The owner of the historic Paragon Cafe in Katoomba has been told to quit the building but uncertainty surrounds the fate of the business, which has operated from the same site for 102 years.
The business’s owner, Robyn Parker, said negotiations over a new lease had failed to secure either an agreement for maintenance or a rent cut and she had immediately been given notice to vacate.
She will close the doors on May 27.
But the landlord, Sydney lawyer John Landerer, said he will retain the name. He told Fairfax Media: “It will continue with a new tenant and the Paragon name.”
Ms Parker was adamant that the name belonged to her.
“I bought a business and its name was the Paragon; he bought a building and I don’t know when it became reasonable for a landlord to copy his tenant’s business.
“This is an incredibly worrying precedent for any business owner and retail tenant in NSW because if a landlord can mimic the business name, nobody can have any confidence at the end of their lease that they aren’t going to lose their business or have their business copied.
“It’s a David and Goliath situation,” she said of attempting to battle a top-flight city lawyer. She believed the decision to split the business and the building into two separate legal entities was taken 15 years ago, “long before either the landlord or I were part of this story”.
Ms Parker bought the Paragon in 2011 but has struggled to meet rent payments in excess of $200,000 a year. When she received a letter from Mr Landerer about a new lease, she asked for the rent to be reduced. She also wanted a program of works to fix myriad problems in the building.
Mr Landerer said he would not reduce the rent and gave her notice to quit.
On the subject of repairs, he said: “We’ve spent over half a million in repairing the building over the last couple of years. And we will be painting the facade.
“We believe we are doing our bit.”
Ms Parker said: “I don't know how much has been spent but certainly the problems of drainage and leaks which have been highlighted previously still persist to this day.”
She said constant leaks often flooded downstairs rooms, had threatened the stock in her window display and have lifted wall panels, damaged floors and led to repeated electrical failures.
Ms Parker said she hoped to continue the Paragon name somewhere else.
“When the dust has settled, we will look at evolving our chocolate products and put the cafe on ice,” she said.
The Paragon Cafe and Oyster Palace, as it was originally called, was opened on the site in 1916 by Greek immigrant Zac Simos.