A Yeovil cafe suddenly shut its doors and put up notices in the windows blaming the landlord for the closure.

Coffee Royale in Quedam Shopping Centre stopped trading last week after owners felt a rent review had come up with unacceptable conditions.

A message, put in each window from the inside, said: "It is with great regret that we have to inform our customers that we have been forced to close Coffee Royale due to a 50 per cent increase in rent by our new landlords."

The following day the landlord had covered the messages by attaching white paper sheets with brown tape on the outside of the windows.

Coffee Royale director Peter Clarke, who has run the business with his father and sister for 15 years, said that landlord Charterhouse Shopping Centre Fund II (CSCF II) wrote in November to inform that the rent for 2002 would be £114,000.

According to Mr Clarke, the previous rent was set at £76,000 - so a 50 per cent increase was being imposed.

The company is said to have responded by sending a letter in which they asked the landlord not to "be so silly" and agree a time and place for negotiations.

That letter was despatched on December 15 as registered mail, but Mr Clarke says there has been no reply yet. "The landlord's head office only seems capable of sending e-mails to Quedam manager David Mills, there has been no direct communication at all," he added.

In an attempt to initiate direct communication, Mr Clarke and his fellow business partners decided to withhold the rent that was due on December 25.

The trick failed as Quedam manager David Mills called last week to say he needed a cheque the next day in order to prevent bailiffs being sent to the cafe.

"I have nothing against Mr Mills, he has been a great help throughout, but we had no option but to shut the place and appoint a liquidator at that stage." Mr Clarke explained.

The rent increase came as a shock, especially as the town's parking problems have made the location of the cafe less attractive than it used to be, according to Mr Clarke.

When talking to The Clarion Advertiser early this week, Mr Mills said a rent review had led to a higher rent being proposed. He was surprised that the cafe had shut so suddenly as an independent arbitrator would have been called in had tenant and landlord failed to agree.

Mr Mills said he didn't know the precise sum as the matter is handled by an agent, but later, in a faxed statement, denied that the rent had been increased by 50%.

"Rent review discussions were underway however they were at an extremely early stage and were nowhere near to being concluded," the fax said.

Mr Clarke replied by saying the arbitration process was not an option as it would involve solicitors' fees that could mount up should the case drag on.

He added that the landlord's agent had made an offer of £80,000 over the weekend, which would give CSCF II the right to give Coffee Royale eight to twelve weeks' notice if they [CSCF II] found a business willing to pay £114,000.

This offer was described as "unacceptable" by Mr Clarke.