Lucknow’s iconic Coffee House locked

Lucknow  :  The iconic Coffee House in the state capital of Uttar Pradesh has been locked, owing to a dispute between office bearers of the cooperative society running it that threatened public order, police said Monday.

City police ordered the closure of the coffee house, home to hundreds of commoners, intellectuals, journalists and some big names in politics of the past.

Situated in Hazratganj, the Coffee House has been the hub of many intellectual conversations. After a long spell of being closed on account of stiff competition, it had reopened a few years back.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lucknow J. Ravinder Gaur told IANS that there was a simmering dispute between Aruna Singh and Anand Kumar Singh, as both claimed control over the Coffee House.

“Both these persons have been claiming that they were secretary of Indian Coffee House Workers Cooperative Society Limited, and to us it looked like a potential trouble spot. We decided that until the matter is settled at the deputy registrar level, Coffee House shutters would be downed,” a senior police official said.

The matter of “control” is pending before the office of the deputy registrar, cooperatives. Once the issue of ownership and control is settled, the police will hand over the keys to the legal claimant, officials said.

Aruna Singh, who was technically running the coffee house, has alleged that Anand Singh manipulated the police into this action.