A number of businesses, a charity and two well-known establishments on West Bay Road are either moving or closing down, after receiving notification that the Trafalgar Place property has been sold.
Tenants have been asked to vacate the premises by 30 April after receiving notice earlier in the year. On Tuesday, there were numerous people at the location clearing out.
Jungle Bar, Duke’s Seafood & Rib Shack, Meals on Wheels and Cayman Turtle Divers are among the establishments that were notified that the transaction had occurred, and that their leases were being terminated.
The purchaser of the Trafalgar Place property is a company called Kai Finance. It is not clear at this point what plans they have for the re-development of the prime location on West Bay Road.
Jennifer West, general manager of Meals on Wheels, said they had moved over to a temporary location in Industrial Park.
“We have spent the past two years raising funds for our own location,” West added. “We have been quite nomadic moving from places over the years, but we are really hoping to get our red card for our property development next month.”
The owner of Jungle Bar, Chris Robinson, said he has not been able to find a new location for his business.
“We are the longest tenant at Trafalgar Place. We have been here over 14 years, but right now I don’t know where we will be moving to. The cost of rent at other locations is very high, so we are still trying to figure that out,” Robinson said.
Cayman Turtle Divers is facing a similar situation.
“We are moving everything to a shipping container right now,” explained Alan Laidler, the manager of the dive shop. “We are still trying to find a new location.”
The staff at Duke’s Seafood & Rib Shack will all be going to work at other restaurants owned by Market Street, explained Lekhraj Singh, the manager of Miso and Waterfront, which are also under the Market Street umbrella.
“We closed down Duke’s on the 27 April, and as far as I know, none of the staff are being made redundant, they will all keep their jobs and I know that several of the servers are going to work at the Craft restaurant,” he said.
In addition to the Trafalgar Place property, the new owner, Kai Finance, also purchased the old Coutts bank building beside Trafalgar Place, which has remained unoccupied for several years.