Popular Cuneo’s ice cream van wins right to stay outside Endcliffe Park in Sheffield

Members of Sheffield City Council’s licensing sub-committee agreed to allow Andrew Cuneo and Inglana Saqladi to renew their static street trading licence for a Cuneo’s ice cream van on Rustlings Road. The meeting heard that there was a lot of public support for the application.

Sheffield parks and countryside department objected, saying that there was too much competition for the ice cream van inside the park and the cafe, meaning that the charitable trust that owns the park, of which the council is sole trustee, would lose out on £15,000 a year in income.

Cuneo’s traded inside the park for 10 years until they lost their licence when they were outbid for the pitch last year, when they moved to Rustlings Road. Their vans have been outside the park for 28 years, mainly at Hunters Bar, the firm’s legal representative Neale Gibson said.

He claimed that the trader who won the contract bid an “extraordinary figure” and cannot afford to pay the tender fee as they’re not making enough money.

He said that Mr Cuneo has a long-term relationship with the park cafe, agreeing to no cross-selling. Ashley Charlesworth, who runs the cafe, wrote in support of the application.

‘Better quality’

Mr Gibson said that there have been a “huge number” of messages supporting Cuneo’s, including from ward councillor Barbara Masters, plus Facebook comments.

He held up a copy of Saturday’s Sheffield Star with the headline ‘Ice cream war’ on the front page, saying that there were lots of pro-Cuneo’s comments on the online story. “They value Mr Cuneo’s ice cream because it’s a much better quality than other offerings,” said Mr Gibson.

Jo Pearce, council head of physical activity and sport, said that competition with ice cream sales inside the park means an estimated loss of £15,000 in revenue to the council annually. She said those figures were based on bids by several traders, not just the successful bidder.

She added: “We believe there are already sufficient traders in this locality and that there is no public benefit to this ice cream van being so close to others.”

“The firm (Cuneo’s) are a great operator very valued by the parks and countryside service and much appreciated by parks users. It’s unsurprising to hear that support there without a doubt.”

She said that the parks service needs to maximise income from parks held in charitable trusts in order to stretch the parks budget further overall. Endcliffe Park costs £100,000 a year just in maintenance costs.

‘Genuinely sorry’

“We’re genuinely sorry Mr Cuneo has been impacted,” she said, adding that Cuneo’s have a pitch at Weston Park.

Committee chair Coun David Barker said: “It has been a very difficult decision for us because we are quite conflicted on this. We would love to see park income maximised but we haven’t been convinced today on the actual figure and the fact that we have received only one concern regarding the application from Mr Cuneo.

“We’ve received a lot of representations in favour of him and his reputation for being reliable, providing a good service to the people of Sheffield, has stood him in good stead.”

Read this: Illegal cigarette sale at mini market prompts drinks licence objection

Read this: 5 big city plans in pipeline