The States of Guernsey (P&R Committee) vs Belmiro de Freitas was due to be heard at 9.30am tomorrow in Court 3, but has now been postponed until at least May.
It is not known what has caused the delay.
Pearl Oyster Ltd, which owns Coco and Lola in St Peter Port, was awarded the lease by the States last September, but the existing tenants remained in situ and actually reopened the cafe at the beginning of April.
The States is now looking to evict Belmiro and Manuela de Freitas, who have run the cafe for more than 20 years.
Andie Lewis, who organised a petition to keep the current leaseholders in place which garnered 3,000 signatures, had been due to give evidence for the defence.
She said that if the case does come to court, she would like to see islanders come to the court house to give Belmiro and Manuela de Freitas moral support
‘Bel and Manuela would be so grateful to see lots of people there,’ said Mrs Lewis.
‘They have been treated very shabbily. They have provided such excellent service and built up a successful business and are now just being ignored.
‘No one would discuss the tender with them, and now they are being taken to court. It is as if those 21 years of hard work meant nothing.’
States Property Services put the lease for the beach cafe out to tender at the beginning of April last year together with a suggestion that it could be redeveloped into a two- or three-storey building.
The cafe was shut yesterday while the tenants prepared for the court case, but they will now be open throughout the Easter holidays.
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