Following the shop's reopening as St Olav's Christian Bookshop, this petition is now closed. THANK YOU to everyone who signed it.
If you live in the Chichester area, please support the new shop: it's there for you.
ORIGINAL PETITION TEXT
The Brewers took control of this bookshop, of the entire SPCK Bookshop chain, with fine sounding words, but actions always speak louder than words: the former Chichester SPCK Bookshop is now but a shadow of its former self. Due to the failure of the Brewers to honour invoices for goods received, suppliers have been left high and dry at a time of recession; and the shelves stood empty until recently when stock was brought in from the former SPCK shop in Norwich, which has now been rescued by the local community in Norwich.
St Olave's in Chichester has a claim to be the oldest building in the city, yet is in a desperate state of repair. It was set up through covenant to provide information for the community, yet advertising anything that Philip Brewer considers contrary to the so-called 'Orthodox' aims of the charity is banned. Mark Brewer has claimed ownership of St Olave's Church and has announced plans to turn it into an Orthodox place of worship. These men have abused staff, treated covenants and UK employment law with contempt, disregarded debts to their suppliers, fabricated a bankruptcy filing in the USA Courts and blatantly bullied anyone who has stood in their way: it ill-behoves the Diocese of Chichester to play host to them and their presence here casts a shadow over the mission of the wider church.
Enough is enough: we urge you to take decisive action now to rescue this shop and St Olave's Church from further depredation. We call upon you to step in, and to remove these men who are bringing Chichester's Christian heritage into disarray and disrepute. We urge you, please: take back control of this building. It would be better for the shop to be closed than allowed to carry on in its current state. Then, as we see happening elsewhere around the country, people will be free to work together to create something new and bring light to this community.
Updates
January 4, 2009
I am currently drafting a formal letter to the Bishop of Chichester to outline the specific grievances regarding the management of the bookshop. We are compiling documentation on supplier accounts to substantiate the claims regarding unpaid invoices.
January 4, 2009
The growth in support has caught the attention of the local planning commission. I have secured a meeting with their office to discuss the building maintenance requirements mentioned in our proposal.
Reached 100 supporters
January 4, 2009
6 Comments
Chichester needs its bookshop back. Please fix this.
The dioces needs to step up and stop letting these people run the place into the ground. It is a landmark building!
Used to go here with my mum all the time. Such a shame what happened to the stock levels. Glad it might get sorted.
SO GLAD this is getting attention finally. It was an institution for years and we need it back to how it used to be.
Restore the property and get some decent managers who actually pay their suppliers. Common sense really.
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Following the shop's reopening as St Olav's Christian Bookshop, this petition is now closed. THANK YOU to everyone who signed it.
If you live in the Chichester area, please support the new shop: it's there for you.
ORIGINAL PETITION TEXT
The Brewers took control of this bookshop, of the entire SPCK Bookshop chain, with fine sounding words, but actions always speak louder than words: the former Chichester SPCK Bookshop is now but a shadow of its former self. Due to the failure of the Brewers to honour invoices for goods received, suppliers have been left high and dry at a time of recession; and the shelves stood empty until recently when stock was brought in from the former SPCK shop in Norwich, which has now been rescued by the local community in Norwich.
St Olave's in Chichester has a claim to be the oldest building in the city, yet is in a desperate state of repair. It was set up through covenant to provide information for the community, yet advertising anything that Philip Brewer considers contrary to the so-called 'Orthodox' aims of the charity is banned. Mark Brewer has claimed ownership of St Olave's Church and has announced plans to turn it into an Orthodox place of worship. These men have abused staff, treated covenants and UK employment law with contempt, disregarded debts to their suppliers, fabricated a bankruptcy filing in the USA Courts and blatantly bullied anyone who has stood in their way: it ill-behoves the Diocese of Chichester to play host to them and their presence here casts a shadow over the mission of the wider church.
Enough is enough: we urge you to take decisive action now to rescue this shop and St Olave's Church from further depredation. We call upon you to step in, and to remove these men who are bringing Chichester's Christian heritage into disarray and disrepute. We urge you, please: take back control of this building. It would be better for the shop to be closed than allowed to carry on in its current state. Then, as we see happening elsewhere around the country, people will be free to work together to create something new and bring light to this community.
Updates
January 4, 2009
I am currently drafting a formal letter to the Bishop of Chichester to outline the specific grievances regarding the management of the bookshop. We are compiling documentation on supplier accounts to substantiate the claims regarding unpaid invoices.
January 4, 2009
The growth in support has caught the attention of the local planning commission. I have secured a meeting with their office to discuss the building maintenance requirements mentioned in our proposal.
Reached 100 supporters
January 4, 2009
6 Comments
Total mess. Empty shelves are embarrassing for a city like Chichester.
Chichester needs its bookshop back. Please fix this.
The dioces needs to step up and stop letting these people run the place into the ground. It is a landmark building!
Used to go here with my mum all the time. Such a shame what happened to the stock levels. Glad it might get sorted.
SO GLAD this is getting attention finally. It was an institution for years and we need it back to how it used to be.
Restore the property and get some decent managers who actually pay their suppliers. Common sense really.
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Total mess. Empty shelves are embarrassing for a city like Chichester.