Getting a business up and running is a difficult process, for anyone anywhere in the world. We’d like to take the time to give a shout out to Lagos Câmara, who have done what they can to make things as difficult as possible for us - and who seem determined to make things hard for new local business to succeed. Way to go!
The biggest and most recent problem for us involves our lovely signs that we have outside our doorway. As many of you know, PIE Lagos can only be found at the top of a set of stairs, in a small ‘hard to find’ doorway in the center of town. It is vital that we have signage so that our customers can find us! Before we opened, we applied to the Câmara (the local council) for two street signs to mark the entrance. The same signs as many (if not all) of the other bars and restaurants on our street use outside their premises. The licence was granted and we spent a considerable amount of money on the signs themselves, and also on the licence. Happy days!
Fast forward to 1 month later, and the council have decided to take the licence away. With no rhyme or reason, without any form of refund or explanation, and therefore leaving us with essentially no way to lead customers into the restaurant. Awesome! Perhaps if they felt they were wrong to grant the licence (we still don’t know why that would be, seeing as every other bar and restaurant seems to have been allowed the signage) then they should have simply NOT allowed the licence to be renewed after the first year. But to just change your mind 1 month after the licence was granted? To leave a new business out of pocket to the tune of over 1000 euros just because you feel like it, or you think someone in your office made a mistake in the first place? Not cool.
Unfortunately we know that this is not an isolated incident, for us and for many other small business owners in the town. The headaches and heartaches caused by these regulators have no-doubt just begun for us, and have been going on for many years for the other businesses trying to make their way in Lagos.
But, we are going to try and fight the decision. We will be heading into the offices next week, hopefully with a lawyer in tow, to try and negotiate some sort of resolution.
Has anybody else in Lagos, or elsewhere in Portugal, had a similar experience? We’d love to know what roadblocks you encountered in terms of licencing and regulations in setting up your business, and if so - did you manage to resolve your disputes successfully?