TGI Friday's has gone to court to stop a Dublin outlet being 'put out of business'
The owners of the St Stephen’s Green property want to turn the unit into retail space.
A WELL-KNOWN Dublin City Centre restaurant which employs 60 people faces being “put out of business” in a dispute with its landlords, the High Court has heard.
Chicago Rock Cafe Limited, which operates the TGI Friday’s at the Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, Dublin, secured a temporary High Court injunction preventing its landlords from taking possession of the premises it has operated from for over 28 years.
The interim injunction was granted by Justice Tony O’Connor against the restaurant operator’s landlords Ventaskel Ltd, Irish Life Assurance and Mirelf VI Irish Investments ICAV on an ex-parte basis, where only one side was present in court.
Seeking the injunction, barrister David Whelan for Chicago Rock Cafe said his client entered into a 35-year lease for the premises, where it has operated a franchise for the popular US casual diners TGI Friday’s since 1989.
The landlords were seeking to take possession of the premises later this week on foot of a notice of forfeiture it served on the restaurant operator last November.
The notice gave the tenant six months to vacate the unit, however Whelan said it was his client’s case that the notice was invalid.
The restaurant on St Stephen's Green
Retail plan
He said that under an agreement governing the lease, a notice of termination could be served if the landlords obtained a grant of planning permission for the unit. The landlords had not obtained permission when the notice was served.
Planning permission was subsequently secured to convert the unit occupied by TGI Friday’s, and a neighbouring unit formerly used for the Dandelion bar and nightclub, into retail space.
Whelan said that the subsequent planning permission does not validate the notice.
He said there had been a lot of correspondence between the parties and his client’s interpretation of the lease agreement is contested by the landlords.
He added that if his client case is that if it did not secure the injunction and the landlord retook possession, the restaurant would “go out of business”.
Chicago Rock Cafe is part of a group of companies owned by brothers Ciaran and Colum Butler, who also own the Starbucks franchise for Ireland.
As previously explored by Fora, at least two councils have taken court action over Starbucks outlets being opened without planning permission.
There are currently seven TGI Friday’s restaurants across the island of Ireland, including a second outlet nearby in south Dublin, on Fleet Street. The judge, after granting the injunction, adjourned the matter to later this week.
Additional reporting Peter Bodkin
