Chairs in by ten rule leaves bad taste in mouth

OUR weather of late has not allowed for dining al fresco as much as we would have liked. However, it seems the weather is not the only obstacle.

A friend and I went to Gordon's Trattoria on the Royal Mile at 9.40 on Sunday evening and decided to dine al fresco as it was a reasonable evening. We ordered some nice wine, olives and bread as we perused the menu.

Imagine our dismay when we were told by the staff that we would have to vacate the table by 10pm and dine inside. Apparently these are the rules laid down by Edinburgh City Council.

We were told that the restaurant could be fined a minimum of £50 if all tables and chairs were not inside by 10pm. Come on Edinburgh City Council, if you want to promote Edinburgh as this cosmopolitan, modern European city you really are going to have to get into the real world. I know of no other country in Europe who makes its tavernas, coffee shops or restaurants take their tables and chairs inside by 10pm.

The wonderfully polite staff at Gordon's Trattoria said they agreed most wholeheartedly that it was indeed a ridiculous law, but what could they do?

A group of Italians shook their heads and walked away, business lost for Gordon's, for sure. We didn't take our dining forward much more than the bottles of wine and the bread and olives because we would have had to sit inside and we didn't want to so sadly Gordon's lost out again

When are the city council going to wake up to the fact that this is 2008, we are in the European Union and meant to be trying to be Continental and cosmopolitan. How does that image get portrayed when we are forced to take in tables and chairs by 10pm?

The Royal Mile is a wonderful street and should be like any other main street in European cities with dining al fresco going long into the evening.

Anna Reid, address supplied

Try living near the area of tram works

I TAKE great umbrage at George Ritchie's letter (August 16). He states that putting trams underground would give anti-tram people more reasons to moan.

He very obviously lives nowhere near the work area but should try living there like we have to, then his mind would change dramatically and he would quickly realise why local residents are moaning about this whole sorry mess.

We have valid grievances, not to mention the remedial work getting carried out due to shoddy workmanship, if it can be called workmanship at all. Big cracks are appearing in a lot of buildings in Leith Walk, but as usual TIE will get away with more spin.

The MSPs and councillors have the blood on their hands of the 35 innocent lives lost on the A9 where the tram money should have been spent.

The disruption, pollution and stress of this project are taking their toll with long established businesses going under, leaving people with a feeling of hopelessness at being powerless to stop this nonsense.

Ray Withey, Leith Walk, Edinburgh

Brown on course for dire poll result

WITH ongoing talks on a Rosyth-Belgium-Norway ferry service it is the height of arrogance for British government ministers to try and stop Norway talking to Scottish government ministers.

This is a continuation of the policy Gordon Brown has adopted towards the Scottish government since May 2007. If this continues so will the dire election results.

Andrew J T Kerr, Castlegate, Jedburgh

Labour MSP stance remains Gray area

LIKE Jack Fraser (Letters, August 19) I detest "compliant careerist politicians". However, I reckon he was wrong to include Scottish Labour leadership candidate Cathy Jamieson on his charge sheet.

She for one has shown her willingness to stand up for hard-pressed Scottish local government workers (many of whom have wages which are so low that they are topped up by Working Tax Credits!) by declaring her 100 per cent support of their strike action in Edinburgh and elsewhere.

Iain Gray obviously first asked his political masters down at Westminster what HIS view should be about these ordinary folk campaigning for an improved pay offer and seems to have been told to 'stay mum' because if he IS supportive of them he's certainly kept very quiet about it!

Korstiaan P Allan, Whitingford, Edinburgh

How about a roof over our heads?

TO start with, many congratulations to Edinburgh's Chris Hoy from his Meadowbank Velodrome supporters club, for his magnificent Olympic achievement.

On his day of glory, the Meadowbank Velodrome track league was rained off again.That is three out of the last four meetings that have been cancelled, due to the rain. Perhaps now after all the publicity we might get a roof or even a new venue.

Peter E Tuck, Summerside Street, Edinburgh

Honesty over bag much appreciated

ON an outing with my grand-daughter last Friday I dropped my handbag in the car park at Ikea.

We were about to enter the store when my name was announced over the PA system asking me to report to information. It was then I discovered my loss. Some very kind and honest person had handed in my bag. Very many thanks.

Mrs R Bunyan, Corbieshot, Edinburgh