‘This is ridiculous’: How a row of plants sparked fury in Potts Point

When Sydney restaurant owner Nahji Chu applied to the City of Sydney council to expand the outdoor dining area in front of her Potts Point restaurant, Lady Chu, she was given a choice: the eatery could install umbrellas to cover the tables, or place pot plants on the footpath, but not both.

“I said no, it’s both. This section doesn’t work without the umbrellas because the council lights are so bright. The plants create mood and ambience, and they create a barrier for the cars,” Chu said.

Restaurateur Nahji Chu outside her Potts Point eatery on Tuesday.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Chu, who opened Lady Chu on Roslyn Street in 2021, eventually agreed to keep the palms and bird of paradise plants in line with a row of umbrellas, to preserve a two-metre stretch of footpath between the pots and the kerb clear for pedestrians, to comply with the council’s requirements.

But the decision to shift the pots by a metre has sparked at least one complaint, a fiery exchange between Chu and two council rangers who visited the restaurant at the height of the dinner rush on Saturday, and a fresh debate about red tape hampering Sydney’s hospitality scene.

Chu filmed her conversation with the rangers who arrived at the Vietnamese restaurant to investigate a complaint about the plants encroaching on the footpath about 7pm.

“I’m trying to activate a dead city, and you’re trying to f---ing shut it down,” she told the pair, video footage of their conversation showed. “I’m paying f---ing taxes, and I’m paying your wages!”

The council said staff had gone to the restaurant to advise the business which items were placed outside its approved areas and had “respectfully advised which items would need to be moved”.

Chu, who declared her wish to take a stand on anonymous complaints shutting down the city, said she had not been fined, but wished she had been so she could challenge the penalty in court.

She said staff had pushed the plants towards the kerb to collect the rain on Saturday afternoon.

“Look, I do bend the law. It’s a very benign bend of the law. Like, the plant’s meant to be here, however, it’s over there, and it’s outside the law by one metre.

“But the plants look better on the street. I want to keep bending the laws so I can take it to court and say, this is ridiculous, can we please change the law?”

Chu said it was “very frustrating” that business owners who tried to make the city “green and fantastic” were “confronted with all this red tape”.

“Most people actually say ‘thank you’ for making this such a beautiful street to walk down. Rarely do they say, you’re a dickhead for putting plants in, and I hate how you’ve gentrified the street.”

A City of Sydney spokesman said the council had approved two applications that expanded the outdoor dining area to a total of 53 square metres along Roslyn Street in the past two months.

Those areas provided “sufficient space for pedestrian circulation” past the site. However, the council received “ongoing complaints about extra furniture, umbrellas and planters beyond the business’ approved outdoor trading area, obstructing the footpath and causing difficulties for pedestrians”.

A submission to the City of Sydney Council complained about pot plants on the footpath outside Lady Chu restaurant on Roslyn Street, Potts Point. Here seen from the opposite angle.

The spokesman said the council had held “several meetings with the business owner regarding these breaches”.

“We are trying to work collaboratively with the business to balance its desire for additional items and the needs of the community to access this public footpath.

“We will continue to work with this business to ensure it can enjoy the free use of city footpaths while understanding its obligation to maintain sufficient space for others, including those pushing prams or for wheelchairs.”

The restaurant’s recent application to expand its outdoor dining attracted one negative submission, which argued the plan should be refused as the business had “extended their outdoor seating well outside the applications almost to the corner of Roslyn Street and Kellett Lane for weeks”.

The submission included photographs of outdoor furniture and pot plants in the precinct, and complained that “large plant pots owned by the restaurant are left on the street 24/7”.

“Pedestrians walking up the southern side of Roslyn Street have to walk in single file or cross the street when the restaurant is operating.”

Night Time Industries Association chief executive Mick Gibb said hospitality businesses in Sydney often complained that local government red tape was “all-pervading” and unnecessarily complex.

“If the council has issues with a business and how they’re operating, and concerns have been raised, of course, they’re going to go and investigate, but there’s a time and a place for these things,” Gibb said.

“Going at 7pm on a Saturday evening to one of the most popular restaurants in Potts Point is far from a commonsense approach.

“You need to remember these are business operators trying to make a living … They’re trying to do the right thing operating in a very, very tough market and local, state and federal governments should be doing everything possible to help them along.”

with Kishor Napier-Raman

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