Boots loses at Trafford
Published: 06 January, 2009
No sooner is Christmas 2008 out of the way than shopping centres start planning for the next festive season. But plans may have to be redrawn by some in the light of a court case at the Trafford Centre which saw Boots launch an unsuccessful law suit against the landlord over the cost of Christmas decorations.
Boots failed in its bid to reduce its share of the bill for Christmas decorations, entertainment and Santa’s Grotto at The Trafford Centre. The retailer had claimed that four items of expenditure within the service charge - entertainment, Christmas decorations, Santa’s Grotto and the Skywall - should be classified as promotion and therefore be subject to a landlords contribution of 50 per cent of the cost.
But in a judgement that will reverberate around the shopping centre industry Mr Justice Morgan disagreed and found in favour of The Trafford Centre on all four counts. Boots was ordered to pay The Trafford Centre’s legal costs and was also refused the right to appeal against the outcome.
In his summing up the judge said: “You can distinguish promotion of the Centre from the benefit to a customer of an attraction service, and amenity. Entertainments are a facility or an amenity, not a promotion. The same conclusion can be reached as to Christmas decorations and the Santa’s Grotto”.
Trafford Centre managing director Mike Butterworth said: “We are delighted that the court decided The Trafford Centre has been perfectly correct in the way in which it calculates it service charge, and that it has been since the day it opened. It is clear that Boots has been badly advised on this issue, but we look forward to working closely with them in the future to the continued benefit of both of our businesses”.
The Trafford Centre saw an unsuccessful legal challenge by Boots
