The Supreme Court has ruled against Bewley's Cafe in a legal battle with its landlord over rent reviews.
The group's Chief Executive says rent of 1.5 million euro for the Grafton Street business is 'oppressive'.
Our Courts Correspondent Francesca Comyn reports:
This case centred around the interpretation of a complex lease Bewleys entered into back in 1987 which allowed for its rent to be revised every 5 years.
The question was whether they had entered into an upward only rent review contract- the Supreme Court has found that it did
That means as of 2012 Bewleys has to pay landlord Ickendel annual rent of 1.4 million euro – the cafe had hoped for a more market friendly figure of 728 thousand.
Group Chief Executive John Cahill has called the current rate oppressive a rate set back in 2007 at the height of the unsustainable property bubble
Supreme Court judge Ms Justice Mary Laffoy emphasized that the construction of this particular lease does not have wider application.
