Bermondsey coffee shop ordered to take down this 'offensive' sign
Controversy: F***offee in Bermondsey
A legal row is brewing over an “offensive” coffee shop sign in south London.
The managers of F***offee in Bermondsey Street have been told the building’s owners will personally destroy the sign or take them to court unless it is removed.
A letter dated October 20 from lawyers acting on behalf of the owners states: “We are instructed that you have either erected or allowed your sub-tenant to erect an offensive sign on the exterior of the building […] without the permission or authority of our client and this constitutes a trespass.
“If you or your sub-tenant do not immediately remove the sign above the property shop front ‘F***offee’, and make good any damage caused to the exterior of the building, our client will have no option but to remove the sign themselves or issue court proceedings seeking an injunction requiring you to remove the sign.”
The letter also threatens: “Please note we reserve our client’s right to forfeit the lease.”
F***offee’s manager Adrian Jones could not immediately be reached, but the shop tweeted a photograph of the letter along with the words: “No humour please, we’re British.”
Supporters of the shop have already rounded on the owners, with one starting a petition that reads: “They have had a few anally retentive and gormless people complain about their name and now they have their money grabbing corporate landlord demand they take the sign down as it is deemed to be ‘offensive’.
F***offee care owner backing down in 'rude' name row
“We, the undersigned, confirm we have a sense of humour and find the continued attack on our beloved F***offee an insult to freedom of expression, freedom of speech and humour.”
Ward councillor Damian O'Brien told the Standard the spat was a “storm in a coffee cup”, adding he had visited the café and liked its atmosphere.
But, he admitted, the shop had attracted a handful of complaints from people who live nearby – with some even contacting the police.
“They police don’t feel that there’s enough evidence to proceed,” he said. “If the word had started with a C, that would have been an entirely different case altogether.
“At the end of the day it’s a case of: ‘How liberal are you?’
“If they’d taken the K away it would have been more clever. One of my ward colleagues tried to have a word with the manager who told him to rack off. I have to say I’m more relaxed.
“It sounds like a bit of a storm in a coffee cup, but I think the shop owner is being ridiculously uncompromising.”
He added: “I’m not a coffee drinker but they do a very good hot chocolate.”
Mr Jones found himself in hot water earlier this month when the words “sorry no poor people” appeared on a sign outside another of his shops, Brick Lane Coffee.
He told the Standard the sign had been graffitied by protesters, following which the shop’s “admin woman” had “mistakenly” tweeted a photograph of it.
A legal row is brewing over an “offensive” coffee shop sign in south London.
The managers of F***offee in Bermondsey Street have been told the building’s owners will personally destroy the sign or take them to court unless it is removed.
A letter dated October 20 from lawyers acting on behalf of the owners states: “We are instructed that you have either erected or allowed your sub-tenant to erect an offensive sign on the exterior of the building […] without the permission or authority of our client and this constitutes a trespass.
“If you or your sub-tenant do not immediately remove the sign above the property shop front ‘F***offee’, and make good any damage caused to the exterior of the building, our client will have no option but to remove the sign themselves or issue court proceedings seeking an injunction requiring you to remove the sign.”
The letter also threatens: “Please note we reserve our client’s right to forfeit the lease.”
F***offee’s manager Adrian Jones could not immediately be reached, but the shop tweeted a photograph of the letter along with the words: “No humour please, we’re British.”
Supporters of the shop have already rounded on the owners, with one starting a petition that reads: “They have had a few anally retentive and gormless people complain about their name and now they have their money grabbing corporate landlord demand they take the sign down as it is deemed to be ‘offensive’.
F***offee care owner backing down in 'rude' name row
“We, the undersigned, confirm we have a sense of humour and find the continued attack on our beloved F***offee an insult to freedom of expression, freedom of speech and humour.”
Ward councillor Damian O'Brien told the Standard the spat was a “storm in a coffee cup”, adding he had visited the café and liked its atmosphere.
But, he admitted, the shop had attracted a handful of complaints from people who live nearby – with some even contacting the police.
“They police don’t feel that there’s enough evidence to proceed,” he said. “If the word had started with a C, that would have been an entirely different case altogether.
“At the end of the day it’s a case of: ‘How liberal are you?’
“If they’d taken the K away it would have been more clever. One of my ward colleagues tried to have a word with the manager who told him to rack off. I have to say I’m more relaxed.
“It sounds like a bit of a storm in a coffee cup, but I think the shop owner is being ridiculously uncompromising.”
He added: “I’m not a coffee drinker but they do a very good hot chocolate.”
Mr Jones found himself in hot water earlier this month when the words “sorry no poor people” appeared on a sign outside another of his shops, Brick Lane Coffee.
He told the Standard the sign had been graffitied by protesters, following which the shop’s “admin woman” had “mistakenly” tweeted a photograph of it.
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