Ten months have passed since the vicar of the University Church, the Revd Will Lamb, announced to the press his “ambitious” £750,000 development plans for the Vaults & Garden cafe and issued eviction proceedings against the cafe.
A second hearing in Oxford County Court has now been listed for September 24th to hear the church’s claim. We are informed by cafe founder, Will Pouget, that the legal costs are mounting and that the church has returned rent of more than £90,000 which the operating company, Fresh Connection Ltd, has placed on deposit pending a court ruling.
It seems acceptance of rent by the church may nullify the vicar’s claim that Will Pouget and the company are trespassers on a short-term licence rather than a long-term tenant, even after 21 years’ occupation. In consequence, the payments are being returned by the church as soon as they are made.
Despite the time that has passed, no planning application has been filed by the church nor has an application been made for the obligatory listed building consent needed to carry out works on the historic building.
Last August, the vicar announced that his works would include giving more accessible access to the cafe and improving the toilet facilities. A search of local authority planning records reveals that such works were carried out in 2011 when the cafe was closed for the duration.
Meanwhile, the Revd Lamb has excluded access to disabled customers of the cafe from the accessible toilet built specifically for them without being accompanied by a member of church staff, a decision which has received much criticism from our supporters.
It would be good to hear full details from the Revd Lamb of his plans and an explanation of why such a large sum is needed when such works have already been carried out and why he wishes to close the Vaults which generates so much income for the church and is so popular with the local community.
Accounts filed for the Church’s operating company, St Mary’s (PCC) Ltd and its parent, the de Brome Trust, still paint a strong financial concern with profit from visitors going up the tower and purchases from the church shop of more than £500,000 a year and net assets of around £2 million.
The Revd Lamb, a 54-year-old bachelor, is not only a director of the church company but also a shareholder and director of his own family business, William Lamb (Holdings) Ltd, the leading childrens’ shoemaker based in Wakefield in Yorkshire.
The vicar came to Oxford in 2017 from Cambridge where he was Vice Principal of Westcott House, a theological college which claims on its website an “enviable reputation for the high quality of its food and wine.” In Oxford, he enjoys the privilege of living in a £4 million house owned by the Diocese.
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