london restaurant's 13-year battle against telecomms boxes hampering footfall

Debbie Monfries,65,is campaigning for the telecomms boxes outside her restaurant to be removed (Picture: Will Hallowell)

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The owners of a southeast London restaurant are campaigning for the large telecomms boxes outside to be removed after stifling their business.

Debbie Monfries,said the five cabinets have significantly impacted sales as they restrict the view of her high street eatery,Umana Yana on Croxted Road,near West Dulwich train station.

They were installed in 2012 – only months after Debbie and her husband Junior,63,remortgaged their home and spent thousands of pounds on refurbishing the Guyanese restaurant.

But the couple have fought to have the boxes removed ever since.

Debbie,who moved to the UK in 1990,told Metro that when the first telecomms cabinet was placed right in front of the restaurant,she called the company that installed it and warned that ‘it’s too big,it’s going to damage our business’.

But she said the company told her they ‘didn’t see a problem because Caribbean shops come and go’.

Debbie and her husband have campaigned for the telecomms boxes to be removed since they were installed in 2012 (Picture: Will Hallowell)

In 2011,Umana Yana’s sales were high. However,they started to decline after the boxes were installed.

Debbie said footfall has decreased due to the restaurant’s lower visibility to passers-by.

She said: ‘It is a stressful time. Just imagine,our electricity bill is £2,000 a month. In one day,it could be £74 or £116.

‘Those are the kinds of figures we’re paying,so it’s very stressful.

‘Normally,I will go to the market on a Sunday and that helps us to keep afloat.’

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‘Although we hope this is a helpful step and will stop more boxes being installed it does not affect the existing lawfully installed boxes.’