The Stagg - City is closing down due to a huge rent hike

Long-time owners of The Stagg City will wave goodbye to the cafe’s original premises after failed negotiations over the CBD premises. Find out why.

Sue and Jonathan Stagg owners of The Stagg City. The Stagg City is set to close after the owner of the building wanted to significantly increase the rent. The Stagg Midtown will remain so customers can follow the business there. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

After 15 years of being the treasured coffee shop on the corner, owners of The Stagg City are reluctantly closing the doors on their first store in a business empire.

Sue and Jonathan Stagg have spent the past 18 months trying to negotiate a new lease with their interstate landlord for The Stagg cafe, on the corner of Macquarie and Elizabeth streets in Hobart.

The Staggs say the landlord is proposing to charge close to double the current rent on the lease or raise the rent by about 40 per cent and backdate the new rent to when negotiations first began.

The couple say this is, simply, not sustainable.

“We looked at what we could change in our cafe and menu prices, as well as how we could change staffing, to keep this place open, but it just can’t be done,” Mr Stagg said.

“We love this place and it’s our home and where we got this place started, but this isn’t our decision anymore.”

The Staggs’ landlord on Friday gave the couple 30 days’ notice to vacate.

As part of a growing business empire, the Taroona couple purchased The Stagg Midtown in 2020 as a sister venue and in 2022 bought luxury accommodation The Keep in the state’s North-East.

Barista Kim Davis pulling shots in The Stagg cafe, which is directly across the road from the new UTAS city accommodation. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

Now, the pair are focusing on the future of their Midtown store, taking furniture and some beloved memorabilia to the premises and preparing a community celebration for the last day of business in the city on Friday, December 8.

“We have made plans for our staff and they will not be left in the lurch,” Ms Stagg said. “They were the first persons we were concerned about, but we have managed to shuffle some to our Midtown cafe and arranged with cafes around the city [other] positions for them – they are a really talented bunch.”

Emotions are running high for the couple, with the pack-up of the city store the perfect opportunity to reminisce on the cafe’s stories.

Atlas Cafe in Hobart broke the world record for the most amount of coffees made in an hour, from left, Jonathan Stagg, Sue Stagg, Luke Bowden, and Kirilly Crawford, all of Hobart, after making 434 coffees on one machine in an hour, also raising money for men's health through the Movember challenge

“A man who came in to our cafe for a free coffee in our Pay It Forward scheme made this incredible drawing for us which has hung in pride of place ever since,” Mr Stagg said.

“He had his coffee and sat outside our cafe scribbling away until one day, he dropped off this beautiful scene of our cafe.

“Those stories are tied up in this place.”

Whether it’s their Pay It Forward scheme, Paper Bag Polls, witty A-frame jokes or their friendly faces, the Staggs assure customers and regulars they will still be available at the Midtown cafe, with everything people have come to love – including their coffee.

The landlord for The Stagg City cafe lease was contacted by the Mercury for comment

Originally published as The Stagg - City is closing down due to a huge rent hike