New hope for five-year-old girl after council's lemonade stall closure leaves sour taste

Sun, 23 Jul, 2017 - 08:18

A five-year-old girl who hit the headlines after her homemade lemonade stand in England was shut down by the council has received dozens of offers to set up stalls at other events.

Andre Spicer, a business school professor, let his daughter set up a stand near their home to sell refreshments to people heading to the Lovebox music festival in Victoria Park, east London, last weekend.

But after half an hour four council officials told the pair to shut up shop and slapped Prof. Spicer with a £150 fine as he held his sobbing daughter in his arms.

Tower Hamlets Council has since cancelled the fine and hand-delivered a note to the family's home to apologise.

The family tweeted: "We have been overwhelmed by the kind response from people across the world.

"Dozens of festivals, markets and businesses have offered us the opportunity to set up a lemonade stand.

"We hope they will extend this invitation to others who'd love to make a stand."

This summer, we want kids to make a stand. Our response to kind offers following lemonade fine. Spread the word! #MakeAStand pic.twitter.com/ItwyhNMHTn
— André Spicer (@andre_spicer) July 22, 2017

Among those extending the offers was London's Borough market which tweeted the girl's father: "In all seriousness, would your daughter like to sell some lemonade at Borough Market? We'd love to make that happen for her."

We'd gladly give this young lady a stall to sell her lemonade. We ❤️ entrepreneurs of any age! https://t.co/6ATlyECa4O @andre_spicer
— Borough Market (@boroughmarket) July 21, 2017