Hill Station Restaurant is to close and the ACT is in danger of losing the site as a function and heritage centre, according to proprietors.
The proprietors, Paul Smith and Derek Lyall, said yesterday that government inaction and uncommercial lease conditions set by the landlord made it impossible for them to continue. They will close the restaurant, art gallery, the country village and teahouse and antique sales at the end of May.
They had an option to renew their lease for a further three years, but it was not a commercial proposition for them on the terms offered. They had spent thousands of dollars fixing the homestead and other buildings and repairing the grounds. They had bought all the furnishings and restaurant fittings. The landlords had not helped with that.
They had also to keep a watching eye over development in the nearby Hume industrial estate to ensure that businesses did not encroach on the tranquillity of the homestead. That should have been a task of government.
The landlords are selling the 99-year head lease by tender. Tenders close on April 30.
The solicitor for the landlords, Jim Colquhoun, said the landlords had complied with the lease. They had offered a renewal and would have sold subject to any new lease. Now, however, they would sell with vacant possession.
Mr Smith and Mr Lyall had wanted the landlords to do things which were, according to the lease, the responsibility of the tenant. The lease-purpose clause provided that there could be a restaurant, but that was not a requirement. It could be used for other purposes, such as grape growing or an antique shop and so on.
Mr Colquhoun’s personal view was that an owner-occupier could run a restaurant from it.
However, Mr Smith and Mr Lyall said that the tenancy terms offered to them were too high for a sustainable business. A newcomer would find it worse, as it would cost at least $250,000 to refit the restaurant after they had taken their equipment out.
If the asking price for the head lease were based, under industry standards, on the tenancy terms, it would be too high to make a business.
Mr Smith said, “”It will be the end of an era.”
Hill Station had won a 1992 ACT Tourism Award. It was a showcase for tourism in the region. ACT Government and industry people brought visitors to Hill Station to show a unique part of Australia’s heritage in the area, he said.
Hill Station comprises the original 1867 slab-and-sleeper cottage, the 1909 main homestead and associated buildings on a hectare of land in Hume.
Mr Smith said upkeep of a heritage site was far more costly than elsewhere if the integrity of the site were to be maintained.
Mr Smith was angry that ACT law provided that commercial landlords were not obliged to do anything. He had tried to relocate the cafe part of the business to a more suitable part of Hume, but the Government had been tardy in making decisions. This had enabled Cannons to set up a cafe and take-away business.
However, last week he had got an order from the Government under the Land (Planning and Environment) Act stopping this as it was a breach of the lease-purpose clause.
He and Mr Lyall were now in a position where they could not sell their business and goodwill even though they had spent an enormous amount of time and money building it up.
Canberra was now likely to lose a fine-dinning and heritage function centre because of the leasing situation in the ACT. Without the revenue from and viable business, Hill Station could go the way of Rose Cottage or Tuggeranong Homestead.
“”It is sad, but we were forced into this,” he said.
He and Mr Lyall would not quit the restaurant business, though. They hoped to open again with the same staff and management elsewhere, perhaps in a heritage site. They owned the business name “”Hill Station Restaurant”.
They would sell the antique furniture, the Royal Doulton china and other things not needed in their new venture.
ends story
blocklines. See back of pics to ensure names are not transposed please.
1. Horizontal outside cottagel::: Heritage under threat. Derek Lyall, left, and Paul Smith outside the original 1867 slab-and-sleeper cottage at Hill Station yesterday.
2. Vertical in the doorway:::: The door about to close on Hill Station. Derek Lyall and Paul Smith, seated, outside Hill Station yesterday.
3. Vertical outside:::: Leaving Hill Station. Paul Smith, left, and Derek Lyall outside Hill Station yesterday.