Davis Coffer Lyons (DCL), which was hired by landowner the City of London Corporation, has worked with Daisy Green on several sites over the past eight years.
These include completing the deal for Daisy Green to take on the lease of 2-4 Noel Street in Soho in 2018 and more recently acting on behalf of the operator to acquire a site in Clapham, the news of which it published on its own website last July.
DCL began working with the Corporation last summer to secure operators for five cafés in Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park.
There is no suggestion the prior interactions affected the decision to award the contracts to Daisy Green, though the apparent relationship has drawn some concern about a potential conflict of interest.
Doug Crawford, a member of the Real Café Campaign team, said the findings suggested the Corporation had failed to carry out “proper due diligence” before awarding the contracts to Daisy Green.
A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said DCL was not involved in any decision regarding the outcome of the retendering and that its previous engagements with Daisy Green do not constitute a conflict of interest.
They added that preventing advisors from working on processes involving companies they have formerly interacted with “would be neither realistic nor industry practical”.
Last summer the City of London Corporation, which manages green spaces including Hampstead Heath as a registered charity, announced the contracts for five cafés would be put up for tender.
They were Golders Hill Park, Parliament Hill and Parliament Hill Lido on the Heath plus the cafés at Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park.
The City of London Corporation said the retendering process was launched to ensure the cafés continue to deliver “a high-quality visitor experience” and that the operators have, until now, been trading under “unsustainable” tenancies at-will.
A campaign to retain the status quo drew significant support, with celebrities including Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy backing its calls. Supporters raised concerns about whether a new operator would continue with the same community feel and price points across the sites.
The D’Auria family in particular are a long-standing fixture of the Hampstead Heath community, having run the Parliament Hill Fields Café for more than 40 years.
On December 19 the Corporation announced Daisy Green, founded by Prue Freeman and her husband Thomas Onions in 2012, is to take on four of the five cafés. The fifth, at Highgate Wood, is yet to be finalised.
A new petition has since been launched urging the City of London Corporation to halt the handover. At the time of writing it has received more than 14,000 signatures.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has now become aware of several instances when DCL has worked with Daisy Green to secure sites for the company. On the consultant’s website alone there are two news items referencing Daisy Green.
One, dated August 8, 2024, details how DCL brought on Daisy Green to occupy a new site on Exhibition Road, having been appointed by the landlord South Kensington Estates.
And in July, the company published an article promoting its work for Daisy Green directly to secure a site in Clapham Old Town.
At the time DCL Executive Director Rob Meadows said: “We are delighted to have secured this new site for [Daisy Green founders] Prue and Tom; competition was fierce for the unit, which has one of the largest alfresco dining spaces in The Old Town – a popular location in which it’s difficult to gain a presence. We have no doubt that Margot Green will be welcomed by the local community and will soon become a firm favourite.”
An older instance of the two companies working together harks back to 2018 when, according to trade title The Caterer, DCL completed a deal for Daisy Green to take on the leasehold of a site in Soho.
Daisy Green is also included on the ‘brands’ page on DCL’s website, on which it appears to list operators it has worked with.
Mr Crawford said: “The fact that the agents who were responsible for managing the tender process, Davis Coffer Lyon, had previously worked with Daisy Green does suggest that the City may have yet again failed to carry out proper due diligence to ensure no conflict of interest. The same thing happened in 2016 with the Benugo tender – not what you would expect from a competent, professional body charged with stewardship of public assets.”
A spokesperson for the Corporation said DCL was appointed to act as advisors throughout the process but was not involved in any decision regarding the outcome.
“Like most specialist agencies in this sector, DCL has historically been involved in transactions with a wide range of hospitality operators across London,” they continued. “This does not constitute a conflict of interest.
“Previous interactions with operators are standard and preventing advisors from working on processes involving parties they have encountered in the past would be neither realistic nor industry practical.”
Ms Freeman told the LDRS: “Daisy Green is a female-led, family-run, independent business based in Marylebone which started from a single Bedford ice cream van in 2012. Fourteen years later, we have 18 sites across Central London, ranging from small cafés to canal boats to Holland Park café.
“We are not a chain, but a small business which we set up to serve communities across London. As part of the tender process, pricing and menus for each café have been very carefully considered and tailored for affordability and accessibility, alongside significant investment plans for the cafés.
“All jobs are safe and valued and we look forward to welcoming many more local employees in the future.”
A DCL spokesperson said: “DCL are not retained by Daisy Green. We have not dealt with them on any property transactions since being appointed by the City of London Corporation to act as independent, professional advisers for their North London open spaces café remarketing exercise.
“DCL are one of the UK’s leading hospitality and leisure property agencies. In over 50 years of experience, we have dealt with the majority of the food and beverage market between our various teams.
“Out of the 30 submissions for the City Corporation’s North London open spaces, there were other parties that DCL have engaged with in the past and it would be impossible for there not to be some previous commercial relationships. All interested parties were given equal opportunity and the same information to make their proposals.”
