Overview

• The council’s enforcement notice cites complaints that tables and benches on the narrow Thames Path impede pedestrians, wheelchair users and people with pushchairs.
• Trafalgar Tavern has appealed the notice and continues to operate its riverside seating while the planning inspectorate considers representations until June 12.
• Landlord Frank Dowling warns that removing tables could force job cuts and lead to uncontrolled standing drinking that the pub cannot manage.
• Manager Vasil Vasilev disputes the council’s access concerns, noting the path still offers three to four metres of clearance and that an existing parking metre already limits ramp access.
• The Grade II-listed pub, established in 1837 and once frequented by Charles Dickens, operates under a 2005 Section 16 agreement and leases the Thames Path land from the Greenwich Foundation.