Hideout kiosk seeks to remain on slipway for another year

Thursday 08 September 2022

The Hideout kiosk halfway down the slipway at La Pulente has applied to stay there for another year – however, it will have to move when a café being built nearby opens its doors.

The food outlet used to be at the top of the slipway, close to the former public toilets, but moved further down the hill when the toilet block, first sold by the States in 2014, were redeveloped.

When completed, the new eatery will be a Nude Food café and restaurant. The building’s owner, developer Frank Laine, had previously said that he hoped the café would be open by last September, but construction continues.

Last June, the planning committee unanimously agreed that a retrospective application from the Hideout to trade from the slip should be approved.

The kiosk is now asking for that permission to continue. However, a condition is that it moves as soon as Nude Food opens.

The fate of the Hideout was the subject of a legal battle last year between its owner, Karl Sutton, and the Parish of St. Brelade over permission to operate on the slipway, which is controlled by the parish under the island’s Choses Publiques law.

Pictured: Development underway to create Nude Food last year.

The two sides reached an out-of-court settlement last July, allowing the Hideout to stay halfway down the slipway. 

The parish agreed to give Mr Sutton 28 days’ notice to move the kiosk when the new Nude Food café is ready to open. 

As part of the settlement, St. Brelade also agreed to pay Mr Sutton’s £24,000 legal costs for the judicial review, on top of its own legal bill. In total, the parish paid more than £60,000 in fees.