Eastbourne shop owner in foreign student ban row denies he's racist

Source: The Argus (http://www.theargus.co.uk)

A shop owner denied he is racist after he put up a sign banning foreign students.

But he denied his stance is racist - and says he also has the backing of town chiefs.

Mr Moffet said he was driven to take action after groups of students used his showroom to eat takeaway food.

He claimed his patience snapped on the third time he found students lounging on his furniture tucking into their McDonald’s dinner.

Mr Moffett said: “We have a small downstairs showroom selling general furniture.

“I came down to see four students on a three piece suite, four lying on one of the beds and another two sitting on the bedroom furniture.

“First of all the smell was terrible and fabric really holds in smells.

“Secondly one of them had spilled drink on one of my coffee tables and thirdly we found gherkins all over the floor when they left.

“They obviously didn't like the gherkins.”

Mr Moffett added: “After the students left we thought enough was enough and put the sign up because we have to sell the furniture to the public and it's not fair on them.”

The sign on the shop, in the Arndale Centre, Eastbourne, reads: “Polite notice: As this shop is of no interest to foreign students we are asking you not to enter.”

When asked by The Argus if he thought the sign was racist, Mr Moffett said: “Not at all.”

He said he recognised the contribution the influx of overseas students has on the Eastbourne economy.

Mr Moffett said: “Foreign students bring in a tremendous amount of money into the town and our business. Every year the host families need to buy new beds and things and they get them from us.

“So I have nothing against the foreign students but they have to abide by our rules.”

Mr Moffett added that there had been no further incidents since the sign went up two weeks ago and hardly anyone had complained.

He said: “So far I have only had one person ring me up and call me a racist.

“He was from Worthing though and seemed to think he was Mr Sussex.

“Certain people need to get a life. I am in business and will not have anyone ruining it.”

Mr Moffett said he has the backing of both Penny Shearer, who chairs the Overseas Student Advisory Committee on Eastbourne Borough Council and Norman Kinnock, head of tourism at the council.

Neither were prepared to comment but the council released a statement.

It said: “Any retail business will want to encourage customers to come into their premises to view and possibly sample the goods. However anybody that abuses or damages the stock will be unwelcome.

“The particular area of the store in question is a showroom and is not for use by the general public. Local people are aware of this but our young visitors may need this explaining.

“The council works very closely with language schools to make sure the messages of good behaviour are understood but there will always be those who choose to ignore instruction.

“Any business that has a problem with students is welcome to contact Penny Shearer and discuss the issue with her.”

Article by Samuel Underwood (www.theargus.co.uk)

Pretty crazy stuff but you have to see both sides of the story, however there are definite benefits to being an online-only furniture store!

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Leather furniture is stylish and popular, to be fair it pretty much always has been. Whether it's leather sofas and armchairs for the living room, leather dining chairs or even leather beds, they can add a very impressive flair to almost any room. Of course the problem with leather furniture is usually cost.

Well Furniture Store 247 has a few ways to help you out here.
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Next up we have a big range of Cornell leather dining chairs available to buy. These very stylish and modern looking dining chairs are made from a solid ash frame with a light oak finish. They have comfy sprung seats and are finished in leather and come in a selection of colours including black, red, ivory and cognac. We sell them as individuals for a great price of £65.00 with free delivery, but you can snap a bargain up with a set of six black or brown leather dining chairs for £360! That’s a saving of £30!

For those that love the leather look but don’t want actual leather, we have 2 alternatives for you. Instead of the leather sofa mentioned above, we have a faux leather 2-seater sofa as an option. Once again this designer sofa comes in brown but is made from quality imitation leather, so you don’t have to feel guilty about feeling comfy on it and at £179 it doesn’t hurt the bank account either.

As for dining chairs, well we have our faux leather dining chairs which are replicas of the real deal. The Guinness chair range looks just like the Cornell range, but is for those who either don’t want leather or are after a slightly cheaper option. At an amazing £30 per dining chair these are less than half the price of the real deal and look just as good and just like the leather counterparts they come with free delivery.

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The Benefits of Using an Online Furniture Store

In recent years we have seen an increase of people using the internet to shop online. Shopping online is beneficial in many different ways. It is particularly beneficial when shopping online for home furniture.

When shopping for, say a new dining table, an online furniture store is useful because it is less stressful as you can consider your purchase over a few days rather than have to make a quick decision.

In the present financial conditions fuel costs a fortune, every shopping trip costs almost as much in fuel. If you shop at an online furniture store you can save paying the fuel yourself and get the item delivered. This is good when you are buying home furniture online because in a traditional shop you have to work out how to get your new kitchen home and delivery fees can almost double the price of it.

Online shopping can be done in the comfort of your own home so when it is cold outside you can sit next to a nice warm fire, drink your tea and peruse through online furniture stores. Shopping online is often quicker and there is usually more choice as you tend to be shopping from warehouses. Often you can shop around for the cheapest deal, by comparing prices of the same product at different online stores.

Another advantage of online shopping is the lack of sales people. If you shopped, for example, at an online furniture store you would avoid having sales people approaching you to discuss your needs.

So if you are worried about money, why not think about shopping online? It could save you a lot of time and money.

How Furniture Store 247 Could Save You Money

The credit crunch is here, people don’t want to spend excess money so here at Furniture Store 247 we have low prices on our Guinness dining chairs and Cornell dining chairs to help you equip your dining room with quality furniture at great prices.

Our dining chairs are comfy and high backed to give you a comfortable seat while protecting your posture. The dining chairs modern designs suit any dining room and even complement more traditional tables.

The Cornell dining chair range is made from quality leather with the frame crafted from solid ash. The leather is soft and as with all leather will gain character with age. The dining chair comes ready assembled.

For those on a budget or who prefer faux leather we have the Guinness dining chair range. This is a rollback dining chair with a solid timber frame. The Guinness dining chair is quite high backed with a sprung seat and we deliver it part assembled for ease of delivery which means you have very little to do before you can use it.

The Cornell dining chairs and Guinness dining chairs come in various colours including red, black, ivory and brown. The dining chairs are available in sets of six and they are also sold separately. So remember if you are looking to save money on quality furniture have a look at Furniture Store 247.

The Oakleigh Furniture Range

The Oakleigh furniture range is a very versatile and popular furniture range available on the market today.

Oakleigh is so popular that the range covers many different furniture aspects. Unlike many ranges which concentrate often on bedroom sets, or dining sets, or even occasional and lounge furnishings; the Oakleigh range covers all of these.

Made from solid ash the Oakleigh furniture range is plain yet stylish and has a very traditional, even country look to it. No furniture items in the Oakleigh Furniture range are veneered and this makes the furniture versatile as it can be varnished, stained, painted or left as it is (which is a fine option as it already looks great). Handles (on those furniture items that have them) are made brushed steel offering a simple yet stylish finish to the items.

The fact that the Oakleigh range covers bedroom furniture, dining room furniture, lounge and occasional furniture means that you can mix and match the items and create very unique looks. Want a desk for you lounge area? The dressers from the Oakleigh bedroom range are perfect for this use and there are several different styles that will compliment your other Oakleigh furniture. The Oakleigh display cabinets will match perfectly in a bedroom, lounge or hallway. The storage cabinets won’t look out of place in any room with matching Oakleigh furnishings, the possibilities are endless.

Furniturestore247.co.uk offers a huge selection of furniture from the Oakleigh range. We stock bedroom furniture such as beds, wardrobes and bedside tables. We have lounge and occasion furniture such as display cabinets, TV units and storage units and we have dining tables and sideboards.

So if you are looking for a versatile, quality and stylish range of furniture, one which you can tailor to your needs, then check out the Oakleigh furniture range at furniturestore247.co.uk.

Dining Room Chairs....... Everywhere!

Dining room chairs. They’re very simple and standard piece of dining room furniture; a core part really. If you have a dining room (and yes, some people don’t) then you’re going to have dining chairs and if not well you’re probably going to need them.

So what choices are there out there? Well that’s the thing, there are so many. Assuming you don’t need an entire dining room suite and you have the dining table already and maybe even sideboards, then you need the right chairs to compliment them.

Surely it can’t be that hard though? Well that’s the thing; buying new dining chairs can be easy, assuming you aren’t to concerned what they look like. The thing is almost all of us do care. We all tend to have very specific tastes and want our house to look like our ideal image. So much so that we’ll often not buy that matching dining table and chairs as we only like the look of the dining table, or the dining chairs.

One such influence on why we have these newer ideals is media input. Shows we see on TV demonstrate different ways and styles to make you home look special and unique, or even ways to spiritually harmonise your rooms.

Back to the dining chairs where do we start? Well you have your different materials to start with; wood or metal? If it’s wood are we looking for hardwood, ash, oak, pine beech or something else, even within those there are different types of oak and hardwood, and of course do we want these veneered or natural?

Metal has a few less choices as typically it will be a chrome effect or perhaps a brushed aluminium finish. Of course there are also combinations of metal and wood dining chairs, just to make things more varied.

Then there is the upholstering. It’s rare a dining chair is going to be simply wood or metal. You have various materials such from leather, suede and cotton, to leather-look and faux leather.

Finally the design, do you go for classic, contemporary, modern, retro or something in between? The amount of designs available in dining room chairs in almost limitless, so having an idea of what you want will always help point you in the right direction.

So to sum up, yes it can be daunting finding the right dining chairs, but the reason is because the wealth of choice and having such an open palette to choose from can only be a good thing as it allows you to add that individual stamp to your dining room.

For a vast range of dining chairs visit www.furniturestore247.co.uk. Our stock includes wooden and metal frames, with various styles upholstery (our leather look Guinness Chairs are one of our best sellers and very popular) and chair designs to suit your needs.