THREAD: One of the biggest issues faced by restaurants (see today's report) is the behaviour of landlords. Some have been great. Some much less so. But the huge landlord whose approach startled me was The Crown Estate, ultimate proprietor HM The Queen. theguardian.com/food/2020/apr/… 1/
As I say, some have been brilliant. I am hearing that Derwent, Shaftesbury Estates and Argent (Kings cross development) have all told restaurateurs to suspend rent for the coming months. Quite right too. If they don't do that, those restaurants will go out of business 2/
And if they do that who do the landlords think will fill their spaces? These are businesses which would be viable were it not for the lockdown, which has robbed them of all cashflow. It's not like there will be a queue of new operators the moment the lockdown ends 3/
Some have behaved very roughly. In today's piece I report on the case of Criterion Capital which issued a winding up petition against a restaurateur. So what about The Crown Estate? Let's be clear: this is the property arm of the monarchy. 4/
All of its revenues, after costs, are required to be sent to the Treasury, to become part of general UK government revenues. So not only is this property owned by the Crown. This is money going to the Exchequer ie to be looked after by @RishiSunak, the Chancellor. 5/
They own most or all of their properties outright (unlike some which have loans to service upstream). Their response, unlike others, was not to suspend payments immediately. They have suggested to some restaurants they pay monthly instead of quarterly 6/
To be clear they have NOT issued any winding up orders. And they HAVE offered some rent free periods. But what they haven't yet done, what you would imagine the Crown would do, is simply suspend all payments. What with this being a moment of national struggle and all. 7/
And what with this being money going to the very same Exchequer which, in lockdown, has apparently been encouraging banks, other lenders and landlords to treat their clients with due care and attention. 8/
I asked The Crown Estate what they were doing and whether they were asking some restaurateurs to pay monthly. They did not deny it. Their response was thus: 'We are pleased to have been able to help the majority of our restaurants across the West End...' 9/
'...including with offers of rent free periods or staggered payments,and have focused our resources on supporting those businesses where we can make the most difference for example smaller, independent businesses who we believe are facing particular challenges at the moment.' 10/
'We’ll continue to work closely with all of our customers as the situation develops.' In my report @UKHospKate of @UKHofficial says its time for landlords (among others) to step up. But if even The Crown, the Royal Family, can't be relied upon to be the very best of the best..11/
What hope is there?? For those asking, this didn't appear in the Observer piece today because space was short and it needed the nuance of the lengthy explanation here. So, are we all in this together? Apparently not. ENDS
