A bar in the heart of Bridgetown, which was a hotspot for both tourists and locals, may soon be no more.
That’s after bailiffs “crashed” the Marina Bar and Restaurant today and took hold of the property in a turn of events that left the business owners scratching their heads.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, owners Trisha Young-Hinds and Troy Hinds recalled the ordeal which left them shaken.
Young-Hinds said it started as a regular morning, but a phone call from an employee would change everything: “She told me that the bailiffs came in and ordered her out; the police came and escorted her out of the building and then told her that they were taking possession of the building.”
On arrival at the establishment, the couple was informed that the building’s management had issued a notice of distress; however, she said, she was not served with an official court document.
Barbados TODAY obtained a copy of the notice which reads: “TAKE NOTICE that I, LEYLAND KING, as agent of and for Miss Daisy Investment Inc, your landlord, have this day distrained on the premises in your occupation named in the inventory hereunto annexed, the goods and chattels mentioned in this said inventory for $10,185.00 being the amount due to the said Miss Daisy Investments INC on the 28th day of August 2020, and unless you pay the said sum of $10,185 with the charges of distraining for the same within ten (10) days from the service hereof, the said, goods and chattels will be sold at the property known as “Marina Bar”, Bridge House, Canvas Lane Land, Bridgetown, St Michael according to the law.”
Young-Hinds claimed that the move by the landlord was made because of arrears of one month’s rent totalling $10,185, although half of that has already been paid through her attorney.
“I deposited $5,000 with my lawyer six weeks ago and they refused to take the money so it would be $5,185 that I owe them,” she said.
“What they said is that they are taking possession of my inventory and anything that is in the building for the $10,185, which is only one month’s rent. If they would have given me that notice before, within the ten days, I would have been able to pay the $10,185, but instead they came in the same day that it was issued and they have locked me out.”
The bar owner said that today’s development interrupted one of her busiest days outside of the tourist season, which she was hoping to use to make the rent payment.
“If I did business today, we have a karaoke that starts at noon and ends at midnight, I would make that money to pay them, but they’re not letting me in my building.… I don’t know why they are unfairing or ostracizing me in this way.”
When asked if there were payment problems in the past she said, “I’ve been late, but it has always been paid.”
She said 95 per cent of her clientele are tourists.
“October to April is the cruise ship season and we make most of the money around that time, so if I’m ever late I had an agreement with the previous owners that in the last six months we would pay the rent slower because we are seasonal,” Young-Hinds said.
The tearful bar owner, who has occupied the spot for the last eight years, said she has felt targeted since the management of the building changed two years ago and she feels as though the landlords are trying to squeeze her out, noting that there is a plan to renovate the building.
“We had letters going backward and forward from their lawyers and mine. They were writing a letter giving me an offer. They wrote saying that they would forget all that is owed to them if I would move by a certain date, but they kept moving the date,” a distraught Young-Hinds said.
She said she wrote back to them, indicating that to move the bar would require about ten trucks and people to come and dismantle. She also pointed out that she would need a plumber and an electrician whose services she could not afford at the time due to the impact of COVID-19 on business activity.
Overwhelmed by the reality that she may have to give up on the place into which she and her husband had poured their heart and soul, she explained: “When we moved in here, this was a blank canvas. It didn’t have a stage, it didn’t have nothing so. Everything inside that building, including the tables on the balcony, belongs to me.”
The bar employs 42 staff, some of whom are on layoff because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple’s attorney Jamar Bourne said an application for injunctive relief will be filed.
Up to the time of publication, calls by Barbados TODAY to the landlord for comment have gone unanswered. (kobiebroomes@barbadostoday.bb)
