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Thursday July 1 2010 HERALD 5

ROBERT BUSINESS HALFON Future looking MP Bright for store MAMA BELLIS: Staff and This weeks work customers angry at lifts in the Commons I
In association with the Harlow & District Chamber of Commerce
THE Harvey Centre welcomed a new names this week in the form of leading chain BrightHouse. The store, which specialises in the sale of home electronics, domestic appliances and household furniture, held a family fun day on Saturday to mark the opening. Children visiting the store, which employs seven members of staff, were able to get their faces painted and enjoy creations from balloon modellers. BrightHouses George the Bear was also on hand to entertain visitors, as was DJ Richie Jones, who DJs for Jools Holland. Oscar Smith, Harlow store manager, said: We are very excited about joining the community in Harlow. We aim to add value to peoples lives every day. With us its personal; we like to keep on first name terms with customers so they feel comfortable with our service. Pop in and say hi and well be sure to remember your name next time you come in. Thats what makes us different.

By NATALIE DEARMAN
natalie.dearman@archant.co.uk

A CHILDRENS play facility in the town centre may be forced to close after customers have been turned away due to faulty lifts.
Staff and customers of MamaBellis, on the third floor of the First Bowl building in Terminus Street, staged a demonstration yesterday (Wednesday) morning to highlight their plight. They claim that one of the lifts, which are the responsibility of First Bowl, has been broken for a couple of months and the other has been out of order for almost two years. The business has been severely affected as families are not able to climb the 77 stairs with pushchairs or young children. Disabled children also use MamaBellis, but are unable to use the steps. Nikki Gethin, manager of MamaBellis, told the Herald: Most of our customers have got young children and cant get to us. We just wanted to bring this to peoples attention; we have customers who are angry and we are so sorry to them. We have only got two customers in at the moment and you just cant

Staff and customers of MamaBellis protest outside First Bowl run a business like that. Its so sad as its such a great place to work and great for parents. In a bid to save the business, the owner of MamaBellis paid for the lifts to be fixed out of her own pocket, only for them to break again a few days later. Angry mum Nadine Aldridge regularly uses the facility and is calling for something to be done.

MEB_300610_Mama Bellis

She said: They are being forced to shut and we will lose our ball park. Ive been using the place for years as its easy to get to and they have excellent deals for local mums. Even if just one lift was working, people could come back. First Bowl were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press. WHAT do you think? E-mail heraldnews@archant.co.uk

t has been another busy week in Parliament. I was pleased to help a number of Harlow community groups over the weekend, including Harlowsave, Holy Cross Primary School and Elbow Grease. In the House of Commons, I am working with the Essex Federation of Small Businesses to cut the tax bills for start-up businesses in Harlow. I have also written to the Chancellor George Osborne. Work continues to try to bring the Health Protection Agency to Harlow, creating hundreds of jobs. I have met the chief executive, and will continue to do all I can to make this happen. The Government has asked me to serve on the Parliamentary Committee which is scrapping ID cards (for everyone other than foreign nationals), and I have been working hard to accelerate this. Gordon Brown wasted huge sums of money on this scheme. Im glad that common sense has triumphed, and we can now spend the money on police instead. It is good news that the Home Secretary has announced a cap on foreign immigration, so that our borders are properly controlled in the future. FOLLOW me in Parliament on www.theyworkforyou.com, my blog http://roberthalfon. blogspot.com or contact me via www.roberthalfon.com

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