to improve where we live so that our children can have the self worth to better themselves. We have a councillor who hates us so much she is happy to tell all and sundry that she wishes we had lost our homes and our community. For this privilege we give her £ 10,000 a year in expenses. So learn. Next time vote for someone else !!!!!!
DeleteA Tory Councillor, close to hyphen, told me that she is an embarrassment but it suits the Tory Group to have her on the Council because she sits on the TMO Board when no other self respecting RBK&C Tory would want that dirty smell under their noses.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that Condon Simmonds was on the TMO. No wonder the TMO is so bad.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, on the TMO board, with her gardening man at her beck and call. She can undertake improvements to those who support her.Those that know what is going on and write to their MP have their funding witheld.
DeleteHe does oversee over a million pounds in public funding. ARB, HRP, landscaping budget, gardening budget, cleaning budget, etc
DeleteYes, for all 153 TMO estates in RBKC.
DeleteI wonder how he has been promoted to oversee technical projects with Area Review Board and Housing Regeneration Project money from the council from being a Gardening Manager.
DeleteThe gardening man has no technical qualifications. No engineering degree. No experience of project managing, etc being friendly with our councillor helps to shield him from scrutiny.
DeleteThe TMO does have some good officers who desperately try to help residents but when you are instructed by directors to overlook rubbish dumping by favourite Italian eating establishments or are shouted at by our fabulous councillor for not giving her visitors parking permits for her other favourite Italian eating establishments you have no choice but to keep your head down and do as your told. Residents suffer the fall out.
DeleteGood officers feel demoralised.
DeleteDear Gracious Dame,
ReplyDeleteThere are numerous allegations against this woman which must not be passed over under the Old Pals Act of the local Tory Party. RBKC Councillors must set up an enquiry to investigate all of these allegations of corruption and improper conduct. Members of the public should, be able, without fear of victimisation give evidence so that everything comes out in the open.
Councillors Mills and Mackover could chair it.
Yours,
Retired Police Officer
I know HRP projects where live wiring was left for two weeks hanging in a street, drains concreted over, telephone wiring cut, projects having to be redone many times over. All because this gardening man is not qualified to oversee Housing Regeneration Projects.
ReplyDeleteOur lovely councillor makes sure he is untouchable.
DeleteHRP projects should be managed by a qualified engineer. The TMO has excellent engineers and overseen by RBkC Ruth Angel and the police as it was up to two years ago.
DeleteNow the gardening man has got it. He recommends to The TMO board.
DeleteOur MP should launch an investigation. This is public money !!!!
DeleteHe is very friendly with our lovely councillor. No investigation ever takes place however much residents complain. Other TMO officers know all about it but they are impotent to do anything about it. The technical officers have to redress his mistakes at a public cost.
ReplyDeleteA resident complained about his antics and he made false allegations against the resident.
ReplyDeleteNow this resident has been warned.
This is appalling !!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Council needs to investigate. The risk of reputational damage is significant. Even if only a fraction of the allegations posted contain a grain of truth this is a serious scandal in the making. Serious grievances and accusations of illicit and immoral behaviour have been aired on a public forum. Inaction is not an option.
ReplyDeleteDirectors are notorious for sending letters to those that complain and challenge. Tenancies are referred to in correspondence. Residents feel intimidated.
ReplyDeleteWhere is Holgate in all this ? Why is he not investigating ?
DeleteDominic and our special councillor are very good at covering their tracks.
DeleteThe TMO are infamous for restricting services to those who are insistent in complaining.
DeleteRe: 11:15.
DeleteHolgate is probably not investigating because the Council has foolishly decided the TMO needs less supervision rather than more. The comments on this story would suggest otherwise. The TMO is still behaving like a child, and a very unruly and anti-social one at that. More supervision is most definitely required!
I am an RBKC officer. This would officer would be sacked if he worked at RBKC.
ReplyDeleteThere are residents who have responsibility to the most vulnerable; to families, to the disabled, etc These residents are being deliberately denied the services they are paying for. They are being intimidated by TMO Directors for having acted in the best interests of all residents and complained against these irregularities with regard to this gardening man and his patron.
ReplyDeleteHargreaves should tell the Condon Simmonds woman to go.
ReplyDeleteThe Maighread Condon Simmonds' Memorial Dinner will be held in the Mona Lisa on the first Friday after her resignation at 7.20pm.
Maighread,
ReplyDeleteFor heaven's sake, woman, go.
If only !!!!
ReplyDeleteBut the web she has weaved has made her life very comfortable and ours lacking the support we deserve and pay for.
I have enough trouble with double dealing MP's without unnecessary trouble from double barrelled councillors on the TMO Board. Will you please GO
ReplyDeleteIt's up to residents to remember what's in their best interests: a councillor who wants thousands of families displaced from their homes in order to build a crossrail station and only cares for herself and her special friends ??? NO !!!! REMEMBER NOT TO VOTE FOR HER !!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know about the bin fiasco down the Kings Road??
ReplyDeleteDon't she make you die.
ReplyDeleteMaighread,
ReplyDeleteTories love the Tory Party. Time to call it a day in the interests of the party and to save the TMO Board further embarrassment
Well, out fabulous councillor decide to remove our very practical and smart black litter bins with the borough insignia. She had replaced with metal tiny round bins against RBKC officers advice and at a cost of £ 1,200 EAcH !!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I heard about that. Then she ran out of money and there weren't enough bins !!
ReplyDeleteThe RBKC grapevine says that they have had to employ a team of cleaners to clean everyday the top of these new bins.
ReplyDeleteWith 122 comments on this blog, Maighread must think she is all the rage.
ReplyDeleteCondon Simmonds is on the TMO and some people have commented that she has seen off TMO residents on the Cremorne. Her being on the TMO must suit Robert Black.
ReplyDeleteRobert Black of the TMO managed to get the TMO Board to shaft a Board Member he wanted rid of with much less difficulty than Helen Evans ever had. As Robert Black has successfully manipulated Board Members to see off one Resident Board Member then I am sure that he must be able to see off a Condon Simmons (if he wanted to) by having a word with the Tory powers that be to bring about the removal of any Council Nominated Board Member who does not suit him.
I hope that the TMO worker who wrote at 11.09 above did not write these lines from any computer in the TMO offices. I am sure that the TMO would not be adverse to following the practices of a former TMO Chief Executive who had every computer in the place examined in an attempt to do down a TMO employee who for very good reason decided to write anonymously accusing two TMO Executives of racism. Seems likely that 11.09 wrote during work time. Take care 11.09
ReplyDeleteThe TMO directors are a conduit for the tory council. The demolishing of estates with double dealing with developers, propaganda machine through the link magazine, which residents pay for, cosy meetings with directors, etc etc
ReplyDeleteWow, reading these comments and realising this lady has the literal blood of Grenfell victims on her hands, what a horrible nasty piece of work, may she feel the weight of those deaths on her conscience forever, I hope she hears their screams in the middle of the night and wakes up and comes to this blog and remembers
ReplyDelete