by Gerry Warren

gwarren@thekmgroup.co.uk

It opened with the blessing of the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral and the civic backing of the Lord Mayor, but this week businessman Paul Babra says his global food stall at the Westgate Towers has been forced to close by the city council leaving him thousands of pounds out of pocket.

The council ended his contract after just four weeks because of health and safety concerns.

Now the 56-year-old caterer is accusing the authority of not fulfilling its part of the arrangement and says he may seek compensation.

He said: “I invested a lot of my own money into the WaJiWa project and the council seemed very happy with my idea because it would create an exciting atmosphere in the area around the towers.

“Apart from bad weather days, it had been going quite well. But now it has ended up costing me thousands of pounds and I have had to lay off 10 staff.

“It seems to me the council was short-sighted in not going into the detail with me of what was acceptable.

“For example, they gave me a room in the tower to store my supplies which they were supposed to clean because it is an historic building. But they never did and then their environmental health people complained it was not suitable.

“They also said they would sort the KCC application to use the area for cafe purposes with tables and chairs, but never did.

“Senior council bosses assured me help with things like a water supply and suggested I could leave the unit at the site. Now they say it and my gazebo is not acceptable.”

Mr Babra said he was considering legal action against the council to recover his losses.

Council officer Richard Moore says the authority decided to end the contract with Mr Babra because he could not meet the conditions of his licence.

He said: “We were impressed by Mr Babra’s enthusiasm and thought it would bring some life to the area around the towers, particularly after the closure of the City Gaol Cafe.

“We only saw photographs of his unit but it looked okay, although we did take a bit of flack from some people about it.

“Our main concerns were that it did not meet food preparation standards and the gazebo was out of place in such a sensitive location.

“We asked if Mr Babra if he could provide a different kind of mobile unit, but he was not able to.

“It was only ever intended to be a stop gap arrangement while the City Gaol cafe is closed but it’s a bit unfortunate how it’s turned out.”