The opening of a licensed table tennis venue in Melbourne’s CBD is in doubt due to an ongoing legal battle with the venue’s landlord.
Paddle Battle, which combines table tennis with a licensed restaurant and bar, is a 400-seat venue expected to employ 150 staff and with an estimated turnover $25 million a year located next to Melbourne Central.
Eatertainment, the group behind Paddle Battle have been stuck in a long running legal dispute with the owner of Aurora Melbourne Central, UEM Sunrise.
The Malaysian property giant is worth RM5.3 billion ($1.6 billion AUD) according to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange.
The idea of Paddle Battle came about almost a decade ago in 2015, when Eleanor Barratt, co-founder of chain MAMOS Greek Street Food, and George Pezaros, founder of the Degani cafe chain and ENA Greek restaurant were looking for alternative trends in the industry.
After many potential locations, they found the spot in the basement floor of Melbourne’s third-tallest building, and signed a lease in 2021.
However, in September last year, UEM Sunrise terminated the lease after disputes about an easement that runs through the property, and engineering drawings and air conditioning upgrades.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) granted an injunction in November, restoring the lease.
Neos Kosmos spoke to the owner George Pezaros, who says they were initially told the easement would not provide any interruption to plans.
“When we leased the premises, we were told by the agent, and in writing, that the only thing we had to be mindful of was that the passageway was accessible from the first train in the morning to the last train at night, and that was it,” he said.
“Subsequently, what’s come to light over the last couple of years is that that easement has a 200-page document called an interface agreement signed off by the state government, Melbourne City Council, Vic Rail and Metro Rail, that has a lot of strict rules about what can happen with that tenancy, and one of them is that you can’t run a tavern operation.”
This means they cannot have an on-premise licence, so the only liquor licence that can be applied for within that tenancy is for a cafe restaurant permit, but this is not what Paddle Battle was envisioned to be.
“That agreement was never given to us or our lawyers when the lease was given to us and to this day the landlord or the landlord solicitors can’t give anyone an answer as to why they didn’t or how they forgot or what happened.”
Pezaros calls it a “big headache” that forced him to apply for a liquor license a third time, having been rejected twice due to the easement.
“That shouldn’t be our issue, this was stuffed up by the landlord, which we could have walked away from it and just kept the case against it in VCAT.”
“The landlord, are an overseas equity fund, and they have no respect for what we’re doing in Melbourne.
“They don’t care about our culture. They don’t care about what goes on. It’s all about them. It’s all about their profits.”
Pezaros said that residents were also against them opening Paddle Battle, but he wasn’t shocked at the complaints and said it was a regular occurrence when licensed venues try to open – “they don’t want their peace and quiet disturbed.”
However, what did shock him, the solicitors and even the Liquor Commission, was when one resident showed up with the interface agreement that would not allow a liquor license at the venue.
The entire venue has seen a revamp to allow a liquor license, with an archway that covers the easement but even with all these changes, Pezaros says UEM Sunrise still won’t cooperate.
“We’ve revamped everything as much as we can to make it work but the landlord still is not working with us. They’re working against us and we don’t know why.”
“Instead of them negotiating or working out a reasonable commercial settlement, they’re just trying to bleed us out, to not have to deal with it.
“And I think by at this stage they thought that we might have gone away, but we haven’t.”
Neos Kosmos reached out to UEM Sunrise for comment, who deny any wrongdoing regarding the tenancy.
“UEM Sunrise refutes any suggestions of improper conduct regarding the tenancy with Eatertainment Group at Aurora Melbourne Central,” in a statement sent to Neos Kosmos.
“The parties should respect that the current issue is ongoing and being deliberated before VCAT. The company, in compliance with the legal process, will not provide any further details regarding the dispute.”
The group also said they are “proud” of their “strong retail partnerships” in Melbourne, while also sharing that they contribute back to communities and local economies such as the Foodbank partnership at Melbourne Central and the Bourne Local community markets in Collingwood.
