The owners of one of Glasgow's most famous restaurants are suing their landlords in a bid to reopen after four years of closure.
Across 85 years, Rogano at Royal Exchange place was known as a hotspot for celebrity diners, graduation celebrations and stylish seafood before it was forced to shut as a result of the pandemic.
It's doors have remained closed since March 2020, with speculation rife as to if and when the restaurant would return.
Owners Forthwell LTD now claim that damage caused by flooding on three separate occasions between December 2020 and January 2021 is preventing them from reopening and are asking landlord Pontegadea to carry out repair work or pay damages of £789,000.
A legal team for Forthwell LTD has claimed that Pontegadea breached its obligation to maintain the restaurant building and that flooding damage was caused by an "insured risk".
Pontegadea's legal team, however, has argued that the claim should be struck out, stating that the restaurant owners had their own insurance.
Lord Braid has allowed the case to proceed.
In a written judgment published by the Court of Session on Thursday, June 13 he wrote: “The issue does not turn on insurance law, nor circuity of action based on rights of subrogation, but, more straightforwardly, turns on what the parties intended, which is a matter of construction of the lease.
“While it may well be that where the parties are joint insured, they will invariably be found to have intended to preclude…a claim by either of them for breach of the term of the contract which caused the loss, that need not inexorably follow and in any event does not preclude other terms of the contract from being enforced.
“I will find the pursuer entitled to a proof before answer on those averments, notwithstanding the reservations just expressed.”
The case will soon be heard in the Court of Session.
The Rogano was born when Kirkintilloch-born wine merchant James Henry Roger took over a wine cellar in Charing Cross called the Bodega, which had been in operation since 1874.
When he took over, Roger changed the name to Rogano – said to be inspired by the first three letters of his name, followed by ‘ano’ - meaning ‘another’, in reference to his silent business partner, Mr Anderson.
The Rogano was taken over by the Grant family in 1935, and they closed the bodega bar.
From then onwards, it became the 'Art Deco institution' that became the epicentre of the city's dining scene.
The interior was inspired by the Queen Mary, with a beautiful seascape mural inside adding to the atmosphere, and legend has it that the shipyard staff would pay their bills with wood intended for the ship.
READ MORE: Rogano is a Glasgow institution
Over the years, the restaurant has welcomed famous faces including Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Mick Jagger.
Rod Stewart once said of the restaurant: “Whenever I’m in Glasgow for a concert or a football game I always make a point of visiting Rogano.
"It feels like coming home.”
The restaurant is also home to what became known as the "most exclusive table in Scotland" as reported by the Herald's Kevin Mackenna in 2020.
He said: "Table 16, situated at a banquette hidden from the view of anyone peering in from the main bar, also faces directly onto the only exit in Rogano: through the kitchen directly opposite.
"Thus it became sought-after by stars (and those who pretended to be) whenever any lurking photographers got too close. It also became a magnet for those others requiring discretion whose partner for the evening was not perhaps the one they’d been with the previous weekend."
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