Beauty spa manager granted injunction against Harrods

A beauty spa manager has been granted an injunction against Harrods department store after it decided not to renew her contract.

The case involved a woman who ran a hairdressing, beauty treatment and spa business called Urban Retreats from a concession within Harrods.

In 2014, she agreed with the store to extend her licence until 2022, with a provision that either party could terminate the agreement by giving six months’ written notice.

The store decided to open its own beauty spa and gave the spa manager six months’ notice in August 2017.

However, she claimed that the notice provision had been a requirement of the store’s bankers. She said she had an oral agreement with the store that it would not seek to terminate the licence before the agreement expired.

Harrods denied this.

The manager applied for an interim injunction to prevent the store going ahead with the termination until the matter could be properly decided at a full trial.

The court granted the injunction, saying there was a real prospect that a trial judge could make an order for the licence agreement to be continued.

Damages would be an adequate remedy for Harrods if it won the case, whereas it was strongly arguable that losing the flagship concession would destroy the spa manager’s business.

Please contact Simon Porter if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of contract law.