YESTERDAY it was announced that cafes and restaurants in the Vale of Glamorgan must pay hundreds of pounds from July to have outdoor tables and chairs.

Licenses will cost between £150 to more than £750 a year depending on the number of tables and chairs.

The new charges are meant to limit the amount of space cafes take up on the pavement, making it easier for disabled people, while also ‘decluttering’ town centres across the Vale.

During the pandemic, fees for these licences were scrapped to help businesses struggling with lockdown restrictions. Vale of Glamorgan council rejected calls to delay the fees further.

We asked our readers what they thought of this decision, and this is what they said:

Denise Leech said: "This isn’t fair as businesses can’t seat customers up to capacity indoors and now have to use the pavement because of covid restrictions."

Bradley Jones said: "Disgraceful, council telling businesses they can't have many indoors and now they are shafting them for being innovative to try and just struggle through in these hard times."

Karl Yeo said: "They should be looking at ways to support the cafes."

May Flowers said: "How will they ever claw back the money they have lost!"

  • What do you think of this decision? Let us know.