Rogano owner would have lost Supreme Court dispute with landlord

Forthwell Limited, which has operated Rogano since 1935, was in a contractual dispute with Pontegadea UK over whether it was entitled to recover profits lost when the restaurant closed after flooding during the pandemic.

The court was due to hear the appeal in Glasgow in May, but Forthwell’s advocates told the five justices at the start of the hearing that the dispute had been settled the night before.

The court was told the settlement was not conditional on the appeal being withdrawn, but no further details were disclosed.

Forthwell agreed a lease for the Rogano premises with Pontegadea in 1996. In 2013, it assigned its interest in the lease to a subsidiary, Lynnet Leisure Rogano Limited, which continued to operate the restaurant under a “licence to occupy”.

Flooding in December 2020 and January 2021 caused an electrical fire, leaving the building unsafe. Forthwell and Pontegadea subsequently failed to agree on the extent of the necessary repairs.

Forthwell argued that Pontegadea’s failure to carry out repairs caused Lynnet Leisure to lose profits. It sought to recover both “past and anticipated future losses”. Pontegadea argued that Forthwell was unable to recover profits lost by Lynnet because the subsidiary was a third party.