‘It was never Percy’s wish for the tea rooms to be sold to the States’

Relatives of the last private owner of the tea rooms at Fermain believe they were sold to the States against his wishes.

The States paid £70,000 in January 2002 to buy the tea rooms from 85-year-old Percy Ferguson, just five weeks before he died, ending decades of ownership by the Fergusons and his mother’s family, the Malletts.

In his final will, made in December 1996, Mr Ferguson, who had no children, instructed that on his death the tea rooms and nearby land should be passed to his cousin, Horace Mallett. However, Mr Mallett died two years before Mr Ferguson, who was by then in poor health himself and did not update his will.

Some years earlier, Mr Ferguson had used a power of attorney to appoint a local businessman to oversee some of his affairs, and it was this man, now deceased, who agreed to sell the tea rooms to the States. Mr Ferguson’s relatives, whose forefathers had run catering businesses at Fermain since 1885, claim that the family had no prior knowledge of the sale.

A freedom of information request recently led to the States revealing that the buildings and land were not advertised at the time of the sale and that there was no record of a valuation having been carried out. But the senior committee, Policy & Resources, insisted that there was ‘nothing in the files held by the States to indicate any conflict of interest in the purchase transaction’.

Mr Mallett’s son, Graham, remains convinced that Mr Ferguson’s wishes were not respected. This view was shared by other surviving family members spoken to by the Guernsey Press, some of whom have spent time researching other issues and concerns about the estate.

‘It was never Percy Ferguson’s wish for the tea rooms and tea garden to be sold to the States,’ said Graham.

‘My father was a lifelong friend and cousin of Percy. In the mid-1990s, following one of my father’s frequent visits with Percy at Highfield Residential Home, my father asked my brother Roger and I whether we would be interested in taking on the Fermain tea rooms business together with the associated buildings and land, as it was Percy’s wish that the tea rooms be returned to the Mallett family.

‘My brother and I both indicated that we would be very interested. My father advised Percy of this and told him that, if this was his wish, he should indicate this in his will.’

As Horace’s health declined, Graham himself spent more time visiting Mr Ferguson, often with old photographs to spark his failing memory. Mr Ferguson was well-known for the passenger boat services he ran between Fermain and St Peter Port until his retirement in the early 1990s. He had inherited property and land at Fermain, and elsewhere in the island, on the death of his father, Cecil, in the 1970s.

Graham never spoke to Mr Ferguson directly about the tea rooms business. He felt it would have been improper to bring it up. In any event, Mr Ferguson’s capacity was severely limited in the final years of his life.

It was only after Mr Ferguson died that Graham discovered that the tea rooms and surrounding land had indeed been willed to his father, but also that no instructions had been left in the event of his father dying first.

‘This left us with no claim,’ he said.

‘Percy had obviously not expected my father to take on the tea rooms. When the will was made, they were about the same age – in their late 70s.

‘Percy’s intention had obviously been to leave the tea rooms to Horace Mallett and the estate of Horace Mallett, but it seems that he had been given bad advice when making his will.’

James Willcocks, another relative spoken to by the Guernsey Press, said that his father, Gary, was also involved in discussions about taking on the tea rooms at around the time Mr Ferguson was thinking of the future of the property after his retirement.

They are both certain to this day that Mr Ferguson wanted the tea rooms to remain in the family.

Indeed, if Mr Ferguson had died a few weeks earlier, or if the States had taken a few weeks longer to finalise its purchase, the tea rooms would have remained in the family. The wording of Mr Ferguson’s will meant that, Horace having died, 50% of the tea rooms would have been inherited by James’ grandmother, Beryl Mallett, who was also a cousin of Mr Ferguson, although all sides of the family accept that his clear wish had been to leave the tea rooms to Horace and his heirs.

‘My grandmother considered the tea rooms her back garden and was devastated when they were sold in a closed deal to the States for what she believed was below market value,’ said James.

‘Our family would have been willing to purchase them for £70,000 had we been given the opportunity, but we were never approached. At the time, my grandmother was advised that the power of attorney meant there was nothing she could do to challenge the sale.’

When the sale of the tea rooms to the States was completed for £70,000, the average price of a local market house was about £250,000. Some surviving relatives believe the business and property were substantially undervalued. States sources have said off the record that the purchase price was in the region of what would have been expected at the time. P&R’s reply to the recent freedom of information request only went as far as saying that the amount offered by the then Board of Administration was approved by the senior committee of the time, Advisory & Finance, and accepted by the vendor’s representative.

Graham long ago accepted that he and his family were unable to do anything about the events of nearly 25 years ago. The family have never before spoken about them publicly. But they decided to share their stories with the Guernsey Press after recent coverage of the States’ controversial plans for the tea rooms.

For the past 20 years, Belmiro and Manuela de Freitas have run a beach cafe at Fermain, as tenants of the States, but following a tender process last year P&R wants to transfer the lease to Pearl Oyster Ltd., the owner of Town restaurants Lola and Coco, which has agreed to maintain the business and invest in development at the site. The tender was marketed with an opportunity to develop the buildings into two or three floors.

A petition was signed by nearly 3,000 people in support of Mr and Mrs de Freitas remaining at the cafe and they are currently fighting eviction proceedings.

Graham has no doubt that if Mr Ferguson was alive today he would be among the couple’s supporters.

‘I still love Fermain and cherish the memories of happy times spent there,’ he said.

‘I have frequently used the cafe run by Belmiro and Manuela and feel that Percy would have been happy with the way they have run the business.

‘A larger development would be totally unsuitable, with no vehicular access without a permit. Percy would certainly not have wanted some modern development to take place on this historic site.

‘No further development should be allowed. Fermain should maintain its charm and the surrounding nature should be left untouched.’

Some relatives have concerns beyond the tea rooms.

Mr Ferguson’s will instructed sums of money totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds to be dispersed to several charities. One contacted at random found no record of having received the sum intended. Enquiries are currently being made with other charities.

One relative and a family history researcher who has been working with him discovered that in 1997 a house in St Peter Port owned by Mr Ferguson was sold for £55,000, also under the power of attorney, and was then sold again just five years later, but this time for £252,000.

They can find no explanation for the fate of another property owned by Mr Ferguson which was located on higher ground at Fermain. It contained land and the ruins of a previously rather grand house badly damaged during the Occupation. There is no record of Mr Ferguson having sold the property, it was not mentioned in his will, and today there are no contract deeds for it.

Some relatives are concerned about the power of attorney itself and believe that under Guernsey law at the time it should have been revisited in the final years of Mr Ferguson’s life, given his declining condition.

Fermain Tower, opposite the tea rooms, was also owned by Mr Ferguson, and years earlier had been the family’s home.

He willed the tower to the National Trust of Guernsey. The will read: ‘To the National Trust of Guernsey the sum of £20,000. And without imposing a trust I hope that part of this sum will be used by the said Trust to erect a stone plaque in memory of Cecil Blentworth Ferguson and Alice Ruby Mathilda Ferguson (nee Mallett), my father and mother, and recording the fact that William Mallett, my grandfather, commenced catering at Fermain in 1885, such plaque to be placed on the Fermain Bay Tower, which I propose to leave to the said Trust.’

Preparations for a plaque commenced only recently, after Mr Ferguson’s request was brought to the attention of the National Trust’s current council. It hopes to erect the plaque soon.

Meanwhile, Mr Ferguson’s family continues to take an interest in his fascinating life and wide range of property and other financial interests, and what became of them after his death, regularly coming across new surprises and unexplained trails.