Australians have rallied to save a cafe over fears the owners are being pressured to abandon it over a disputed parking spot at the rear of the site.
A concerned local took to Reddit to ask for help to save the Blume Specialty Coffee on the Hornirbrook Highway in Brighton, north of Brisbane.
“Blume Cafe is being pressured by neighboring unit owners (with dirty tricks) to give up one of its paid staff parking spaces at the rear of the complex,” they wrote.
‘According to the unit owners, they want their guests to use one of the staff parking spaces that the cafe pays for in their lease.
“Unit owners have forced Blume Cafe to remove street signage (through complaints to Brisbane City Council).”
The venue claimed that the unit’s owners had clamped down on the cafe.
“Unit owners do a car block each weekend to occupy approximately 5 street parking spaces using 3 spaced cars,” they wrote.
«To do this, the locked cars are removed from the owners’ garages.
A concerned local took to Reddit to ask for help to save the Blume specialty cafe on the Hornirbrook Highway in Brighton, north of Brisbane.
‘Any idea how this will play out? Any suggestions to save our great little local cafe?
Social media users were quick to offer their suggestions, with one listing possible courses of action.
“Make ‘Cafe Open’ car signs/magnets and park cars out front with those signs,” one wrote.
“This won’t solve the parking problem, but it will send a message to bad neighbors. Get ‘Coffee Open’ signs made for bikes and park the ones in front of them.
‘Get all the neighbors to post amazing reviews on Google and any other social media, particularly criticizing the bad neighbors. People love underdog stories.
‘Please write to the council requesting that front parking spaces be designated for 2 hours maximum.
“This is enough for customers to visit, but it would be annoying for bad neighbors to have to park and move their cars.”
‘Write to your local councillor, or better yet, call the office, asking to have council fees waived for signage application due to cost of living pressures (worth a try).’
“Blume Cafe is being pressured by neighboring unit owners (with dirty tricks) to give up one of their paid staff parking spaces at the rear of the complex,” the concerned resident wrote on Reddit.
A second wrote: ‘These are my locals and they are fantastic. My Saturday morning treat is to walk to the dog park and stop by for coffee.
‘Their coffee is top notch and the staff are lovely. They also allow the men’s shed across the road to sell a selection of clothing and the atmosphere is fantastic too.
‘Fuck these idiots who are trying to ruin your business. I’d love to know if any of them are self-employed and how they would enjoy it…’
“They need to gather groups of cyclists who stop along their route,” another added.
‘That will bother the residents to no end because: ‘A) they don’t need a parking space, so they won’t be affected by the nonsense they’re doing about parking, B) there are a lot of businesses. Cyclists often want to drink coffee and move on too.
‘C) if they get business from cyclists, it’s usually a pretty solid return custom. The residents will hate him too.’
A fourth had advice for unit owners.
“It looks like your guests could park in one of the free parking spaces now that residents park on the street,” they wrote.
Others accused neighbors of intimidating the cafe.
‘Shame on those who bully coffee! I was there just two days ago, the staff is very friendly and the coffee was delicious,” one wrote.
A second added: “The cafe owner and staff are so friendly it’s been really upsetting to see this harassment.”
The cafe owners declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.