Two of the four traders initially evicted from their premises are closing for good
After being evicted from Castle Square due to unpaid back-billed electricity charges in early October, then being allowed to return while new payment plans were negotiated with landlords Get Living and management company Savills, Guyanese restaurant Kaieteur Kitchen and Jamaican spot Original Caribbean Spice are now both closing for good.
The two traders, along with Nigerian restaurant Daddy O’s and Ecuadorian spot El Guambra, were initially shut out of their premises in Elephant & Castle after being told they had 14 days to pay massive electricity arrears in full, despite their attempts to attempts to negotiate payment plans and despite repeatedly requesting updated electricity bills. Speaking to London Centric, Faye Gomes, owner of Kaieteur Kitchen, said, “Anytime there’s a meeting, we brought it up but got nothing. We kept asking them, ‘will we get it soon?’”, claiming they were told “It will be with you soon. There is some mistake in reading it.” Colombian cafe Coma y Beba closed a few months earlier after facing similar pressures from management.
Following protests by charity organisation Latin Elephant and coverage across a number of media outlets, Southwark Council and Get Living offered traders a new payment plan so they could remain open. While the owners of Daddy O’s and El Guambra were able to negotiate their lease terms, thanks to a fundraising campaign to help with legal fees, and will begin trading soon, Faye of Kaieteur Kitchen and Laroma and Marcia of Original Caribbean Spice have been forced out for good, after the landlord refused to lower their monthly repayment amounts to an affordable level.
Faye is on the lookout for another commercial kitchen space and will be launching a fundraiser soon. The other Castle Square traders are also still fundraising to pay off their legal fees, which you can support here.
