Highgate Wood café operator faces eviction by City of London Corporation

Hoxton Beach was given formal notice in January that its tenancies would end on 2nd February and would be legally required to vacate each site, reports Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter

The operator of three North London cafés is facing potential eviction as the City of London Corporation files for possession with the County Court.

The corporation, which manages the cafés at Parliament Hill Lido, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park as charity assets, is looking to remove operator Hoxton Beach to allow new operators to take over.

Aussie-inspired business Daisy Green was awarded the contracts to run two of the sites following a remarketing exercise last year. The third, Pavilion Cafe in Highgate Wood, is to be run by a separate operator, Cosmin Stuparu.

Hoxton Beach was given formal notice in January that its tenancies would end on 2nd February and that it would be legally required to vacate each site. The business has however continued to occupy the premises and this month launched a judicial review into whether the corporation had acted unlawfully in its awarding of the tenancies.

Hoxton Beach has also said it is incorrect to suggest it has been squatting since early February, and that the City of London Corporation had agreed not to seek possession for three weeks following a legal letter issued last month. This expired in early March.

Alderman Gregory Jones KC, chair of the corporation’s Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee, said Hoxton Beach was given “ample notice and clear expectations” about the nature of their tenancy at will and the remarketing process, adding it is “regrettable” that so much officer time and resources have been spent on legal action.

Patrick Matthews, who co-owns Hoxton Beach with his wife Emma Fernandez, said rather than making “aggressive legal moves” the corporation “should put more energy into its legal duty of candour, releasing requested documents and shedding more light on its highly opaque decision-making processes”.

As well as governing the Square Mile, the City of London Corporation manages green spaces including Hampstead Heath as a registered charity.

Its remarketing exercise, launched last summer, saw the tenancies of five North London cafés located on such spaces go up for tender. As well as the three run by Hoxton Beach they included sites at Golders Hill Park and Parliament Hill.

Hoxton Beach, which has run the Lido and Queen’s Park cafés since 2018 and Highgate Wood since 2019, received significant support from visitors, as did the D’Auria family, which ran the café at Parliament Hill.

In December the corporation announced that Daisy Green would be taking on four of the five cafés. It was later revealed that Highgate Wood is to be run by operator Mr Stuparu, who previously oversaw Golders Hill Park.

Hoxton Beach has since contested the decision, with concerns raised including that Daisy Green and the consultancy which ran the remarketing exercise, Davis Coffer Lyons, have previously worked together.

Earlier this month it initiated legal action in a bid to reverse the takeover.

The corporation has, however, now announced it will shortly be filing possession proceedings with the County Court to remove Hoxton Beach from the cafés. It said the remarketing process was open and lawful with 30 bids received.

The corporation has also said all entries were considered against a range of factors, including the concept for the cafés and the menu and food offer.

Alderman Jones said: “Hoxton Beach was given ample notice and clear expectations about the nature of their tenancy at will, and the entire remarketing process. Their decision not to cooperate and vacate the cafés by the advised date has delayed improvements for visitors and disrupted an open, lawful process, designed to secure long-term investment in these facilities.

“It is regrettable that so much officer time and charitable resource has been diverted into legal action. Every pound spent on legal disputes is a pound that cannot be spent on picking litter, maintaining facilities, conserving nature, and funding the Hampstead Heath Constabulary.

“Despite all this, Daisy Green has continued to act constructively – engaging positively with the other cafés operators, retaining existing staff, and promising to keep menu favourites.

“It has also prevented Cosmin Stuparu from taking up his awarded position at Highgate Wood, which has affected his business planning and created a knock-on effect for Daisy Green’s ability to open at Golders Hill Park.

“Both operators are committed to paying the London Living Wage – making it a first for all staff across all cafés at Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park – and demonstrates a shared commitment to supporting those who live and work locally.

“I sincerely hope this is a step towards resolving this dispute so that, as charity trustees, we can get on with the job and support those entrusted with serving the public across our open spaces.”

Matthews told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the decision to hand the open space cafés to Daisy Green “flies in the face of the wishes of park users, expressed by a 25,000 signature petition and by its own opinion surveys. The City has also disregarded its legal duty to carry out meaningful public consultation, including with its own nominated consultative committees”.

Matthews added it would have been reasonable given the pending judicial review to halt the eviction proceedings, “to avoid the wasted costs and resources of two courts looking at the issue”.

“Under our stewardship the cafés have trebled in turnover and the Lido has gone from a seasonal to a year round business,” he said.

“They have become affordable community hubs appreciated by tens of thousands of customers. We believe our bid setting out our record should have gone before the decision making committee rather than being put in a black box by a handful of officers.”

The County Court will now consider the corporation’s case plus responses from Hoxton Beach at a first hearing. This is expected to take place up to eight weeks after the court has issued the claims.

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