Restaurant delivery service Deliveroo has opened a pop-up garden in Hoxton Square to offer locals picnic tranquillity after a UK-wide study unveiled “park strife” is ruining days out.
The temporary space offers an open-air space to relax and gives guests the chance to order food from nearby restaurants and have it delivered direct to the garden. It will also be offering night time entertainment, with a garden bar featuring a guest DJ and will host a range of drinks partners who will be providing wine, beer and cocktails.
Crucially, the space will be free from free-range children, over-enthusiastic frisbee players and ‘weekend’ guitarists butchering ‘Wonderwall’, which topped a list of the top 10 annoying park characters.
Thirty six per cent of park-users have had their afternoon ‘gatecrashed’ by an unaccompanied child while a third say their picnic has been disrupted by loud music blaring from someone else’s portable speakers.
The study of 2,000 outdoor-diners also found that a quarter have come under fire from a wayward football, and one in seven has had to move their gathering after being smoked out by someone else’s barbecue.
Deliveroo spokeswoman Kate Thomas said: “Nowadays there are more rules than ever surrounding picnic etiquette and pulling off the perfect outdoor dining experience, but rules are made to be broken.
“It’s great to see that Brits are willing to be more adventurous with their picnic bites, and while the classic snacks still reign supreme, it’s exciting to think about how our picnic spreads will change in the future.
“To celebrate the start of the summer and to fulfil our appetite for a good picnic, we have created The Deliveroo Garden, a 3-day pop up outdoor event in Hoxton Square, London. Here, you’ll be able to enjoy your lunch al fresco in our secret garden and have your pick of dozens of restaurants, all available to order straight to your picnic patch.”
Most annoying park characters
1. Random, unaccompanied children gatecrashing your space
2. People playing music too loudly
3. Litterers
4. Footballers
5. Noisy groups
6. Wandering dogs
7. BBQ users smoking out nearby park-users
8. Frisbee players
9. Unwelcome guests
10.Amateur musicians
The Deliveroo Garden will run from today until Friday (8th-10th June 2016) in Hoxton Square, London.