Restaurateur David Poirier issued council eviction threat in battle over Sydney’s Banjo Paterson cottage

A Sydney council is threatening to evict a prominent restaurateur from a famed restaurant site overlooking Sydney Harbour as a lease dispute over the building turns ugly.

A prominent Sydney restaurateur says he is facing bankruptcy as he battles a local council over plans to transform a historic harbourside cottage made famous by poet Andrew ‘Banjo’ Paterson into a new dining hub.

Restaurant owner David Poirier’s mission of reviving the Banjo Paterson Cottage in Gladesville is facing a major hurdle amid a lease dispute with Ryde Council which is the landlord and owner of the building.

The stalemate between the council and restaurant owner centres on alleged works Mr Poirier has done on the historic building which the council says were unauthorised and undertaken without consent.

The council – in a letter to Mr Poirier this month – has threatened to evict Mr Poirier unless he carries out works to restore the building to its former state by September.

Mr Poirier has conceded works on the building were undertaken without the council’s consent but insists it was required to make the building safe and rectify damage caused by a “termite infestation” he discovered after taking on the lease in November 2023.

Andrew ‘Banjo’ Paterson at the 1830s cottage previously called Rock End on Punt Rd, Gladesville. Picture: Steve Moorhouse

Banjo’s Cottage in Gladesville – which is unable to open to the public.

Mr Poirier has meanwhile not been able to secure approval from the council to lodge a development application which would allow the building to operate as a restaurant.

He says he is now at risk of bankruptcy after spending $500,000 on the building with no certainty his dream of reopening the harbour cottage can be achieved.

David Poirier took on the lease to the building in 2023.

“After I signed the lease we discovered parts of the roof were about to collapse and we needed to carry out the works to make the building safe,” he said.

“I’ve already spent $500,000 including fixing the termite damage and the council is now saying they want us to restore the building to how it was.

“If I pull out of the lease now it means I’ve lost the $500,000 I’ve invested but if I go forward I have to pay another $250,000 and there’s no certainly I’d get consent from the council to open the restaurant.

“I’m still being charged $10,000 a month in rent and If I can’t operate the restaurant, it will destroy me.”

Mr Poirier says the works to the building included rectifying termite damage.

Construction works on the building have also included ceiling works.

In its letter, the council stated the unauthorised works, including the removal of an internal wall, construction of steel beams on ceilings and the installation of doors, resulted in the demolition of “significant fabric” of the heritage building.

If the September deadline is not met, the council says it has rights to terminate its lease with Mr Poirier and “re-enter the premises”.

The 1850s-era cottage previously operated as a restaurant but has remained closed to the public after the doors closed in May 2022.

Termite damage Mr Poirier says was uncovered in the building.

The cottage is known as the childhood home of Andrew ‘Banjo’ Paterson.

A council spokesman, in a statement to The Daily Telegraph, said the council was unable to comment on the matter as it “relates to an ongoing commercial dispute between the tenant and council”.

Independent Ryde councillor Roy Maggio has called for the council to support Mr Poirier.

“Banjos has been an institution for Ryde and the building should never have been left to rot and ruin by the council,” he said.

Mr Poirier, who has run 13 Sydney restaurants including Le Coq in Rozelle, has engaged lawyers to mediate with the council but says he is yet to decide whether to continue with the current lease.

“You’d think that the council would be trying to help us in having the building reopen to the public rather than making it this difficult,” he said.

“If I’d known it was going to be this challenging I would never have signed the lease and taken it on.”