# Planning woes



## MikeHag

Anyone for coffee?


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## garydyke1

Sorry to hear that , Mike. Some people cannot see the wood for the trees.....


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## MikeHag

Not sure I said anything that a planner would have a problem with... but you're right... I need to be less open when some people will use whatever they can against me. Will edit it.

(Not Aberfoyle, by the way. The folks of my former home in Aberfoyle were wonderful!)


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## vintagecigarman

A very sad situation, Mike, and I really feel for you. I have followed your progress so far and I'm well aware of the care and thought that you have put into the planning for your business. Of course you'll get there in the end, but the sour taste that you must be left with is probably worse than the financial loss. Business community - what community? Alas it has ever been thus in my experience - and your openness has just been torn up and turned into a club to beat you with.

Best wishes for a quick and cheap conclusion.

Mike: Final sentence deleted as it referred to one of your suggestions that perhaps shouldn't be too public!

Sent via Tapatalk


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## radish

Damn - missed your original post! Does the problem involve toilet facilities (always a favourite to cause headaches)?


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## vintagecigarman

Forgive me for answering on your behalf, Mike:

Yes, it involves s**ts in the local business community.


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## MikeHag

CoffeeGeek said:


> might I suggest a simpler solution? a custom trailer from BellaBarista...beats the planners!


Yes, our plans do include a mobile channel eventually... maybe sooner than we'd thought







(Right outside other shops?? hehe)


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## SlowRoast

I saw a trailer at Bella Barista fitted out with a double Expobar Leva thingy, it was shiny and nearly got towed.


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## SlowRoast

How did your credit card do in there? My debit account always gets a dent of some form. Usually a big one ... I'd live in there if I could.


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## coffeebean

Sorry to hear you are having trouble Mike! These inward thinking people don't know a good thing when it is given to them on a plate......have the same sorts of problems round here!! If you do want to go down the mobile route, let me know if I can help you with it!

Andy


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## MikeHag

Thanks Andy









We'll take it as far as we can, and if it doesn't fly we'll take it somewhere else. Wherever we go, we'll be a great addition. It would just be a shame if a tiny fraction prevented the rest of the population here from having something they would enjoy, and another town got the benefit of having the next UKBC champion


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## coffeebean

MikeHag said:


> Thanks Andy
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> We'll take it as far as we can, and if it doesn't fly we'll take it somewhere else. Wherever we go, we'll be a great addition. It would just be a shame if a tiny fraction prevented the rest of the population here from having something they would enjoy, and another town got the benefit of having the next UKBC champion


Ha! That's the spirit Mike!


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## CoffeeMagic

Sorry, I missed your initial post Mike but it sounds like your "change of use" application was rejected. I'm sure that is only a brief setback for you.


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## MikeHag

Not rejected yet bud, but seriously and expensively delayed due to the actions of competitors. When you're under attack you can go two ways... and I'm not retreating.


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## garydyke1

Good stuff Mike. I want this roadtrip to happen!


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## MikeHag

Good! I want you to teach me how to do a scary dragon.


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## CoffeeMagic

MikeHag said:


> Not rejected yet bud, but seriously and expensively delayed due to the actions of competitors. When you're under attack you can go two ways... and I'm not retreating.


Good on ya! At least you know who to trust and what they are capable of - cheap competition research


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## jimbow

On the positive side I suppose it is a big thumbs up for the venture that the competition is feeling that threatened.


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## garydyke1

MikeHag said:


> Good! I want you to teach me how to do a scary dragon.


Its easy - just be a rank amateur pourer


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## MikeHag

No tuition necessary for me then


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## Fran

Just saw this thread - really sad to hear you're going through the shit! All I can suggest, whoever's giving you the shit - GIVE EM HELL.

"Aberfoyle has no fury like a Haggie scorned" - William Congreve - just after he heard about your issues.


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## MikeHag

Thanks Fran. A bit of moral support feels great right now









I must just reiterate, we moved out of Aberfoyle last month and our new home and the cafe are at/near Aberfeldy, at the top of Loch Tay. A beautiful area with lovely people (apart from some of my competitors







)

As for Congreve, he is correct, sir! Infact, I am wondering if he may be a distant relative... Here's a photo of him next to my ancestor John Law (the Scottish economist who almost bankrupted France!!)


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## bdt

Hi Mike

Interested reading this thread and disappointed hearing of your problems. I'm in the planning stages too - not a million miles away from you either.

I know Aberfeldy quite well. You're right, it's a cracking wee place. I used to work for a bank and occasionally had to go over to see a client in the Aberfeldy branch and always looked forward to the drive over there.


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## MikeHag

Well, Jan and I have had to face all kinds of lies and false gossip over our planning application, mostly started by competitors waging a dirty tricks campaign to get our planning application rejected. But we were successful in the end







Today I read this in a newspaper... it's about time an inaccuracy worked in our favour!! (Maybe it's a premonition of ukbc2013..?







)


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## lookseehear

So so pleased for you both, you deserve it after all the hard work you have put in. Maybe hold off on the 'UKBC Champion 2013' plaque for above your door for the moment but it doesn't hurt to dream


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## Earlepap

Congratulations! 24 objection letters? Too many cafes? All sounds a bit 'Hot Fuzz'. Hope these parochial busy-bodies are ready for speciality coffee!


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## MikeHag

Earlepap said:


> All sounds a bit 'Hot Fuzz'.


Hehe!! I'll watch out for the granny in the trench coat and her sub-machine gun.


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## ObsidianSage

Congratulations Mike.

Dan

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2


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## Tryfan

Congrats. Sounds like a struggle but good to hear you got there.


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## coffeebean

Well done Mike! Good luck with it - once people realise where the best coffee in town is, they soon spread the word and you'll do great!


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## MikeHag

I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Scottish dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of coffee: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all coffees are not created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the gray hills of Aberfeldy the sons of former forestry workers and the sons of former forestry company owners will be able to sit together at the coffeetable of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Highland Perthshire, a state sweltering with the heat of over-steamed milk, sweltering with the heat of scalding lattes, will be transformed into an oasis of pourovers and syphons.

I have a dream that little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their chocolate sprinkles but by the content of their cappuccino cup.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Pitlochry, with its vicious Irish bus-tourists, with its Small Business Association Chairman having his lips dripping with the words of uncompetitive practices and unadventurous cafe offerings, one day right there in Pitlochry little black coffees and black cups will be able to join coffeetables with little white coffees and white cups as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

And I say to you today my friends, let the shot timer ring.

Let the shot timer ring from the snow capped peaks of Schiehallion!

Let the shot timer ring from Birnam Hill in Dunkeld!

And when this happens, when we allow the shot timer to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Gwilym Davies, "Good coffee at last! Good coffee at last! Thank God almighty, we have good coffee at last!"

(thank you Martin Luther King Jr for the black stuff)


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## bdt

Congratulations Mike. Look forward to hearing how you get on


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