Empire strikes back at landlord in Leicester Square cinema lease dispute

The landlords of the Empire cinema on London’s Leicester Square acted unlawfully when they cancelled the lease and broke into the premises over the King’s coronation weekend so that they could hand the building over to a vape shop and a foreign exchange bureau. The case stems from a dispute between the landlords – Leicester Square (2015) Ltd and Slough Shopping Centre (2015) Ltd – and the cinema over more than a year of unpaid rent when the cinema was closed due to the Covid pandemic. The ruling means that the lease is still valid, and the cinema remains the building’s tenant. According to a ruling handed down today, Empire Cinema 2 Ltd holds a 99-year lease on the cinema due to expire in November 2036. Empire withheld paying rent between March 2020 and July 2021 and applied to an arbitrator under Covid legislation, to have the debt reduced. The arbitrator refused. The landlords decided that the lease had been forfeited and entered the premises via a fire door on the morning of 4 May 2023, according to the ruling, and immediately handed the building over to new tenants, including a vape shop and foreign exchange bureau. “This was during the weekend of the coronation of King Charles III,” Mr Justice Mann said in his ruling. “The desirability of trading during that weekend may explain the haste of these activities.” According to the ruling, on the same day Empire paid the arrears and applied to the High Court for a court order giving them re-entry to the premises. A judge agreed. The case then went to the London County Court where Empire asked a judge to rule that the forfeiture of the lease was unlawful, and they were still the rightful leaseholders. The judge agreed. The landlords appealed, and in a ruling today the High Court also backed Empire, meaning that the lease is still in force. The ruling comes in the same month in which troubled cinema chain Cineworld is seeking to reach an agreement with its landlords over rent. The multiplex operator argues that rents are above market rates in many of its locations and is seeking to have them reduced via a court-approved process. Leicester Square (2015) Ltd and others v Empire Cinema 2 Ltd High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts (Mr Justice Mann) 10 September 2024 Photo © Jeff Blackler/Shutterstock