Landlord dispute shutters busy CBD eateries overnight
A landlord–tenant stoush has abruptly shut a cluster of popular venues on the ground floor of 260 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, leaving operators locked out with less than 10 hours’ warning and, more than a week on, most still unable to get back in.
The sudden closure, triggered by a dispute between the site’s head landlord and sub-landlord 260 Latrobe Mercator Pty Ltd, has impacted six businesses: R.Harn, Machi Machi, Kikanbo, Bingsoo, Kata Kika and Luke’s Vietnamese. Only Kata Kika has since reopened. Operators say they’ve been caught in the middle of a fight that has nothing to do with them.
R.Harn co-owner Chavalit Piyaphanee arrived for work on October 11 to find his Thai-Chinese restaurant sealed and the keys no good, with stock and equipment still inside following an email sent late the previous evening by lawyers for the sub-landlord warning leases could be terminated as early as the next day. “Seven o’clock in the morning, for every shop, all of the locks were changed … I’ve been in business for nearly 20 years … I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Piyaphanee said, estimating more than $10,000 worth of food had been left on site.
Each of the businesses holds a rental agreement with 260 Latrobe Mercator, which in turn leases from the head landlord. A legal notice pinned to the shopfronts alleges the sub-landlord breached its lease by failing to pay expenses and states the building has been “re-entered and possessed”.
Sazz Nasimi, a lawyer at Moray & Agnew representing 260 Latrobe Mercator, said the move to close a group of small hospitality operators made little sense. “It is a great shame that the landlord has chosen to take the steps that it has … This is one of the more bizarre steps taken by a landlord in my close to 20 years of experience in retail leasing disputes,” Nasimi said.
Piyaphanee, who also owns Thai eatery Soi 38, maintains R.Harn is fully paid up on rent and is weighing legal options as the shutdown drags on. “We’d like our lease back. The sub-landlord and the head landlord’s argument is none of our concern. It’s got nothing to do with us at all,” he said. He added the precinct has struggled through extended construction works: “We’ve been biting the bullet for the past two years, [hoping] that when the State Library Station opens that business will pick up. La Trobe Street has been closed for nearly two years … that area has been a dead town.”
The legal notice also singles out ramen specialist Kikanbo, accusing it of conducting a “noxious, noisome or offensive business” that “cause[d] or allow[ed] offensive smells, odours, and smoke from cooking Japanese food and ramen”.
Owner Gilbert Kam rejects the characterisation: “That’s someone’s opinion … We have staff working eight to 10 hours a day … There’s customers every day, coming in. I don’t see anyone [complaining],” Kam said.
Jonathan Jackson, 20th October 2025
