Beautician calls for ‘sandwich board’ rule change

A SOUTHSIDE
beautician has called on Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to allow
struggling businesses to place small freestanding advertisements, known as
sandwich boards, on public footpaths outside their premises.

The council
currently does not permit sandwich boards on public footpaths anywhere in the
county.

Businesses that
place sandwich boards on public footpaths in the area are liable to be issued
with fines from the local authority of e150 for each offence.

Now local
business owners are calling on the county council to allow the practice, which
they claim is not penalised in most other local authority areas.

Ríogan
McClelland (32), from Blackrock, set up her own business called Skinscape
Beauty on the Main Street in Blackrock after she was made redundant when the
salon she previously worked in closed down in 2008.

She said that
because of conditions attached to an existing lease she is not able to place
any advertising directly outside her salon, which is located on the first floor
of another business premises in Blackrock.

She is finding
it very difficult to attract new customers into the salon and believes the only
way she can advertise her business is by placing a sandwich board on the public
footpath outside.

“I must make it
clear that I am upstairs,

? she explained.

“I have no other way of showing
people that I am here. I might get one person every two to three weeks who just
walks in off the street.

“On Tuesday I
put my board out. It was not in anyone’s way and six people walked up my
stairs. On Wednesday there were five people. On Thursday I got five people.

“This is
crucial if my doors are to stay open,

? she added.

“I am not the only business
suffering because of this silly obsession with this rule.

?

Ms McClelland
said the council has sent her several letters recently warning her that she
would be fined if she did not remove her sandwich board from outside her
premises.

“I have
sometimes not put my board out in case I would get into trouble,

? she said.

“But I walk
around Dublin City and see in some areas of Temple Bar about 10 sandwich boards
outside a coffee shop with a special offers on each board. Everywhere else in
Ireland seems to be able to advertise this way.

?

Cllr Richard
Humphreys (Lab) has called on the council to introduce a licensing system for
advertising sandwich boards.

“Many hard
pressed businesses need to let the public know of their services, and sandwich
boards can be one way of doing so,

? he said.

“This is of course provided that
the street is wide enough to accommodate a board without obstructing
pedestrians.

?

A spokesperson
for the council said it would be introducing a sandwich board licensing system
in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown that will take into account public safety and
pedestrian access requirements.

However, the
spokesperson added that it was not possible to indicate when this system will
be rolled out.

“The individual
licenses will cost

?¬50 and full details will be available online and in council
offices once the scheme is introduced,

? she added.