Brisbane restaurant Ribbetts given eight weeks to relocate
Brisbane dining institution Ribbetts has been given just eight weeks to relocate despite feeding customers in the same site for the last 40 years.
The venue has been forced to move on to make way for a new high school. Construction of the Inner City South State Secondary College will begin later this year marking the high school first to be built in the inner Brisbane area for more than 50 years.
Ribbetts owner Gary Hall has vented his frustration at the short notice given by the government, saying it’s not long enough to be reimbursed, relocate and possibly re-hire staff.
"It seems the government came home drunk one night and has thrown me out on the street with the kids," he told 9news.com.au.
The Department of Education said in a statement it is taking "possession of the site by the end of July at the latest so construction can commence" and that "negotiations will include potential compensation for the affected property owners, including support to re-establish businesses".
However, Hall says the Department has not given a date when payment will happen.
“I’m telling you, it is totally impossible to secure a premises and relocate in eight weeks,” he told The Courier Mail.
“You couldn’t even settle a property in that time frame and they want vacant possession on the first day of July.”
The venue has taken to Facebook to gather support for a clearer payment timeline.
“We have spoken to our bank and they are even unable to help us as we won't be able to secure a loan for a new property as we won't have any source of income once our shop on Annerley Road has been taken,” the venue posted. “We need a new location finalised before we leave in 8 weeks.
“Months of downtime will lead to us permanently shutting down, as the burden of reestablishing our business is too much. All of this can be avoided by the State Government just slightly speeding up their own process.”
Sheridan Randall, 4th April 2019
