Last orders as Au Bar loses beer garden

A WEST End pub is preparing to pack up its beer garden after being served an eviction notice.

Au Bar in Shandwick Place was taken to court last year by the residents of Rutland Square, who proved that the pub's beer garden sat on their land.

Since then, the residents and bar owners, G1 Group, have been in negotiations over renting the land. But with the two sides unable to reach agreement, pub director Irene Stewart, who leases the business from G1, said she was preparing to clear the area by 2pm tomorrow.

She said she had been told the square residents were seeking 15,000 rent for the area.

She said: "It's a ridiculous amount of money, so it's just economically not viable. It's not generating that kind of money. I think they're just cutting their nose off to spite their face."

She said the pub had improved the space since moving in. "When we did the improvements nearly a year ago it was rat-infested, litter strewn, it was a dump," she said.

"I think when we did our improvements they thought 'we're missing out here'. It will be quite a big thing for us to lose it.

"It's the only place that people can go and have a smoke and a drink. You can go into the garden when the sun is out and have a puff and a beer.

"They're going to be sitting in their offices in Rutland Square thinking 'it would be nice to go out for a beer', and they won't be able to."

But Dr Malcolm Windsor of the Rutland Square and Street Association said the group had demanded only a peppercorn rent, but was seeking to recover some of the costs of last year's legal action, in which the court ruled that deeds showed the land was held in common by residents.

"We are willing to rent it to them but we haven't been able to reach terms. I hope that we still will be able to – we would be happy to work with them," he said.

"But they have had four years' illegal occupation so we feel they should make a payment to the costs which have been borne by the community. They were obliged to pay some of them, but what the court awards is considerably less than what we spent.

"We're asking them to make a contribution and then pay a peppercorn rent.

"It's a one-off payment which only reflects their use of it for four years plus a contribution towards our costs.

"It wasn't a dumping ground, it was a garden and we will restore it to a garden."