The latest update to the cafe’s Crowdjustice legal costs appeal discloses that the total legal costs of the cafe in defending the church’s notice to quit have reached £200,000. 

There is only two months left before the eviction proceedings brought by the vicar, the Revd Will Lamb after a dispute with cafe founder Will Pouget, will be heard in the High Court in London.

The Crowdjustice update says: “We had no idea when we decided to defend the notice to quit given more than two years ago that the legal proceedings would be so lengthy and costly.

“We have tried over the last 20 years to offer a special venue for the people of Oxford, students, and visiting tourists. We believe we have succeeded.

“Our long-running dispute with the vicar, the Revd Will Lamb, which ended with him giving us three months’ notice to quit as trespassers, is something we have tried to settle in a spirit of goodwill. But we have not been successful.

"The University church is a powerful financial institution with £2 million of assets and annual profits of £700,000 from its trading activities, including visits to the tower. 

“By comparison, we are a small business despite the thousands of you who visit us every year which is shown by the  15,700 who have given us their support on the Save the Vaults petition.”

More than 300 supporters have now donated £14,547 to the cafe’s legal costs campaign. It would be much appreciated if the many more supporters of our petition could donate now at this link https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-vaults-and-garden-cafe/

You can also donate in the cafe on a card machine at the end of the cafe counter with a swipe of your card. Please give as much as you can if you wish to see the cafe survive.

We also urge you to share this message by email and on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and X. 

Once again, thank you.

team@savethevaults.com