Well-known Amsterdam cafe 1e Klas must leave Central Station, court rules

Grand Café 1e Klas, a well-known Amsterdam restaurant in the former waiting room of Central Station, must vacate the building, the court determined in a ruling made on May 1 and published on Friday. The court terminated the lease between the restaurant and NS, the owner of the building, because the restaurant had rental arrears of 811,848 euros, excluding VAT.

According to the lease, the restaurant owner had to pay 38,230 euros in rent per month, excluding VAT. But the restaurant stopped paying rent due to a dispute with NS regarding the gates placed at the station’s main entrance in 2020.

The gates mean that people have to check in with their public transport cards before being able to reach the restaurant from inside the station. The outside entrance is still accessible without checking in.

According to the owner, the restaurant has lost income since NS installed the gates. The owner, therefore, stopped paying rent. The restaurant owner accused NS of damaging his profits and demanded compensation of 952,227 euros. Once he received the compensation, he would pay rent again.

NS took the matter to court, asking the judge to terminate the lease. The court ruled in NS’s favor. According to the court, the gates are not part of the restaurant’s premises, and the restaurant is still sufficiently accessible from outside. The interests of a “safe and efficient transport hub” also outweigh the interests of an individual tenant, the court ruled.

The restaurant has to vacate the premises within nine months of the ruling. The court also ordered the restaurant to pay NS over 800,000 euros in overdue rent, plus interest and service costs, a 764 euro fine for each month the restaurant broke contract and did not pay rent on time and in full from 1 October 2024, and the 4,328 euros in legal costs for this court case. The restaurant must also pay its full rent from 1 April 2025 up to and including the end of the month in which it vacates the premises.

Restaurant owner Mario Brandt told AT5 that he will appeal against the ruling, but would comment no further.

NS told the Amsterdam broadcaster that it was pleased with the ruling, calling the relationship with Grand Café 1e Klas “a very unhappy marriage.” After a previous issue, NS renewed the lease with the restaurant in 2017 to “start with a clean slate,” a spokesperson said. “Unfortunatley, that did not help.”

NS would like to keep a restaurant in the historic location and will look for a new tenant, the spokesperson said. “Who will give it a good purpose again.”