Retail & leisure

“I can say with confidence that it is an absolute pleasure to work with the team at Clarke Willmott and have their support when needed. The team’s availability and vitality as well as the pragmatic approach and the commercial awareness is exactly what we expect at Decathlon.” Peter Bednarski, Head of Legal, Decathlon

The retail and leisure market is going through a period of transformation driven by a change in consumer habits and the addition of new technologies. Clarke Willmott understand these challenges and the pressures currently facing retail and leisure businesses. This means we can support our clients when they are making difficult decisions.

We offer a wide range of legal advice to retailers, such as making changes or additions to their property portfolios and negotiating leases. Not all our clients need property advice and Clarke Willmott can advise on an array of legal issues, from new contractual arrangements to a commercial or operational dispute. We will always ensure the best outcome for the business.

Our lawyers have a range of expert knowledge gained through years of experience working with fast food and casual restaurant clients and fashion and sports retailers. We are a full-service law firm and work with businesses across the whole supply chain.

Our clients

We represent some of the best-known retail and leisure businesses in the UK, including Lidl, Farrow & Ball and BaByliss. Our retail clients include Decathlon, Fat Face, Superdry, Fred Perry, Ugg and Orvis. Our leisure clients include Burger King (a client for more than 18 years), Turtle Bay Restaurants and Wembley Stadium. We represent several online only retailers, including an online only garden centre and a well-known gift card retailer.

We also advise household names including Canon, The Cornish Bakery Shops and Countrywide Estate Agents.

How we can help you

Real Estate

Our Real Estate team support well-known brands and household names such as FatFace, Burger King, Turtle Bay and Lidl, helping them deliver real estate solutions in support of their core business. The property aspect of retail doesn’t just include stores but also leisure destinations, corporate premises, branch offices, or warehouse storage and distribution.

Construction

We have specialist teams in contentious and non-contentious construction and advise on every aspect of the procurement process within the retail and leisure sector. Increasingly more retail space is built as mixed used and our lawyers can offer support through the entire process.

Disputes

Our national Property Litigation team covers all aspects of property management and development disputes. We can provide advice on potentially contentious matters at the drafting stages or early negotiation, straight through to proceedings. Our aim is to help our clients achieve their commercial objectives as efficiently as possible, ensuring most disputes being settled by negotiation or mediation.

Portfolio management

We manage the property portfolios of national and international retailers and can help maximise them, however premises are used. From large portfolio restructuring projects to one off advice on a dispute with a landlord, our expert team has the knowledge and experience retailers require. We will work hard to understand businesses and to come up with commercial solutions, tailored to making a property portfolio work for a business.

Corporate

Our Corporate team regularly acts for buyers, sellers and investors in the retail and leisure sector. Our far-reaching experience means we can advise retailers of any size from entrepreneurs, start-ups and private equity investors to family owned businesses, public companies and multinational corporates.

Commercial

Our Commercial team advises on commercial contracts including supply contracts, distribution agreements, technical contracts, IT and terms and conditions. They are also experts in GDPR and can advise on all aspects of data security, data protection and the protection of confidential information or trade secrets. The team also provide “business as usual” advice which covers advice on various commercial agreements.

Intellectual Property

Our IP specialists manage trade mark portfolios and disputes and advise global names on brand protection and anti-counterfeiting strategies. They also advise on franchising from the perspective of both franchisees and franchisors.

Employment and HR

We also have a solutions-focused Employment and HR team who can help with day-to-day employment advice as well as specialist advice on all kinds of HR issues including employment tribunals and HR audits.

Our recent experience

Mixed use development work

We advised on a mixed-use development with Montreaux in North London, involving a Lidl store at ground level, with residential above. Contracts conditional on planning with negotiation of Agreement for Lease, Lease, Development Agreement.

New retail premises for Fat Face Limited

We advise Fat Face Limited and, in the past, have advised in respect of the negotiation and completion of an agreement for lease and lease together with connected licence for alterations and storage licence at a new retail premises in St Pancras International Station, London.

Contested lease renewal for Farrow and Ball

Clarke Willmott act on behalf of Farrow & Ball and have negotiated, approved, and completed a lease and ancillary side letter for a Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 contested lease renewal for their showroom premises in Oxford.

Trade mark portfolio management

We manage Mozzo Coffee’s trade mark portfolio and disputes. We have a watch service in place and advise the client on an on-going basis in respect of new applications and potential infringements.

Redundancy and TUPE

Our Employment and HR team advised an online retail client on the relocation and reorganisation of its warehousing needs and the resultant collective redundancy and TUPE processes.

Sale of Inayah Limited

We acted for the sellers on the sale of Inayah Limited to Wed2b Limited. Inayah are an online Islamic fashion retailer, specialising in Islamic wedding attire. The deal completed in a three-week period.

What our clients say about us

“…The support we received from them was amazing. They were really understanding of changing business decisions and were very flexible in accommodating them. We could not have completed the project without them and we would not hesitate to work with them again.” Suvidha Hughes, HR Manager, International Game Technology Limited

“At home on real estate transactions Clarke Willmott LLP has very pragmatic and commercially savvy property lawyers, providing an outstanding service at all levels.” The Legal 500 2021