Adopt rent-free sidewalks in 2024. Then we can also meet customers and guests on busy city streets next year.

Posted On: August 17, 2023

The tables of an open-air restaurant in Oslo are ready for today’s visit. Illustration photo: Tor Erik Schrøder, NTB

Oslo earns 100,000 NOK because we can serve on the sidewalks!

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Oslo’s squares and sidewalks are at their best when filled with people visiting shops, cafes, restaurants and cultural venues. A very important and effective measure to make the streets more attractive is that food establishments can put tables and chairs on the sidewalk, and shops can offer products in front of their front door.

In 2022, the Municipality of Oslo understood this and offered companies the free rental of the street floor. Mysteriously, the city council has discovered that we don’t need free street land in 2024. This is a total misunderstanding for our industries!

For: The city’s commerce and catering are not done with the pandemic. We have emptied our “war coffers”, and liquidity is at rock bottom.

Need everyone to participate in a charity

Customers and guests are familiar with online shopping, home offices and now higher prices. This affects their ability to use us who provide city life.

We are looking forward to this year’s Christmas shopping and Christmas table season, but we are very nervous about next year’s activity. At the same time, we know that the costs will not go away. Rent, increased shipping and energy costs, inventory, labor costs, property tax and other taxes – all must be paid.

Now we need everyone to participate in a charity, so that we can maintain a vibrant city life.

We participate with our investments and labor efforts and work hard to create experiences for our customers and guests. The least we can ask of the Municipality of Oslo is that they provide free street rent for our businesses!

Concerns about the misuse of free land on streets by businesses that are only present during busy commercial periods and are removed from the cityscape the rest of the year are easy to address: free land on streets are awarded to permanent companies wishing to carry out an activity outside their premises – be it a shop, catering, architects or banks. The others must pay!

Can provide 1500 positions and tax contribution in Oslo

In Oslo we have around 1,500 catering companies. The restaurant Le Benjamin has calculated that a full service on the sidewalk outside provides at least one year of work. The restaurant is fairly representative of the restaurant median in Oslo. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the free use of land on the streets of Oslo can provide 1,500 jobs each year in the catering sector.

If we look at the economy as a whole:

Street land paid for in 2019 was NOK 28,644. If Le Benjamin can offer curbside dining through 2023, it will provide approx. 200 days of service.

The average salary of an employee gives a tax contribution to the municipality of Oslo (22%) of 128,400! Additionally, there are service and service charges and other contributions the restaurant makes to the community.

Oslo earns 100,000 NOK because we can serve on the sidewalks!

What happens if the Municipality of Oslo demands full street ground rent in 2024? Who will then set up the tables and chairs? Only those with guaranteed high turnover – i.e. high streets and outer hubs. Elsewhere in the city, there will be shopping and dining on busy city streets that everyone wants.