Restaurant manager wins big after alleged eviction from RSL-affiliate
It's a win, at least for now, for a Sydney restaurant manager caught in a bitter dispute with an RSL-affiliated club. An arbitration court has stepped in, ordering her back into her business after what she claims was an "unlawful eviction" and a deliberate attempt to derail her booming restaurant.
Tina Plessas, who owns Cece's, spent the weekend scrambling to get her popular eatery back on its feet. She alleges Coogee Diggers Club CEO, Peter Gallagher, "forcibly evicted" her on Friday, May 27, without warning. Adding insult to injury, she says the club simultaneously shut off her beer taps.
On Wednesday last week, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) granted interim orders allowing Plessas to resume trading at Cece’s. This decision comes after weeks of turmoil, stemming from Gallagher abruptly ending her catering agreement, only months after Cece's first opened its doors in March.
"It was a deliberate obstruction of a successful business that within weeks of opening was turning over more than $100k a month,” Plessas told news.com.au. The sudden halt forced her to lay off 15 staff, but she quickly took her fight to NCAT. The next big dates are June 27, when hearings for both the interim and substantive orders are set.
Plessas opened Cece's cafe/restaurant on the ground floor of Coogee Diggers in 2024. Her opening followed a massive, multi-million dollar renovation of the 90-year-old club’s ground floor, a project reportedly pushed by Gallagher.
Coogee Diggers was founded in 1935 and also houses the Coogee-Randwick-Clovelly RSL sub-branch, which operates separately and has seen its membership dwindle over decades.
When Plessas was evicted, angry Coogee Diggers patrons quickly reached out to news.com.au, pointing out that Cece's was the first dining room to open on the ground floor in 60 years and had become a huge hit with locals and families, who preferred it over the club's older bistro.
“The venue was humming from 7am with parents grabbing coffees... Some people stayed all day. It’s unthinkable she’s been turfed out when the place was booming,” one patron fumed.
Plessas called her eviction "unconscionable," claiming that after her beer taps were allegedly cut off on May 15, preventing her from selling beer, the taps mysteriously started flowing again about 30 minutes after her May 27 eviction.
Returning to the Diggers on Friday, June 6, Plessas hoped for a smooth return, but instead found her furniture and kitchenware stuffed into a loading dock, and some coffee equipment missing.
Gallagher didn't answer specific questions about the beer or eviction. He simply confirmed Plessas was back on June 6 as per the NCAT order, stating, “Our team welcomed Tina back this morning and plan to actively work with her amazing team.”
Plessas, however, blasted the "welcomed back" claim, alleging she's been hit by a "vicious smear campaign" at the club. She admitted one of her former CBD restaurants closed due to COVID-19 and personal reasons, leading to voluntary liquidation in 2024.
This isn't the first time someone has allegedly been pushed out during Gallagher’s CEO tenure, which started in 2019. Former club president Steve Despea claims he was forced to step down in 2023 for opposing the renovations. He lost his positions and was given a life suspension for questioning the CEO, though claims against him by the Liquor & Gaming Regulator were rejected in February 2024.
“We have been through two years of hell,” Despea said, demanding a forensic audit of the renovation spending.
Another former board director, Adrian Sutter, an Afghanistan war veteran, said he was also sacked and banned for life after supporting Despea. "There’s no one doing anything for (war) veterans in Coogee and Randwick now, despite what the club’s marketing suggests,” he added, despite the club website's claims of veteran support.
Gallagher declined further comment on Plessas’s eviction on Friday. Club board members also haven't responded to inquiries from news.com.au.
Meanwhile, Coogee Diggers announced plans on May 15 to merge with Paddington/Woollahra RSL. Both boards have approved it, and it will go to general meetings, with Paddington RSL members having the final say. If it goes through, Coogee Diggers would become the parent club, potentially boosting the CEO's authority.
Jonathan Jackson, 10th June 2025
