Lady Chu owner vows to fight $330 fine over Potts Point pot plants

The battle between popular Potts Point Vietnamese eatery Lady Chu and the City has entered a new chapter with council issuing owner Nahji Chu with a fine over her pot plants.

The battle between popular Potts Point Vietnamese eatery Lady Chu and the City has entered a new chapter with council issuing owner Nahji Chu with a fine over her pot plants.

The Battle of Roslyn St began in May when council officers visited Lady Chu on a Saturday evening to address concerns about the forbidden greenery encroaching on the footpath.

Nahji Chu has been locked in a battle with City of Sydney over the location of the pot plants outside her Potts Point restaurant. Picture: Jonathan Ng

When Ms Chu had applied to extend the outdoor dining area of her restaurant she was given the option to install umbrellas or plants and after much negotiation a solution was found to keep both.

However, Ms Chu’s decision to move the plants less than a metre beyond the confines agreed to with council resulted in the visit from rangers and a fiery exchange that spread on social media.

The exchange prompted Lord Mayor Clover Moore to turn to her preferred mode of communication to respond to feedback and press she doesn’t like, Instagram, to respond.

“It’s plants for f*** sake!! It’s green!, Nahji Chu said in response to City of Sydney fine. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“We always work collaboratively with businesses to balance their requests and the community’s needs, and our planning staff have met with Lady Chu multiple times. Roslyn St is narrow, and it’s not possible to maintain Federal Discrimination Act accessibility standards as well as all its dining tables, planters and umbrellas,” Cr Moore’s 352-word Instagram missive said.

“We have repeatedly asked Lady Chu to remove some of the unapproved planters or the umbrellas to ensure there is enough space for pedestrians. It’s not a private courtyard, it’s a public footpath – people should not be forced onto the road, especially people in a wheelchair or with a pram.”

Council has now issued Ms Chu with a fine for the verbose offence of “expose article in/on/over road/let article be exposed at road without approval” which means her pot plants are not where council says they are supposed to be.

Ms Chu is, predictably, displeased with council’s decision to fine her.

“When we arrived in 1978 my parents were like ‘there’s no culture here! And there’s no real food’. Then I started working really hard to give Australia culture. And this is what I get.” she said in text messages to The Daily Telegraph.

A screenshot of the fine issued to Lady Chu over their pot plants.

“It’s plants for f*** sake!! It’s green! It’s sustainable. What the f*** don’t you get?? Wheelchairs can get through. The only thing not getting through is common sense.”

Fellow Potts Point restaurateur Peter Curcuruto, whose French diner Bistro Rex also has outdoor seating, said he felt for Ms Chu in her plight but found the whole thing bizarre.

“I find the whole thing pretty humours. Like, really, is this important? It’s not long ago that street was littered with needles and now we are worried about outdoor plants,” he said.

“Most people think what she has done to that ugly little needle-filled laneway is fantastic. I can see the point from the minority of people – it’s a little hard to get past the restaurant sometimes – but on the other side of the road there is another footpath that is four metres wide.”

Ms Chu said she intended to challenge the $330 fine and fight to keep the plants where they are.

“Sometimes common sense grows where policy doesn’t. We’ve placed our plants where wheelchairs can still pass and red tape says place the plants where they can get burnt by heaters next to the umbrellas,” Ms Chu said.

“Urban planning should serve people, not paperwork. If I have to pay a fine to make the street work, so be it.”

A spokesperson for council said: “The City of Sydney has met on several occasions with the business owner in an effort to find a solution that balanced the hopes of the business with the needs of the community to access the public footpath. We have asked Lady Chu to remove some of the additional planters or umbrellas to ensure access, especially for wheelchairs and prams. We will continue to work with the business so they understand their obligations to maintain suitable space for people passing safely. The business owner can request a review of the fine through Revenue NSW.”

Originally published as Lady Chu owner vows to fight $330 fine over Potts Point pot plants