Cafe owners stage sit-in after rent dispute

Adam Porrino (front left) and Tess Parkinson (back left) stage a sit-in protest at Café Blah after a dispute with their landlord

The owners of a cafe have staged a sit-in protest over being evicted from their rented premises.

Adam Porrino and Tess Parkinson, owners of Café Blah, in Withington, south Manchester, claimed they had not been given a fair notice period.

The pair alleged the property's landlords, letting agents H Homes, had "unfairly snatched away" their business and changed the locks during an ongoing lease renewal dispute.

H Homes has been approached for comment.

Mr Porrino said he and Ms Parkinson had been allowed to enter briefly on Tuesday to get some musical instruments and equipment belonging to performers who had played there.

While inside, they decided to stage the sit-in protest.

"We're in here because we are still the tenants," Mr Porrino said. "It's our cafe - we can't really leave.

"It's not something you can throw in the boot of a car."

Supporters of the cafe-bar, alongside Mr Porrino and Ms Parkinson, are staging the protest over what they call an "unfair" rent increase.

Mr Porrino said they were still in a "state of shock" over the eviction.

"This is everything for us, this is our cafe."

Their rent is due to increase by 68% and would then be raised by 7.5% each following year, which Mr Porrino and Ms Parkinson said was unaffordable.

The pair have been negotiating a renewal with H Homes since August 2023, when their current lease transitioned to a monthly rolling contract.

Mr Porrino told the BBC that H Homes initially agreed to a 12% increase over email and sent a new lease over, but they didn't sign the document due to it containing spelling mistakes.

After two months of silence, they claimed H Homes then sent a new lease with the 68% increase, leading Café Blah to apply for a section 26 right to renew agreement, which protects the lease until the notice has expired.

H Homes objected to the right to renew agreement and instead issued a section 25 no-fault eviction notice in March, citing their desire to reclaim the property for their own use.

The minimum notice period a section 25 notice must give is six months before the termination date. Café Blah's right to renew agreement expired on 30 September.

The cafe was advertised on Zoopla in a now-deleted property listing

Mr Porrino said H Homes claimed it was to expand their letting business but he later found the building listed as a "restaurant to let" on property website Zoopla in a since-deleted listing.

The pair now accept they will have to vacate the property but say they are just asking for the "bare minimum" - a notice period to wind down business.

However, they still contend they haven't received a formal eviction notice, describing it as being in a "no man's land", and say they still don't have any keys.

In the meantime the community support is what’s keeping them going. A fundraiser has been started and, so far has raised over £6,000 of its £9,000 target.

"We're deeply embedded in the community, which is why people have shown up."

Mr Porrino said they were all "looking out for each other" while they get ready to leave and have already started looking at alternative sites.

"Our little cafe, it's bigger than ourselves."