Restaurant owner given just a week to clear out

THE owner of the Lockhouse Lounge has been given until April 6 to remove her equipment from the restaurant after being evicted by trustees of Portishead’s Open Air Pool.

Portishead Pool Community Trust has written to restaurateur Deborah Griffith asking her to remove all her equipment from the restaurant by next Wednesday.

Bailiffs arrived at the pool on Monday to issue a warrant to take possession of the building on behalf of the trust.

It is understood an unpaid electricity bill of around £6,300 is at the centre of the dispute, which resulted in the trust cutting off the restaurant’s supply.

There has also been a dispute over a long-term lease that Mrs Griffith claims she is entitled to.

Mrs Griffith, who took over the restaurant in May 2009, says she has invested £160,000 in the Lockhouse Lounge and has tens of thousands of pounds worth of equipment in the building.

She told the

It is understood that Mrs Griffith has made a financial offer to the trust in an attempt to get back into the building and start trading again.

Legal representatives for Mrs Griffith have been trying to talk to the trust’s solicitor to agree a way forward.

Mrs Griffith said: “I can confirm that the trust has given me until April 6 to remove my equipment. We are trying to speak to the trust’s solicitor to find a way forward.

“I have no plans to remove the equipment as I am still hoping that the matter can be resolved. We want the trust to have a rethink about what has happened and where this situation could ultimately end up.

“I am also hoping North Somerset Council will intervene so we can get around the table.”

Mrs Griffith has already had to make two staff redundant, but is working to honour bookings at the Lockhouse Lounge by moving them to her other restaurant – The Lockhouse – at the town’s marina.

Mrs Griffith added: “The Lockhouse is still very much open and we using it to try and accommodate bookings made at the Lockhouse Lounge. Regrettably there have been parties and events that have had to be postponed or cancelled because of the situation.”

Trustees claimed that the notice to quit the property was issued because terms of the tenancy had been persistently breached by Mrs Griffith by late payment of rent.

They also claim mutually agreeable terms for an underlease for the restaurant could not be reached and that an outstanding electricity bill of £6,325 had not been paid.

The pool was taken over by the Portishead Pool Community Trust in May 2009 following the Save the Open Air Pool campaign.

The campaign was launched after North Somerset Council announced it was considering closing the lido, which opened in the 1960s, to save money. No one from Portishead Pool Community Trust was available to comment.