Salon reopens as owner Ray regains possession
BRASH hairdressing salon in South Main Street is due to re-open this Wednesday after a High Court undertaking by Peggy and John Byrne to end their occupation of the building.
Salon owner Ray Doyle regained possession of the premises last Friday morning and has spent the past few days refurbishing the salon which was stripped bare of furnishings, cabinets, mirrors, washbasins and fittings. All the electrical wiring points had been plastered over.
One of the undertakings given by Peggy and John Byrne who owned number 88 South Main Street, to which a receiver was appointed by ACC Bank 18 months ago, was to return the contents of the salon which had been occupied by Mr. Byrne and his wife along with supporters for the previous fortnight.
Mr. Doyle said two men arrived with trailers on Friday morning and he got a lot of the contents back. On Monday he was still awaiting the return of a computer harddrive and touch screen containing customer data.
Mr. Byrne said he and his wife were ‘ not happy’ with the situation but gave the undertakings in court on legal advice and will abide by them.
He said he returned all the furnishings and fittings which he removed from the premises and placed in storage on the first morning that he began occupying the premises. Other contents were removed at a later date by a group of his supporters and kept in the People’s Support Centre in the same building.
‘I never laid my hand on any computer. There wasn’t a computer in the stuff that we took out,’ he said.
Electricians and carpenters worked over the weekend to re-fit the premises in which Mr. Doyle has run a hairdressing salon for the past six years, leasing it from Mr. and Mrs. Byrne who also owned the building next door which is home to Bobby O’Neill’s newsagency shop.
‘I knew it was going to be bad but I didn’t think it was going to be this bad,’ said Mr. Doyle on his reaction to re-entering the stripped salon which originally cost him €140,000 to equip and which he estimates will cost him ‘easily €20,000’ to re-fit and re-open.
Determined to re-open by Wednesday, he said the support from businesses in South Main Street, from loyal customers and family and friends has kept him going.
‘I’m trying to do it step by step. The clients have been so good to us, ringing us and saying don’t worry we’ll wait until you’re open. The whole street has been so supportive. Dolores Power (the tenancy agent) was absolutely outstanding. Kim Long, our solicitor in Waterford was brilliant.
‘ This could happen to anyone. I think there should be a provision in receivership measures to ensure that an owner cannot access a property which is being leased,’ he said.
Peggy and John Byrne attended the High Court in Dublin last Tuesday in a case brought by the receiver Shane McCarthy of KPMG who had obtained an ex-parte order seeking to restrain the couple from trespassing on the premises.
The couple’s legal representative asked for an adjournment which was turned down by the Judge who allowed them a number of hours to file an affidavit, outlining their case.
On Thursday, the couple gave undertakings not to ‘access, occupy or trespass on’ the properties at 88 and 90 South Main Street, not to contact the tenants or attempt to collect rent from them, not to remove or damage any property such as fixtures and fittings, to return any fixtures removed from the property which belong to the tenant and to surrender physical possession of the building along with all keys.’
The couple had asked for proof that all rent due on the premises had been paid to date and this was provided in an affidavit filed on behalf of the receiver.
Mr. Doyle said what when he arrived at the salon on Friday morning, a gentleman appeared in the laneway having walked out of the building and said ‘ there you are’.