An Aroma Espresso Bar location at Toronto's Yonge and Eglinton intersection is still at the centre of an online firestorm days after a local city councillor called out the cafe for claiming a publicly accessible space as its own.

The Aroma location fronting a public square at the Yonge-Eglinton Centre drew the ire of Ward 12, Toronto–St Paul's councillor Josh Matlow.

Matlow called out the cafe earlier this week for posting signage on furniture placed within the square that warned seating within the City-designated privately-owned public space, or POPS, was for paying customers only.

Matlow took to social media to point out that furniture marked as "for Aroma customer use only" placed within the POPS can be freely used by the public as "your right" under a by-law governing such publicly accessible spaces.

However, not everyone agrees with the councillor's take, and a debate has raged on for days between people agreeing with Matlow's stand and others siding with the cafe.

Aroma cafe in Toronto under fire for telling people they can't sit in public spacehttps://t.co/ELKQiC04WC

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 13, 2024

A Facebook post in a local community group sharing a screenshot of the initial blogTO article covering the debacle has been met with over 100 comments as of Thursday afternoon, part of a fierce debate that continues days after the signage was first brought to public attention.

Many were quick to defend the cafe, like one user who wrote, "the City should be providing the tables and chairs, so that there's no issues in the future."

"However, was Aroma led to believe that this patio space was included in their rent? I would think that the landlord probably told them it was," the commenter continued, adding, "Let's not fully blame Aroma yet."

Another commenter seemed to understand both sides of the argument, writing, "The councillor is right. But I'd also like to enjoy a coffee in peace."

"They're utilizing a public space to enhance their business," said another user, adding, "It's a nice privilege and not their right to block others from access. If they want to nickel and dime on who uses their furniture then don't use a public space. Stick to your rented property."

While most people seemed to either side with the councillor or the cafe, one commenter took a different approach, placing blame on the property owner which extended the mall into space that was formerly a much larger public square in exchange for providing these very privately-owned public spaces.

"No let us blame RIOCAN as this came up in the Development meeting for expanding the mall into the public square at the corner to begin with," writes the user.

"That public space is for the public and RIOCAN was told this when proposing to develop it."

Matlow seemed to align with this stance in his comments to blogTO earlier this week, explaining that, "Over a decade ago, when RioCan infilled what was then a much larger square at that corner to expand their mall, I spoke out against their plan that they had agreed on with Councillor Karen Stintz to create a POPS on the rooftop, given that it would never feel like, or even seen from the street, to be publicly accessible space."

blogTO has reached out to Aroma Espresso Bar for comment on the controversial signage.