Developer Ronan seeks possession of landmark Bewley’s
THE landlord of Bewley’s Cafe on Dublin’s Grafton Street has brought a legal action against the operators of the landmark premises seeking alleged rental arrears of €747,000 and possession of the property.
The action has been brought by RGRE Grafton Ltd, a company controlled by developer Johnny Ronan.
The landlord wants its action against the cafe operator Bewley’s Cafe Grafton Street Ltd, where it seeks summary judgment of €747,000 and possession of the premises, admitted to the fast-track Commercial Court.
The matter was briefly mentioned before Mr Justice David Barniville yesterday, when in an ex-parte (one side only represented) application, RGRE sought permission to have the case listed for entry to the commercial list early next week.
Ross Aylward BL, for the landlord, said the matter was urgent from his client’s perspective. He said the premises had been leased to the defendants since 1987. The annual rent was around €1.4m which had to be paid on a quarterly basis.
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the closure of many businesses, the defendant asked for a rent holiday of six months, counsel said.
He said that while his client had considered that, along with similar rent holiday requests for other tenants of firms within the group, Bewley’s application was declined as it was believed that the tenant had the means to discharge its rent obligations.
Mr Aylward said one of the reasons the request was refused was because the tenant’s parent company, Bewley’s Ltd, which it claims is owned by the family of businessman Patrick Campbell, was sitting on cash reserves of over €6m and net assets of €5m.
The judge gave the landlord permission to seek to have the action admitted to the commercial list.
The application will be heard on Monday.