TRADERS are calling for a ban on drinking in public around the famous Roman’ market in London’s East End. They are running a petition for a drinks ban’ zone because they say shoppers are put off by drunks on the street

By Else Kvist

TRADERS are calling for a ban on drinking in public around the famous Roman’ market in London’s East End.

They are running a petition for a drinks ban’ zone because they say shoppers are put off by drunks on the street.

The shopkeepers have collected 300 signatures in just four days after shoppers said they feel intimidated’ walking along Roman Road in Bow.

LAST RESORT

“The petition is a last resort,” said pharmacist Bindesh Patel, who has run his Sinclair chemists for 18 years.

“We have drunks sitting on benches outside the shop from early morning till we close.

“They abuse our customers and sometimes come into the shop. One lady in her 80s was so distressed she no longer comes here.”

But setting up a no drinks’ zone could be costly—and the Met Police doesn’t have the funds, it admits.

Town Hall managers at Tower Hamlets say they have had talks with police in response to the petition. The authority says a drinking control zone’ can only be authorised once there is sufficient evidence of the problem.