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A leaked letter from the Attorney General’s Chambers, dated August 22, has stirred public debate after circulating widely on social media. The correspondence, which called for the relocation of beach bars at Friars Bay by August 30, has prompted heated discussions among residents, business operators, and government officials.
Concerns have emerged among some locals that land transactions in the area could ultimately sideline Kittitians, with calls for greater transparency in the handling of beachside developments.
On September 5, Attorney General Hon. Garth Wilkin appeared on Freedom FM’s Groundings programme, with hosts Jamiella McPhail and Ambassador Sam Condor, to address the controversy. He explained that the letter making the rounds was not an original directive from government, but rather a response to correspondence sent by a lawyer representing the bar operators. That response, he said, was leaked to the public.
The Attorney General traced the issue back several years, noting that beach bar operators were first asked to vacate the land as early as January 2018 by its former private owners.
“There are a couple of people over the years who established beach bars on Friars Bay, on land that was owned by the individuals. Not on government lands,” Wilkin explained.
“The individuals were selling the land, I think, when Team Unity first went into office in the mid-teens. There was somebody interested in developing the land and buying it from the original owners. They had a couple of beach bars to deal with.”
He said the beach bars are on the individuals’ land, not on the beach, which is private land, entered into leases with the owner of the land.
“When the owners of the land were reaching to the point of selling the land, they said, ‘Okay, we’re ending the leases,’ and this includes the persons that are complaining now, the persons whom the lawyer is acting for. Signed leases. I’ve seen them myself.”
“They gave them notice to quit… so this is January 2018. All of them got letters saying, “You have rent due, which you haven’t paid, and deliver up the premises. So, they didn’t move.”
The properties in question currently host three bars – Shipwreck Bar, Godfather Bar, and Discovery Bar – although Wilkin noted that only two remain operational. He confirmed that in April 2025, the new landowners issued formal notices to vacate, giving the operators until the end of August to leave.
“Fast forward, there is somebody who bought the land. Now, in December (2024), the Government announced that a private person has bought the lands at Friars Bay,” Wilkin said.
“So, think about it as the lands not being Carambola, not being the corner with Carambola, or the rest lands at Friars Bay; and have entered into an agreement with Marriott International to build a Ritz-Carlton on those lands, on part of those lands. Not their entire lands.”
The AG stated that the private owner wrote to the bar operators stating they are building a Ritz-Carlton and “would like you to leave by the end of August.”
The bar operators have since engaged legal counsel to challenge the notices, arguing that the businesses are situated on the public beach and not private property. Their attorney formally requested an official survey to establish the boundaries.
“So what this lawyer letter was suggesting was, we’re not on your land at Friars Bay, owners, Developers of the Ritz-Carlton. We are on the Government property,” Wilkin said.
“So, the Attorney General’s Office wrote a letter saying, first of all, if you were on the beach, you don’t have planning permission to be on the beach, and you don’t have the licenses to operate there. You are breaching the same act that creates public access to the beach.”
He added even though they have issues with the landowner for whom they were a tenant and now a squatter, the government would not give permission to be on the beach.
“The beach is only for public use, not for commercial use.”
Wilkin argued that the bar operators had shifted the matter away from the legal process.
“That is what we said, but the practice in St. Kitts and Nevis is, when you know you can’t win in court, you go to the court of public opinion and try to put pressure on ministers to not follow what the real rules are.”
The Attorney General also recalled that relocation options had been presented to the operators years earlier when the first notices were served. He said the Frigate Bay Development Corporation had offered alternative sites in 2018, but at least one of the bar owners rejected the option and attempted to operate both at Friars Bay and Frigate Bay.
“In 2017-2018, when the original relocation efforts started, between the then owners and those same bars, other spots were offered to them. Somebody from the Frigate Bay Development Corporation, a senior person, told me recently that one of the bars that is complaining was offered a spot at Frigate Bay.”
“They assigned a spot and said, ‘We’ll give you a lease here, move from there, so that the development could happen and come to Frigate Bay. A sign went up, but the sign didn’t have the name of the bar.’”
“So the person from Frigate Bay Development told me, they went to the person and said, ‘How come you’re moving your bar from Friars Bay and coming to Frigate Bay and changing your name. Don’t you have a good name and so forth?’ He said, ‘No, no, I am opening up a second spot.’”
As the dispute unfolds, construction of the planned Ritz-Carlton resort is expected to move forward. However, the situation continues to fuel public debate over land ownership, beach access, and the future of local businesses in the shadow of major foreign investments.
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