Bewley’s has “a real shot” of keeping its historic cafe on Dublin’s Grafton Street open after a court halved its rent on Friday, managing director Cól Campbell said.
Judge Jennifer O’Brien ruled on Friday that Bewley’s should pay €738,169.74 a year to its landlord, a company owned by developer Johnny Ronan, slashing the current €1.46 million annual bill by 50 per cent.
Speaking after the Circuit Court ruling, Mr Campbell said the business had “a real shot at keeping the cafe” as a result.
He pointed out that the famous coffee shop was as busy as it had been in 2019 but was working with 2024 costs.
Mr Campbell argued that Judge O’Brien’s decision was good for the city centre, which is beginning to recover following Covid and the cost-of-living crisis.
She ruled that market rents should apply to the Bewley’s Cafe Grafton Street Ltd, resulting in the dramatic cut to its bill.
“Market rents bring in entrepreneurs and that brings in business,” said Mr Campbell.
Bewley’s Grafton Street maintains that it is due a €1 million refund of overpaid rent from the Ronan Group Real Estate subsidiary, RGRE Grafton Ltd, as a result of Friday’s ruling. The group did not comment.
The cafe is one of several properties under the control of receivers appointed by banks last year at Ronan Group Real Estate’s request.
Property industry sources calculate Bewley’s new rent at €449 a square foot and say current market rates for the premier shopping street are €450. “Other units are going for around that,” said one.
There are five vacant shops to let on Grafton Street but real estate figures say that landlords are in negotiations with prospective tenants for at least some of those properties.
Businesses are seeking planning permission to redevelop another four vacant premises there.
Bewley’s agreed new terms in 2007 when a property bubble had inflated commercial rents to record levels.
The market’s collapse the following year left the cafe struggling with high costs while a recession decimated business.
While arbitration arrived at a new figure of €728,000 in 2012, its landlord did not cut the rent as the law only allowed upward rent reviews.
The cafe company took legal action in 2022 and earlier this year the court ruled that it was entitled to a new lease.
A subsequent hearing where experts gave evidence for both sides resulted in Friday’s ruling.
Mr Campbell said people had shown the landmark cafe enormous goodwill as it wrestled with the case.
“That’s what keeps Bewley’s going,” he said, “the people who keep coming into us.”
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