Neighbours of a Brighton coffee shop are asking the council to stop it roasting its beans on site, which they say is causing a “nauseating” stink over surrounding streets.
The Roastery in Sydney Street uses an industrial roaster on weekday mornings to supply its six cafes and wholesale and retail customers.
But although the coffee is popular with customers, the “acrid” fumes from the roaster are making it unpopular with the neighbours.
A petition on the council website says: “Air pollution in the North Laine is already high. For over two years homes, gardens and areas around Tidy Street and Sydney Street have been filled with acrid and nauseating coffee roasting fumes every weekday morning from approximately 8am until after 1pm.
“Residents in the vicinity of the fumes cannot open windows or enjoy our outdoor space as a result. Many of us work from home and our children study from home so cannot avoid the smell.
“For those living immediately behind, the roaring noise of the roastery is also distressing and intrusive.
“Many members of our community have called on the Environmental Health and Planning Departments to take action, but have been told they will not or cannot do so.
“The company is currently in breach of aspects of its planning permission, but has received no sanction for this.
“We have also appealed directly and repeatedly to Trading Post Roastery, which has rarely even shown us the courtesy of responding to our emails.”
Brighton and Hove News approached Trading Post for comment, but did not receive a reply.
Really inconsiderate, they should be doing this in an industrial estate.
One of my favourite smells. I love roasting coffee. Can’t see how it could ever be deemed pollution.
It’s not a pleasant coffee roasting smell – this is an industrial chimney. it’s acrid, bitter and burnt – polluting the immediate neighbourhood. BHCC has a so called “clean air”: policy but has done nothing about taking action on this. They should be doing this on an out of town industrial site, not in a residential town centre area.
It just about sums up everything about BHCC – stinking!
There used to be a tea and coffee supplier in either Sydney or Gardner Street years ago, the smell was nice and I always enjoyed walking past it or going in to buy coffee. I guess they weren’t roasting on such a scale, or maybe the bean types were more refined.
Good luck with this, a good few years ago a coffee roaster set up in a unit just the other side of my property boundary. The fumes and smell are dreadful. I called Environmental Health due to concerns. They attended, the machine “wasn’t working that day due to a fault” mmmmmmm how convenient! Anyway, EH based on not smelling anything declared it to be fine – ridiculous.
It is utterly disgusting. They are not responsible business owners. The smell is revolting and some days I can’t even open my windows. They are in breach of planning conditions and yet no one does anything about it.
As a coffee roaster, I can relate to this. The solution is forcing the roaster to install an afterburner. Will get rid of 99% of the smell and smoke.
It has been horrible for over two years. It has affected our mental health and wellbeing. Our pleas to Trading Post have been ignored or dismissed. You are right, it’s not the lovely smell of a cup of coffee that’s just been made, but an industrial process that should be carried out on an industrial estate.