RESTAURANT CASE Court Reserves Decision

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 3

RESTAURANT CASE Court Reserves Decision

<N Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, May 25.

Entertainment was quite common in restaurants these days, said Mr R. B. Cooke, Q.C., in the Supreme Court at Wellington today.

Mr Cooke was appearing; for Emanuel Papadopoulos, a restaurateur, who is defending an action in which the Wesley Church Trust seeks to deny the use of a passageway as access to the Club Exotique.

The Court has been told that strip-tease shows are held at the Club Exotique. When the case ended today the Chief Justice (Sir Harold Barrowclough) reserved his decision.

Mr A. E. Hurley, with him Mr A. A. T. Ellis, appeared for the plaintiff, Arthur Donald Priestley, a retired schoolteacher, one of the church trustees.

Priestley sought a declaration that a licence transferred to Papadopoulos, giving him the right to use the passage; way. which is owned by the church trust, has been law-1 fully revoked and terminated Alternatively, he sought an injunction restraining Papa-; dopoulos from earn ing on an I entertainment or other business “not being the business of a restaurant proprietor.” Papadopoulos said in evidence that last year he bought the business of Tippins, Ltd He also took a transfer of the rights over the passage leading to the premises and paid

the church trust £5OO a year for the use of that access.

He renamed the premises the Club Exotique. He employed people to run the restaurant for him and they were apparently responsible for starting the floor show. His Honour: Did you at first know nothing about the introduction of this floor show?

Papadopoulos: 1 had a fair idea. I realised after the first few months that competition w’as getting stronger every day. In instituting the floor show they were doing what you expected them to do?—Yes. Papadopoulos said that after publicity about the floor show Priestley and a solicitor came to see him on behalf of the trustees and complained abotit the manner in which the business was run. They also objected to one of the managers he had. He had since dismissed his manager and was personally supervising the business.

Papadopoulos said it was customary for floor shows to be presented ii. restaurants in all parts of the world. To Mr Hurley he said he had been in the restaurant business in Wellington for 10 years. He denied know ledge of his manager of the ■ Club Exotiq e intending to introduce strip-tease Tahu Cooper, called by Mr Hurley, said he had been manager of the Club Exotique for Papadopoulos. A statement by Papadopoulos that he did not know what sort of business he was carrying on at the restaurant was untrue.

Cooper said he had told Papadopoulos he wanted to run a strip-tease show.

“Papadopoulos said to serve some meals so that it Would be a restaurant as far as he was concerned.” said Cooper. To Mr Cooke, Cooper said he had been dismissed by Papadopoulos and was at present engaged in litigation against him. Mr Cooke: When did you first get in touch with the church trustees or their representatives about this case.? Cooper: After I was forced out of the club.

Mr Cooke, in his final I address, submitted that the central issue in the case was simply the meaning of the words in the licence transferred to Papadopoulos “carrying on the business of restaurant proprietor only.” He submitted it had also emerged “fairly clearly” that it was beyond dispute that the provision of floor shows was part of the business of “restaurant proprietors only." Mr Hurley submitted that floor shows were not associated with the consumption of food. “Because a restaurateur has a show, it does not mean that at the point of the show, and so far as the show is concerned, he is operating a restaurant,” he said. “He may be operating a restaurant in conjunction with a show.”

Mr Hurley contended that even if it was found that some floor shows were within the ambit of the covenant, the way in which the Club Exotique was conducted was still outside the ambit of the covenant.