Clifftop cafe serves last drinks after losing battle with Brisbane City Council

It had million-dollar views and a clientele of the rich and famous, but this popular cafe is serving last drinks Saturday after losing a battle with City Hall.

BAR HUMBUG

ONE of Brisbane’s most popular eateries closes Saturday after running into what can only be described as a nightmare bureaucratic battle with the Brisbane City Council. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner might describe himself as a friend of small business but his administration appears to have been anything but friendly to Kangaroo Point’s Bar Spritz which is being turfed out after losing a tender to run the council-owned cliff top site. 

A haunt of the city’s political and business elite Bar Spritz has been run since 2017 by the Virzi family, a clan that introduced footpath dining to the city way back in the 1980s. But since opening in 2017, Bar Spritz has been in what seems to be endless dispute with the council over issues ranging from the name of the business, the installation of shelves behind the bar, signage and opening hours.

Brisbane City Council is standing by its decision in the tender process and its application of the terms of the lease. A spokesperson said the council received seven submissions to operate the cafe and the recommended operator, assessed by council’s procurement officers, was Bellissimo Coffee. City Beat has obtained correspondence from 2018 between Bar Spritz, whose holding company is G & G Trading, where the council objected to the word “bar” in the business name. In its letter, the council sternly lectured that the “purpose” of the venue under the lease was as a cafe. G & G’s lawyers sent back a letter pointing out the term ‘bar’ was used in the European sense and in Italy most cafes were referred to as ‘bars.’

The view from Cafe Spritz at Kangaroo Point.

A couple of months later when Bar Spritz was busy setting up for a party of 200 people during Riverfire that started at 6pm, the council emailed the owners to say they had to stay open serving coffee and cake until 5pm. This was despite the fact the set up would take three hours and require all staff to help out.

There were other niggles. When Bar Spritz tried to change the entrance sign and put up some fake greenery to cover stainless steel that threatened to burn customers who accidentally leaned on it during the summer months, the council said no because the sign “cannot be covered.” A request to put in some shelves behind the counter sent the council into bureaucratic meltdown, with officers demanding construction fit out plans for something that could have been built using Ikea instructions. The council said Bar Spritz lost the tender because “it provided less benefits to the local community in the operating concept, use of local produce and environmentally sustainable initiatives than the recommended tenderer.” Bar Spritz argues it uses all locally-sourced produce and has a recycling program. Schrinner declined to comment yesterday but a spokesperson pointed out the tender decision was made by the entire council not the Lord Mayor.

HORROR FLIGHT

FORMER university lecturer Desley Bartlett is locked in a battle with Emirates Airlines over an injury sustained on a flight from Brisbane to London last year. The Manly West resident and Anglophile, who had booked a ‘Best of British’ tour, was on a business class flight on July 27 last year when she claimed she slipped on biscuit crumbs dropped near the bar area of the aircraft. “About half way through the 14.5 hour flight to Dubai, I got out of my seat and walked down the centre aisle heading to the business class toilets beyond the bar area,” she recalled. “As I stepped onto the floor area of the bar, my right foot slipped on the high gloss vinyl floor of the bar and I fell and hit something hard with my left knee.” Ms Bartlett said the flight attendant on the flight told her a similar incident involving biscuit crumbs had occurred about a month before. “I limped into the toilet and when I came out the flight attendant was crouched on the bar floor sweeping up the biscuit crumbs,” she said. She said the pain in her knee became increasingly severe over the rest of the flight and the only relief she could get was to lie on her back.

Emirates passenger Desley Bartlett after the fall.

After landing in Dubai she was taken off the flight in a wheelchair and taken to the hospital by ambulance where an x-ray and CT scan were taken.

They showed there was no fractures but the doctor could not tell if there was ligament damage or a chipped bone. Because she would have to continue her journey in a wheelchair, she said she had no option but to return to Australia.

She is now claiming $12,000 in compensation from Emirates for having had to cancel her trip of a lifetime. “Emirates Airlines have been extremely uncooperative and disinterested in my situation.” she said. “I was incapacitated to the point where I needed a walking stick to help me with mobility. I am now able to walk without the stick but I still have pain in my knee and cannot fully bend it.”

Ms Bartlett’s doctors back in Australia have diagnosed a strain to the knee ligament and bleeding into the bone caused by the fall. Emirates customer affairs supervisor Charleston Peters says Ms Bartlett’s “fall was not caused due to any biscuit crumbs.” Peters says the carrier’s  cabin crew had documented the incident and stated “the floor was clear and no crumbs were present.”

Peters adds that although doctors had cleared her for “travel with a wheelchair she opted not to continue her journey to London and chose to return back to Brisbane.” Clearly some difference in opinion about what actually occurred on the flight. Meanwhile, Ms Bartlett has lawyered up and is prepared to take the airline through the courts to get what she believes is justice. Watch this space.

LEFTY’S HOOK

IT’S been a tough time for one of Brisbane’s most lively music venues but Lefty’s Music Hall is officially back in business.

Music lovers crammed the Caxton Street venue on Thursday night to hear performances from West Texas Crude and The Honey Sliders while they partook of traditional Americana snacks washed down with Lefty’s Signature Whisky Apples.

Readers will recall that the music hall closed suddenly back in November but was taken over by Hallmark Group Holdings, the team behind Finn McCool’s pubs, Retro’s Cocktail Lounges and Jamie Oliver-branded restaurants in Australia. Hallmark general manager Cade Hopman has big plans for Lefty’s and vowed to maintain ”its iconic and authentic” atmosphere including vintage chandeliers, giant moose heads and opulent curved bars. Left’s will trade from Thursday to Saturday.

Lefty's Music Hall in full swing on Thursday night. Photo: Glen Norris