Legal action over park cafés transfer launched against City of London Corporation

‘Hoxton Beach’, owned and run by Patrick Matthews and Emma Fernandez, has been operating the Lido Kiosk Cafe at Parliament Hill since April 2018, the Refreshment Pavilion at Queen’s Park since autumn 2018, and the Highgate Wood Cafe since May 2019.  

According to law firm Leigh Day, representing the claimants, all three have been commercially successful businesses and have a “strong reputation” in the local area.  

In July 2025, the City of London Corporation (CLC) announced that it would be reviewing the tenders of the cafes as part of a re-marketing process, and invited applications to operate the cafes. 

In September, Hoxton Beach submitted its application to continue running the cafes and in December, owners Mr Matthews and Ms Fernandez were informed that the company’s leases would not be renewed.  

According to Leigh Day, this decision was formally communicated in January 2026, with cafe chain Daisy Green set to take over and Hoxton Beach given just four weeks' notice to vacate.  

However, Matthews and Fernandez claim that the Corporation failed to carry out a “fair or transparent process”.

Their lawyers at Leigh Day said: “The Hoxton Beach owners say CLC failed to meet their legal duty of candour, and some issues raised since by CLC lack accuracy.

“CLC now says Hoxton Beach owes money to HMRC – a standard practice for highly seasonal cafes during the winter months, with income from summer months making up for the winter deficit and payment plans agreed to manage this.”

The couple argue that because issues such as this were never raised during the tendering process, they were not given “adequate opportunity” to address them.  

On 27 January, Hoxton Beach sent a pre-action protocol letter to CLC, putting forward its legal arguments and calling for the process of changing tenancies to be paused while a legal challenge is made.

Now, lawyers representing Hoxton Beach have submitted an application for a judicial review claim, challenging the decision to change the operator of the cafes.  

The Hoxton Beach owners are crowdfunding to support their case. 

Leigh Day partner Ricardo Gama, who represents Hoxton Beach’s owners, said: “Our clients have successfully operated these three cafes for a number of years now, and during this time have built a strong reputation and gained considerable popularity. But despite their clear success, they now face losing the leases for these cafes. 

“They argue that the process undertaken by the City of London Corporation has not been a fair one. The decision-making process has been taken behind closed doors and then presented to Corporation’s consultative committees and to our clients as a fait accompli. They believe that the Corporation is acting not like a public authority with specific statutory duties, but instead like a commercial landowner, and not a very rational one at that.  

“In filing this judicial review claim, Mr Matthews and Ms Fernandez hope that the decision to end their tenancies will be reconsidered.”   

Hoxton Beach co-owner Emma Fernandez said: “We believe that the City of London has acted unlawfully and are incredibly grateful to our counsel and solicitors for the work they are putting in this case. We are also incredibly grateful to our community for their incredible support - as always, we remain open to engage with the City of London for negotiations should they wish to reach out.”  

A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation, which manages Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park as registered charities, said: “We will defend this case vigorously.

“Our decision followed a fair, open, and independently supported process assessing 30 bids, with the relevant consultative bodies involved in the process.

“The winning bidders had the strongest proposals, showing the best long-term plans for our charities."

They added: “This legal action is diverting charitable resources away from protecting our open spaces. Our priority remains delivering the best possible services for the millions who use these sites.

“We are reviewing the papers submitted and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

Lottie Winson