Mr Porrino said he and Ms Parkinson had been allowed to enter briefly on Tuesday to get some musical instruments and equipment belonging to performers who had played there.
While inside, they decided to stage the sit-in protest.
“We’re in here because we are still the tenants,” Mr Porrino said. “It’s our cafe – we can’t really leave.
“It’s not something you can throw in the boot of a car.”
Supporters of the cafe-bar, alongside Mr Porrino and Ms Parkinson, are staging the protest over what they call an “unfair” rent increase.
Mr Porrino said they were still in a “state of shock” over the eviction.
“This is everything for us, this is our cafe.”
Their rent is due to increase by 68% and would then be raised by 7.5% each following year, which Mr Porrino and Ms Parkinson said was unaffordable.
The pair have been negotiating a renewal with H Homes since August 2023, when their current lease transitioned to a monthly rolling contract.
Mr Porrino told the that H Homes initially agreed to a 12% increase over email and sent a new lease over, but they didn’t sign the document due to it containing spelling mistakes.
After two months of silence, they claimed H Homes then sent a new lease with the 68% increase, leading Café Blah to apply for a section 26 right to renew agreement, which protects the lease until the notice has expired.
H Homes objected to the right to renew agreement and instead issued a section 25 no-fault eviction notice in March, citing their desire to reclaim the property for their own use.
The minimum notice period a section 25 notice must give is six months before the termination date. Café Blah’s right to renew agreement expired on 30 September.
