Some of Yehia El-Nemer’s loyal customers are backing his efforts to save the Oasis cafe at Highbury Fields

A CAFE owner fears he’s facing shutdown after council plans have kept him in limbo for years.

Yehia El-Nemer opened the Oasis Cafe in Highbury Fields 22 years ago. Under new plans to develop Highbury Fields, Islington Council is proposing to demolish Mr El-Nemer’s café – a building he rents from the Town Hall – and build a new one on its footprint.

“I am dealing with the community face to face every day. I’m willing to give them my life. I’m here from 8am until 6pm, and we’re open seven days,” he said.

“The cafe is my life. My mind is always here, nowhere else. I give my heart to the community, I love them. I see them every day, the community is lovely here,” he said.

Mr El-Nemer and one of his loyal customers, Pauline Cartwright, submitted a petition with 832 signatories to the Town Hall on Thursday evening, asking for the cafe to be kept in its current owners’ hands.

“Closing this cafe will leave a huge gap in people’s lives, who have urged Yehia to continue to request the council to reconsider how they are implementing this huge change,” Ms Cartwright told councillors.

Mr El-Nemer has been told he’ll have to bid alongside everyone else who may be interested in running the new cafe, meaning that after 22 years he could be out of a job. The plans to develop Highbury Fields have been in the works since 2018, but the council released their latest set of official plans in June of this year.

“Originally, they were going to close the cafe on the first of January, but now it’s been moved to the first of June,” said Mr El-Nemer. “I was pleased with the news, but at the same time, I started panicking again, because I had organised to get rid of everything in the cafe. So I’m under a lot of pressure.

“I have all of the support of the community. They’ve told me that I have to carry on and not close the cafe.

“I don’t mind [having to re-apply to run the cafe], but I told them they have to give me the first priority. They can’t just take the cafe from me and leave me in the street,” said Mr El-Nemer.

“I don’t mind investing in the new building if they give me the priority. It would all be new – the kitchen, tables, chairs, everything. I will make it new. But they have to give me the cafe so I can do it.”

Mr El-Nemer says he’s been unable to make real changes to his cafe to make it more profitable like installing double glazing for the wintertime, because the council have told him constantly that it will be refurbished or demolished.

Lead environment coun­cillor Rowena Champion said: “Because of a change in the project timelines, we’ve offered Mr El-Nemer an extension to keep running his cafe until the end of May. We’re glad Mr El-Nemer has taken up this offer.

“We also offered Mr El-Nemer first refusal on the temporary cafe concession while building work is taking place, which he declined, and we understand why this would unfortunately not work for him.

“Under procurement rules, there must be a open tendering process for the new permanent cafe. We cannot just give it to Mr El-Nemer, without offering others a chance to bid. We would welcome a bid from Mr El-Nemer to run the new cafe, and have offered him support to make a bid.”