Antiques dealer’s ex-intern tries to claim half of firm

Joanne Brierley got her start at the company after asking Christopher Howe's daughter for work
Joanne Brierley got her start at the company after asking Christopher Howe’s daughter for work

An antiques dealer is locked in a court fight with a former intern who claims she is entitled to half of his £1 million company.

Christopher Howe, 63, grew a high-end antiques and interiors empire now worth millions from a “small” run-down shop in Belgravia, going on to serve clients such as Hollywood actor Richard Gere and artist Lucian Freud who liked his “esoterically shabby chairs to use in his portraits”

But now, his former intern Joanne Brierley, 37, is claiming she has a right to half of the business after Mr Howe allegedly promised her a 50 per cent stake. Mr Howe denies making any firm agreement.

Ms Brierley, who started as an intern before rising through the ranks, claims she helped Mr Howe grow his business as a partner in all but name.

Christopher Howe, 63, began his business in 1986 at 36 Bourne Street in London
Christopher Howe, 63, began his business in 1986 at 36 Bourne Street in London - CHAMPION NEWS

In 2008, Ms Brierley, an art student, joined as an intern after her college friend, Mr Howe’s daughter, asked him if he could offer her an internship. After graduating in 2009 she joined full-time and later agreed to help with the original shop in Bourne Street.

Four years later in 2013, Mr Howe set up Bourne London Ltd and ran both shops through his new company. But in the following year, he suggested to Ms Brierley that 36 Bourne Street Ltd should be separated into a new company and managed by her.

Ms Brierley says they agreed she would have a 25 per cent share in the new company, subject to revenue targets being met. And in 2018, after she had guided the new company to success, an improved promise was allegedly made for a 50 per cent stake in the company.

Richard Gere was a known client of Howe's antiques shop
Richard Gere was a client of Mr Howe’s antiques shop - STEFANIA D'ALESSANDRO

But the judge said that the pair fell out after Ms Brierley returned from an extended business trip in India and said she wanted to leave to set up her own business.

They were initially working towards an “amicable” parting until Ms Brierley began “demanding a 49 per cent buyout as a condition of her departure,” Mr Howe says.

In a judgment relating to a preliminary company law issue, Judge Barber said that Mr Howe “denies that any firm or unqualified agreement to transfer 49/50 per cent of the shares in the company to Ms Brierley was reached in July 2018 or at all.”

Lucian Freud used chairs from the shop in his paintings
Lucian Freud used chairs from the shop in his paintings - STEPHAN AGOSTINI/GETTY

Mr Howe says he agreed to “gift” Ms Brierley five per cent of the company in 2017, for meeting her revenue target, and then “gifted” a further five per cent in 2018 at her “insistence”.

Any discussions or arrangements that would result in Ms Brierley receiving further shares in the company were “at all times” understood by both “to be subject to legal, including tax, advice and ultimately came to nothing”, Mr Howe says.

However, Ms Brierley says in July 2019, Mr Howe took her for “lunch at Joe & the Juice in Wimbledon” and assured her “that she could trust him to honour the 49% agreement”.

Christopher Howe's second shop in Pimlico Road, London
Christopher Howe’s second shop in Pimlico Road, London - CHAMPION NEWS

The judge ruled in favour of Mr Howe on an initial company law issue, dismissing two claims by Ms Brierley.

But the former intern is still suing in her personal capacity in her main claim that Mr Howe is holding 39 per cent of the shares in 36 Bourne Street Ltd “on trust” for her, amounting to the 49 per cent in conjunction with the 10 per cent “gifted” to her.

The case will return to court at a later date.