WSA AND WSET TO MOVE

Published: 23 July, 2008

By Josie Butchart

The Vintners' Company has served notice on the tenants of Five Kings House - the central organisations of the UK wine and spirit trade - forcing them to find a new home by September 2005. The historic City of London building is owned by The Vintners' Company, which also subsidises the rent for the current tennants - the Wine & Spirit Association, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, the Wine Standards Board, the Wine & Spirit Trades' Benevolent Society and the Institute of Masters of Wine. We expect to move out sometime between next autumn and September 2005,' WSA director Quentin Rappoport told Harpers. It would be ideal if we could find a place where we could all stay together, to preserve our close links, but I doubt we could afford another site in the City of London.' The building is being closed for renovation, but it is unlikely the current tenants will move back in when it reopens. The building is not quite in the first flush of youth and does need modernising,' said Rappoport. Although for us [the WSA] it is quite suitable, some of the others find it cramped, so it is unlikely we would move back.' Michael Smythe, clerk of The Vintners' Company told Harpers: We are assisting the tenants in every way we can, and our surveyors, CB Richard Ellis, are helping in the search for new accommodation.'

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