Petition updateRequire the City of London to retain current cafe operatorsAlas, Smith vs Jones (that is investigator Karen Smith, with Ald Gregory Jones in her sights ...)
Patrick MatthewsHarringay, ENG, United Kingdom
Apr 4, 2026

Lido swimmer Karen Smith has been, as she puts it, going into various investigative wormholes and surfaced in her Substack clutching a bunch of brand new revelations and insights. Lots of these are about Daisy Green, who were the big winners in the bidding round for the North London Open Spaces Cafés. The significance in the legal battle with the City of London Corporation is not so much Daisy Green's apparent shortcomings. It is more that one swimmer-turned-sleuth, whose only resource is access to the internet, has turned up material information that should have been taken into account when the City's management committee met in early December, but which was not put before it. Just a clarification on the downbeat heading and early paragraphs: no actual County Court summons has yet been correctly served, and even as and when it is, we see it as a distraction from the real action, which is the request for a judicial review which would have the power to set aside the City's decision. None of the information Karen has come up with was in the -- already strong -- claim submitted in early March, but it all adds up, in her words, to a formidable battery of smoking guns. 

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