Sydney cafe owner slugged with $1500 in fines over small bench out front

A local council in the stylish inner-Sydney suburb of Paddington has been called out over fining a small cafe owner for providing a place for his customers to sit.

James Martin owns the Tuckerbox Cafe on William Street and he has copped $1500 in fines because he put small benches out the front for people to sit down and enjoy their coffee.

"The amount of the fines is quite hefty, $650 each," James told Today.

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"I understand council's got procedure, I'm not denying that needs to be followed, but I guess we live in a world of insurance and these sorts of things need to be covered.

"It's not as though you can't see the bench when you're walking past it, but the council says there have been complaints about items blocking the pathway."

James said he was in the process of putting in the proper applications to get permission to put the small bench on the footpath, but he said no one has complained about them or come forward about it being an issue.

"It's also a bit of a sad thing within the community, if there is a resident that was upset with it, it'd be nice if they approached me instead of going to council and we could sort of rectify the situation," he said.

"There's plenty of space for people to walk past, it's a cute little thing and not obstructing the footpath, the suburb likes it, but it is what it is I guess."

James pointed out Paddington has a lot of smaller streets with signage out on the street and he also has a neighbour who reluctantly had to remove pot plants to stop getting fined.

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"There's a street garden around the corner too, that was under the microscope this week, then council were really lenient and withdrew their fines," he said.

"At the end of the day, we live in a world where there's a lot bigger issues going on and we're in hospitality, we're just trying to provide hospitality, an experience for someone to sit down and have a coffee on this cute little retail strip in Paddington."

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