Glasgow City Council has unexpectedly almost doubled the per square metre cost of its city centre pavement cafe permits.
Operators going online to fill out the S59 application for a GCC street cafe permit discovered that the rate is now set at £110 per sq-m of public walkway occupied.
GCC shook up its street cafe permit charging system in 2023, transferring it from an annual flat fee – which in 2022 had been £515 for a street cafe in the city centre – to a calculation based on £60 per square metre used.
This year’s increase to £110 per sq-m was described as ’absolutely wild’ by one affected operator, who noted that in the space of three years, the cost of its street seating permit had leapt from that £515 flat fee to in excess of £10,000.
Businesses in local centres outwith the city are now being charged £50 per sq-m, while all other areas are levied £20 per sq-m.
