The case is the latest twist in a longstanding row between the cafe and property developer Johnny Ronan’s RGRE Grafton Limited, which owns the building, although the property is currently up for sale under the instructions of receivers.
Bewley’s Grafton Street managing director, Cól Campbell, said the firm had secured a 50pc rent reduction under judgment from the Circuit Court. The new rent for the building will be just under €740,000 a year.
“The judgment represents an equitable reset of the cafe’s rent back to market value after trading under an onerous lease for the last 17 years,” he said.
Mr Campbell said he believes that on foot of the judgment, Bewley’s Grafton Street is now due a €1m refund of overpaid rent.
“It is also good news for Dublin, as market-based rents stimulate enterprise and business variety in the city,” he said.
Bewley’s Cafe Grafton Street Limited (BCGS) had taken Circuit Court legal proceedings arguing it was obliged to pay a rent almost three times the appropriate market rate under the terms of a lease that expired in August 2022.
The case was one twist in a rent row between the company and RGRE Grafton Limited.
Bewley’s has been operating in the building since 1927. While it originally owned the premises, it was sold to Royal Insurance in 1987 and leased back to Bewley’s.
The building later ended up in the ownership of Mr Ronan’s company, which is currently in receivership.
The cafe’s operators have been in a long-running disagreement with its landlord over rent, but have failed to secure a reduction. Under its expired lease, rent was reviewed on an “upwards only” basis.
The rent issue came to the fore in recent years after a dispute arose over the ownership of six Harry Clarke stained glass windows at the premises.
Bewley’s had sought to offset rent payments by offering to sell the windows to RGRE, only for RGRE to claim ownership of the windows. The High Court ruled that four of the windows were owned by the landlord and two were the property of the tenant, but the Court of Appeal this year found all six windows belong to the landlord. The windows are reckoned to be worth something in the region of €1m. They were not a feature of the Circuit Court proceedings.
