Powerleague, Boteco, and AXM join ‘fightback’ against new LEZ scheme as 100 footballers lose access to weekly games

The impact of Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone on hospitality and leisure has been ‘laid bare’ as more businesses – including the UK’s leading five-a-side football venue operator - have begun to ‘fight back’ against the council scheme.

Management and owners at Powerleague, Boteco Do Brasil and AXM Club are amongst the growing number of voices highlighting the damaging consequences on businesses, customers, and staff as a result of the ill-conceived scheme.

Glasgow Taxis have also been outspoken about the impact the LEZ would have since it’s inception - you can read more about their thoughts on the LEZ and the effect it would have on the trade here.

In the case of Powerleague, the business estimates that around 100 players per week have been unable to access the facility at Townhead to take part in their regular football games due to the LEZ – leading to significant impacts on physical and mental wellbeing.

And the owners of Boteco Do Brasil and AXM Club have said that with a lack of taxis to take patrons home and many private vehicles now unable to enter LEZ, many are choosing to stay away from the city centre altogether.

Powerleague was founded in Paisley in 1987 and has become an international success story with 42 club venues in Europe, with 10 million games played at its sites every year. However, its popular Glasgow Townhead venue is now trying to manage the consequences of the LEZ.

Christian Rose, Chief Executive Officer of Powerleague, said:“There are up to 100 players at Powerleague Glasgow a week unable to take part in their regular game of football, which, when you consider the impact, this could be having on both their physical and mental wellbeing, is a real concern.

“Of course, this brings a challenge to our business financially and like many other businesses locally, this is and will continue to have a negative impact, however the greater challenge as we see it is the prevention of our customers not fortunate enough to have a LEZ compliant vehicle being essentially prevented from their regular weekly exercise.

“We are finding that many of our customers and colleagues are having to park outside the zone and either walk in or get a taxi here. For instance, during a recent STV appeal tournament, the main DJ of the event had to park elsewhere, and a member of our team had to pick him up.

“Also, it’s becoming a recurring issue that our suppliers are having to drop off deliveries outside the zone, and then we need to go and collect it. This brings increased risk for both our valued colleagues and of course presents increased risk on business losses.

“It’s making running a business like Powerleague very awkward and more costly, with customers missing out on the physical and mental wellbeing benefits of playing football, every day.

“We are firmly committed to improving the environment but the unintended consequences of the LEZ need to be seriously considered.”

The fresh opposition to the scheme comes in the week that a Freedom of Information request revealed that Glasgow City Council had also spent almost £100,000 to hire 131 vehicles to cover City Council fleet vehicles that do not meet LEZ standards.

The knock-on effect from the impact the taxi trade is facing from the LEZ is also affecting shopping, hospitality and other night-time economies in Glasgow - as people struggle to get taxis home from the city centre.

Luigi Aseni, owner of Boteco Do Brasil based at Trongate, said:“The impact of the LEZ has been nothing but negative. I am not against making Glasgow greener, but the council needs to apply a lot more logic.

“The city centre doesn’t offer what it used to – from parking, diversity and quality, and LEZ has just made it worse. It’s stopping people from coming into the city centre and businesses across the hospitality and night-life sectors are feeling the effects of it.

“We used to have loads of customers from Trongate who would come into Boteco Do Brasil. There was a taxi rank outside our venue to take customers and staff back home, but we don’t have that any more. Safety is clearly something council didn’t think about because now people are struggling to get home with the lack of taxis and buses.

“As a concept, the LEZ is totally wrong. History teaches us that most activity – shopping, hospitality, night-life – should take place in the centre of a city, but Glasgow City Council is destroying all of that. The communication from council with our industry has been non-existent. It’s incredible that council aren’t doing anything to look after businesses.”

The owner of Glasgow’s leading LGBT venue, AXM Club, said they were planning to open early at 8.00pm in an attempt to save some trade lost from the scheme.

Scott McMillan, owner of AXM Club on Glassford Street, said: “Around the Merchant City between 11pm and midnight the streets are really busy, but by 12.30am the streets are dead because people are generally worried about how they’ll get home later. The LEZ means that many parents can’t pick them up, nor can their mate with an old fiesta.

“My own nephews and nieces will no longer come into the city as they have no confidence they can get home. Instead, they just stay local because their cars don’t comply. I bumped into one of my regular customers last week, whom I haven’t seen for a while, and he told me that he and his friends just drink locally now as they can’t get taxis to come and pick them up because of the LEZ. This is so similar to what others are saying.

“The other thing that’s happening is people are leaving the club earlier. We are open to 4am but folk are leaving earlier as they are worried about getting home. In two weeks’ time we are opening at 8pm on a Saturday night to try and get some of the pub business. That’s upsetting the pub owners but what can we do?

“On a logistics side, we now have to pay for taxis for our DJs because their vans aren’t allowed in the zone and they don’t want to walk through town with their kit. Similarly, the printer I use for vinyl’s and posters can no longer get to us, so we now need to pick everything up.

“As a LGBT venue other customers want to come to us as we offer them a safe space. How can we be that safe space if they can’t get home?

“Every hospitality business owner I know hates what the LEZ has done. Glasgow is fast becoming the place not to go to rather the vibrant welcoming city we used to be.

“Only the strongest will survive. There’s no question - we’re going to see bars and nightclubs close down as a result of this. This is not the Glasgow we grew up with, it’s ruining our city.”

These views are shared by the SLTA (Scottish Licensed Trade Association) and UK Hospitality Scotland, both of which represent hospitality businesses across Glasgow.

The SLTA (Scottish Licensed Trade Association) has said it is “deeply concerned about the negative impact” Glasgow’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) will have on the hospitality sector.

Colin Wilkinson, Managing Director at the SLTA, said: “The introduction of the LEZ is concerning for a number of industry sectors, and from a licensed hospitality perspective we are deeply concerned about the negative impact this exclusion initiative will have on the hospitality and night-time economy sectors and those that supply our industry.

“As an organisation, together with our members we care greatly about creating cleaner, less-polluted city centres. However, this must be achieved in the right way, at the right time, with a fully integrated approach.

“Recent air quality reports show that Glasgow’s air quality is good and meeting required standards – so why is it necessary to introduce phase two of this scheme?”

Mr Waterson pointed out that Scotland’s largest city already suffers from a chronic lack of late-night transport provision to ensure safe and reliable transportation home for customers socialising and staff working in the city centre – something the licensed hospitality sector takes very seriously.

Leon Thompson, Executive Director, UK Hospitality Scotland said: “We have serious concerns about how workers in hospitality, and the night-time economy specifically, are being impacted by LEZ. In the absence of suitable late-night alternatives, many bar and nightclub workers need to drive to and from work, incurring fines.

“In a cost-of-living crisis this is adding to the financial pressure on our workers and potentially pushing them to look for employment elsewhere. This is an issue that has also been raised in other cities implementing or considering similar schemes.

“It is vital that Glasgow City Council engages constructively with the sector on the impact that the LEZ is having on businesses and workers.”

For more information on the LEZ Fight Back, visit www.lezfightbackfund.co.uk