Forum Topic

Not local but...Gaby's Deli is being closed down

This is the one by Leicester Square station on Charing Cross Road.We use it all the time pre and post theatre for its great salt beef and felafel.It's a really unusual place in London - good value and good-humouredNow the landlords want to close it down to make way for a Strada or Cote or another faceless chain.I'm so upset!I may have set up a facebook page (Save Gaby's Deli) but am pretty inept so may not have.Any ideas for any way of stopping it?

Sara Nathan ● 4970d12 Comments

What's happening with this. It has certainly achieved amjor publicity in the media!

Vivienne James ● 4909d

Everything is more nuanced - but it is fundamentally correct - am not saying the Marquess of Salisbury or Gascoyne Holdings are bad necessarily - but that this isn't a good decision for anyone much - except maybe the landlord's bottom line.And certainly there's nowhere else to get decent saltbeef in theatreland whereas there are many places to get chain restaurant grub.

Sara Nathan ● 4956d

The quote is third hand from a newspaper which has seen editorial standards decline rapidly over the last few years but I'll concede that 'transparently false' is not necessarily justified. I am speculating. This is being presented as a case of big bad artistocratic property developer vs. plucky independent retailer selling amazing food. The reality will be more nuanced than that.

Andy Jones ● 4958d

Evening Standard 16th September 2011"However, Montagu Evans today said: "Gascoyne Holdings Ltd has a very varied portfolio and is one of the biggest supporters of small shops. The proposals we're looking at will hugely improve the visual of Charing Cross Road. We don't know what restaurant is going to move in, but they said they would be seeking a tenant similar to the calibre of Strada or Côte."To me it seeemed a daft thing to say at the time - but there's no suggestion from Montagu Evens or anyone else that this was an incorrect quote - and Cote at least are irritated by it. So I don't think you can say - with any evidence - that it is "transparently false"The landlords had been persuaded - I was told by planning - not to redevelop Cecil Court. But the article I quoted from makes it clear that those considerations are not being applied to Gaby's Deli.Do you have any information about this particular case - in which case it would be helpful to see it - or are you  speculating?

Sara Nathan ● 4958d

Not clear at all. On the one hand you are now saying that the same landlords do support smaller independent businesses that have been long established in the area but then you say their business model is to replace independents with faceless chains.The quotes attributed to them are quite transparently false. No landlord would say what businesses they are hoping to attract to a site before entering talks with them as it would undermine their bargaining position. This seems to be a made up quote designed to smear the landlord.There are many more credible reasons for their action and if they are indeed choosing not to support this business in the transition to the new premises this might have something to do with their current relationship with the tenant.I would agree that the rich should try to demonstrate social responsibility in their actions but it should remain primarily their decision how and when they do this.

Andy Jones ● 4959d

three - not four - other businesses.sorry.

Sara Nathan ● 4959d

Was I not clear?Yes the landlords do want to close Gaby's and four other businesses down and replace them by a chain such as Strada or Cote. It's just that neither of those businesses say they are interested. Neither is Cafe Rouge as it happens.The intention of the landlord is clear. Presumably the motive is greater profit - though Gaby's pay quite a bit of rent, of course they could get more from a large chain using two floors of dining space.But that would scarcely be an addition to the current offer in the area and would positively exclude many of the people who currently eat there.  Interestingly the same landlords do keep the rents in Cecil Court on the low side (I found out yesterday) in order to keep the specialist book and print shops open. So maybe there is a glimmer...Their wealth is important as it enables them to do what is right, not only what is financially expedient - should they so choose.

Sara Nathan ● 4959d

So they don't want to close it down and replace it with a chain as you said originally. Your campaign, which I'm sure is laudable, isn't going to be helped by you making false statements.Not sure that the wealth of the landlords is particularly relevant. If you are saying that if a relatively rich owner has an social obligation to poorer tenants which overrides their right to do as they wish with their property perhaps Emmaus House should be in touch with you about one of your spare bedrooms.

Andy Jones ● 4960d

They say they want to redevelop it to improve the look of Charing Cross Road! Yeah right! They are evicting three other businesses on the same block at the same time.Gaby's has a protected tenancy as he has been there since the 60s and the only way the Marquess of Salisbury and his family (for it is they!) can get him out, is by redevelopment.The landlords have specifically said that they want a Cote or a Strada as that is better for the area - again not for anyone I know. Interstingly both companies have responded that  they are not interested and the MD of Cote wished us well with the Save Gaby's Deli campaign.I suspect they are getting the market rate for the existing property - which is why they want to redevelop it to get much more. After all, they only have Hatfield House, much of Bedfordshire and chunks of the West End between the Cecil family and penury, so you can quite see why a unique little Deli has to go.

Sara Nathan ● 4961d

If that's the case then it is wrong to say they want to close it down to replace it with a chain. They want to get the market rate for their property which presumably the incumbent isn't willing to pay.

Andy Jones ● 4967d

higher rent

Dominik Kouker ● 4967d

Why do the landlords want to close it down to make way for a chain?

Andy Jones ● 4967d