Juxta Base / Instant Karma

Instant Karma, a well-regarded gastro pub and live music venue in London, operated under a peppercorn sublease granted by its sister company, Juxta Base, which held a 999-year lease on the property. The lease had been secured against bank funding for a complex joint development deal involving a third-party property developer intending to build nine luxury residences on adjacent land.

When the developer entered receivership, its lender-appointed receiver built out the properties, crucially omitting the high-level soundproofing required by planning regulations to protect the music venue’s viability. Without compliance, the venue risked legal action and operational shutdown.

As disputes escalated and delays mounted, Juxta Base’s lender appointed its own receiver, threatening to sell the lease and trigger Instant Karma’s insolvency. BM&T was appointed to intervene at this critical juncture.

BM&T was engaged to protect the operational future of Instant Karma, navigate the multi-party conflict, and find a commercial resolution under pressure. Our actions included:

• Crisis assessment and strategic leverage mapping: Identified the legal and commercial vulnerabilities of both receivers, including the enforceability of the sublease and planning non-compliance.
• Independent acoustic testing: Commissioned professional noise assessments to provide hard evidence of regulatory breach and future injunction risk, supporting Instant Karma’s position.
• Stakeholder negotiation and compromise structuring: Led structured negotiations between two hostile receivers, multiple lenders, and legal advisers to avoid litigation and unlock value.
• Insurance recovery: Advised on and supported a successful professional negligence claim against the original legal advisers whose drafting errors contributed to the original impasse.
• Transaction engineering: Facilitated a third-party sale of the 999-year lease and residential units to a property management group who:
  • paid Instant Karma capital to reinvest in its premises
  • renegotiated the lease on sustainable terms
  • funded compliant noise mitigation works to enable the residential sale.

• Business saved: Instant Karma was preserved as a viable, refitted, and profitable music bar and gastro pub.
• Value unlocked: Residential sales proceeded, fully repaying one lender and partially compensating others.
• Conflict resolved: Hostile parties accepted a commercial compromise rather than escalating legal action or forcing insolvency.
• Lessons embedded: The case highlighted the critical value of professional, independent turnaround leadership in high-stakes, multi-stakeholder situations.