Street Preachers

lostgolfball

I know this might be a contentious one, but here goes anyway.
I'm a small business owner in a busy town in Northern Ireland. Almost every Saturday, street preachers setup with a mic and amplifier on the street outside my premises.
I have had several complaints from customers about the volume and tone of the preaching. They say it puts them off shopping in the area in which the preachers are, and they shorten their visit to get from this part of the town as soon as possible. My staff also complain about it, as I tell them to leave the front door open to encourage shoppers in.
The preachers tend to be there most Saturdays and stay for the best part of the day from around 10 to 4, passing the mic from one preacher to the next guy.

Now, i have no problem with people having the right to free speech.. whatever their message, but I'm in a difficult situation whereby I know for a fact that this is affecting my business, and others in the vicinity, but I don't want to voice my concern as I don't want any negative press or to be seen as taking one 'religious side' or another.

Where do i stand in terms of getting these guys to move to another part of the town - how would i even go about this?.

I've been in business in my current location for 7 years, but am led to believe that they used to preach at a different location.

It's a delicate problem - Northern Ireland being the way it is...., but I feel something has to be done as there is no doubt that the general public are avoiding the area of the town where this preaching takes place...

Anyone have any views / past experiences that might help?

Many thanks in advance...!

Rockman

I can fully sympathise with you. Coleraine town centre on a Saturday afternnon is a really depressing place with hell-fire and damnation preachers giving it their all.

My solution is for each large town to have its own Speakers Cornner (away from the town centre) where anyone who has anything to say can get up on their hinds legs on their soap box and tell those who are interested enough to stop what they say. That way everyone is happy.

BigAl94

I avoid Ballymena for exactly the same reason.

Cotta

They're a gripe of mine too and have absolutely minimum support within the community.

qwert_yuiop

Street preaching can be controlled under Public Order legislation. One was banned from Portadown a few weeks ago.

qwert_yuiop

Rockman wrote: »

I can fully sympathise with you. Coleraine town centre on a Saturday afternnon is a really depressing place with hell-fire and damnation preachers giving it their all.

My solution is for each large town to have its own Speakers Cornner (away from the town centre) where anyone who has anything to say can get up on their hinds legs on their soap box and tell those who are interested enough to stop what they say. That way everyone is happy.

Probably not. The whole point is to make everyone listen to you, otherwise you might as well preach at home.

Apparently, we go mad within the limits of our culture. When Protestants start to lose it, they take up street preaching, so this behaviour is well recognised here, Scandinavia, Scotland, England, North America, Holland and Germany. Catholics go daft in a different direction - they get visited by the Virgin Mary. Probably a little less anti-social.

saverbuyer

Cotta wrote: »

They're a gripe of mine too and have absolutely minimum support within the community.

Depends where you live.

There's a reason they call ballymena the buckle of the bible belt. The locals love it.

GlynD

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Street preaching can be controlled under Public Order legislation. One was banned from Portadown a few weeks ago.

I think I saw this on the BBCNI news and was quite surprised. I thought these preachers had almost "protected" status. Certainly if it's possible in one town it's equally worth trying in another council area, especially if, as the OP says, they are causing a nuisance and loss of trade.

Worth making a phone call to your local council anyway Lostgolfball. They can only say no.

lostgolfball

Thanks for all the replies. I'm apprehensive about calling the council... as i mentioned before, the last thing I want is my business to be caught up in some negative press regarding freedom of speech / civil liberties / sectarian tensions.
I'll give them a call and try and suss the situation out without giving my name.. Ridiculous I know, but such is the wonderful part of the world in which we live!

GlynD

lostgolfball wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I'm apprehensive about calling the council... as i mentioned before, the last thing I want is my business to be caught up in some negative press regarding freedom of speech / civil liberties / sectarian tensions.
I'll give them a call and try and suss the situation out without giving my name.. Ridiculous I know, but such is the wonderful part of the world in which we live!

I believe the council have to keep details of who complained to themselves. So the press and media won't find out unless you, or a confidante, tell them.

saverbuyer

GlynD wrote: »

I believe the council have to keep details of who complained to themselves. So the press and media won't find out unless you, or a confidante, tell them.

Councils don't deal with anonymous complaints. At least not in the same way.