Westfield owner takes Boots to court over rent non-payment

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 22, 2020

The owner of Westfield Stratford City has taken high street chemist Boots to court after the company refused to pay rent at some of its locations.

According to court documents seen by The Daily Telegraph, the owners of the shopping centre have taken legal action to claw back the rent that Boots refused to pay during the lockdown.

The health and beauty retailer has reportedly insisted on receiving the same treatment as non-essential retailers that were forced to close their stores for months, despite being allowed to stay open.

Boots, which is controlled by global chain Walgreens Boots Alliance, chose to temporarily close about 100 of its smaller stores located in less busy areas like city centres and shopping centres to redeploy employees to busier locations. It also closed most Boots Opticians and Hearingcare stores across the UK as well as its revenue-driving beauty halls until mid-June.

The measures had a significant effect on the company’s sales performance, with revenues down by 50% in the three months to June compared with last year.

In July, the business announced a significant restructuring across its head office, store teams and Opticians teams resulting in the loss of more than 4,000 jobs.