A takeaway owner called the police after he says two teachers from a nearby school blocked pupils from going inside his entrance.
The owner of Chilli Bellies takeaway, Neil D’Souza, says Cotham School teachers went inside his shop and handed out detentions to students inside, demanding that they leave.
The school denies teachers entered the premises, insisting the staff were making sure pupils got home safely and did not congregate on narrow streets or spill out on to the road.
But Avon and Somerset Constabulary confirmed they were called to reports of antisocial behaviour shortly after 3.10pm on November 28. They said they spoke to the parties involved and no offences were identified.
Eyewitnesses told Bristol Live staff were blocking the doorway of Chilli Bellies, in Cotham Road South on November 28. The next day, when Bristol Live attended, there were further rows.
Speaking on November 29, Bobby Sehdev, the proprietor of Monika’s convenience store which is on the same street, berated the teachers for their policy of stopping students going into his shop.
Cotham School has had a policy of patrolling the streets around the school after lessons end for the day at 2.45pm. Students are banned from entering the various shops and businesses between the school and Stokes Croft until 3.15pm.
Since the start of the school year, staff have been increasingly enforcing this rule - and that has seen teachers patrolling the streets.
Mr D’Souza said he has suffered a drop in business - not just from the school pupils being barred from entering, but from adult customers being ‘intimidated’ by the presence of the teachers.
Neil D’Souza said he had enough and, following a row with teachers, called the police.
“They came in the shop and started telling off the children who were in there, handing out detentions, demanding that they leave,” he said.
“I’d taken the children's money, their food was almost ready. I said I’d had enough and asked this teacher to leave, to get out of my business, get off my property.
“He argued with me, and then went and stood right on the doorstep. He was physically blocking the entrance. They were intimidating the students, and this was intimidating to my normal customers too.
“He refused to move, that’s why I called the police,” he said.
'You’ve got two senior teachers in high-vis jackets standing outside a shop like bouncers'
Local resident Kate Grant was one of the adult customers who tried to enter the shop. She said she also challenged the teachers.
“You’ve got two senior teachers in high-vis jackets standing outside a shop like bouncers,” she said.
“This is after school, with the kids on their way home. Young people have a hard enough time as it is, this is ridiculous,” she told Bristol Live.
“I wasn’t very impressed with the teachers, they were really authoritarian, and I couldn’t see any of their arguments - it’s just not fair on the kids,” she added.
What do the police and the school say?
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset police confirmed they were called to reports of antisocial behaviour.
“Police were called just after 3.10pm on Thursday, November 28, by the owner of a takeaway reporting antisocial behaviour at the entrance to his premises in Cotham Road South, which he said was preventing customers from entering,” she said.
“Officers attended and spoke to the parties involved. No offences were identified or disclosed,” she added.
Back in late September, Mr D'Souza and the owner of a nearby newsagents Tuck News, Jabir Shar, complained their businesses were being affected by the clampdown.
Back then, headteacher Jo Butler said the priority was health and safety, and the ban on students entering those shops was effectively about crowd control.
"We are a large school with close to 1,600 students who leave the school at the end of the day on the Cotham Road side of the school,” headteacher Jo Butler said in late September.
“This leads to really narrow roads and pavements. My responsibility is to safeguard the students and make sure they get home safely.
“We have to make sure they don't congregate on very narrow streets and spill out onto the road and we want to also make sure they leave the area as quickly as possible,” she added.
This week, Cotham School’s business manager Allison Crossland told Bristol Live the teachers have the authority over what the pupils do, even after the end of the school day.
She said the school was using powers given to schools in Michael Gove’s 2011 Education Act, which gives the authority over the conduct of pupils in certain circumstances outside the school gates and after the end of the school day.
“We supervise the parade of shops there and all the way from the school to the bottom of Nine Tree Hill, it isn’t just these shops,” said Ms Crossland.
“It is only for half an hour from 2.45pm to 3.15pm, and it is done to ensure the safety of children on their way home from school.
“We have 1,600 pupils, and 400 of them come out of school and come this way and head towards Stokes Croft and on into St Paul’s,” she added.
Ms Crossland said that students had been told the rules in a series of assemblies and all were aware. “It’s just this pinchpoint of time, for this half an hour. Students can come back and visit those businesses after 3.15pm,” she added.
A spokesperson for Cotham School categorically denied any member of staff entered Chilli Bellies.
Crowd control or healthy eating?
Cotham School’s leaders are adamant the reason for the ban and strict enforcement is for the safety and dispersal of the students, but Mr D’Souza claims he was told different reasons.
“When this came in earlier this year, we were told about it, and I went to see the headteacher at the school,” he said.
“I sat and listened, and she gave me a lecture about how what I was serving people was unhealthy food. To me, it was all about her idea of unhealthy food.
“I feel it’s more of a discriminatory thing, to me, and that’s inexcusable for me.
“This is affecting me badly, and I’m very upset about it.
“I used to open at 3pm, and then when they brought this in, I started opening later. But then I thought why should I? So I went back to opening at 3pm again.
“The worst thing for me is that the teachers are standing there in front of me and telling the children that they should go down to Co-op on St Michael’s Hill or to the chip shops on Stokes Croft. They say that in front of me. Why should they be allowed to do this?” he added.
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