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Home Brighton

Brighton’s pub ‘vandal’ has history of not paying freelancers

by Jo Wadsworth
Friday 1 Apr, 2022 at 5:00PM
A A
17
Brighton’s pub ‘vandal’ has history of not paying freelancers

Charlie Southall handing out leaflets as his friends begin to hack tiles off the Montreal Arms

Charlie Southall handing out leaflets as his friends begin to hack tiles off the Montreal Arms

A property developer who sparked outrage by hacking tiles off a Brighton pub has a reputation in the video industry for not paying freelancers.

Brighton and Hove News has spoken to several people who have had dealings with Charlie Southall, who runs Dragonfly Digital Video Services, and seen court documents relating to other cases.

Some freelancers have taken him to court over unpaid bills totalling thousands of pounds – which has sometimes provoked counter-actions of his own.

A former friend of Mr Southall’s says he once told him he enjoyed taking legal action against people. Mr Southall has since taken action against him too.

And he is currently in mitigation over a £500 claim he’s lodged over a photoshoot which he didn’t turn up to after a dispute – claiming he had spent more than £1,000 on a stylist, hair and make-up, and that the photographer owes him more than £500.

Mr Southall was questioned about this reputation at a public meeting he called at the Montreal Arms pub, which he has since “vandalised” by hacking off large parts of its distinctive green tiles.

A woman asked him: “You have got a reputation locally for not paying contractors and employees.

“How can people trust you?”

Mr Southall replied that in the last 16 years, his company had had professional relationships with thousands of people, and some had broken down, adding that you would expect complaints about any business. His full response is included at the bottom of the story.

Brighton and Hove News can now detail how a handful of those relationships have gone sour.

People who spoke to us said they were keen to tell their story as they had found the experience intimidating and stressful, and wanted others to avoid the same.

The photographer he is currently suing took a booking for a headshot session with him at his London studios in September 2020. Mr Southall paid a £30 deposit.

The morning of the photoshoot, Mr Southall called up and requested the photographer send him all the unedited footage from the session. The photographer said it’s an industry-wide standard not to release this and declined, and the call ended abruptly.

Mr Southall did not then turn up for the session, and the photographer forgot about it.

Nine months later, the photographer was shocked to receive formal notification he was being taken to court by Mr Southall to recoup £500 expenses for the deposit, hire of a car for use in the shoot, £250 in management time arranging an alternative photographer, and the extra amount that photographer cost.

The photographer is defending the case, which is currently in mediation.

In 2017, a local brand strategist agreed to develop a brand and communications strategy for Dragonfly. Mr Southall signed a contract for £4,070 of work with her company , and paid her a £2,025 deposit.

During the project, Mr Southall responded positively to the work being delivered, writing in an email he felt sure her involvement with Dragonfly was going to be “a very beneficial step in business development”.

But days later, when the strategy was delivered, he declared he was not happy, and refused to pay the outstanding amount.

After she wrote to him saying she would be taking legal action, he filed his own claim against her to return the deposit. She then filed her own counterclaim.

After several months of protracted and occasionally bizarre legal wrangling, she agreed to abandon the counterclaim on the agreement he withdrew his claim.

In an email, he said to her: “I can afford to lose this case and am happy to push on. Dragonfly have in excess of £1million cash reserves in the bank today – the question is, can you afford to lose this?”

She told Brighton and Hove News: “I found this dispute extremely stressful, and ultimately decided that my mental wellbeing was more valuable that the money at stake.”

Another video editor, who wished not to be named, successfully took Mr Southall to small claims court in 2008, when he was running a different company, Dragonfly Productions UK.

Mr Southall had commissioned her to do some editing, at an agreed rate of £700 for five days work. The work overran several times, and each time, she informed him the amount payable would therefore increase, with no objections. The final invoice was £1,650.

Mr Southall told her he would not be paying, and so she took him to small claims court and in 2009 won a judgement ordering him to pay just over £2,000.

Mr Southall turned up to court with a cameraman who filmed her as she went in and out of court.

The money was never paid. Dragonfly Productions UK was dissolved in November 2011.

She said: After the judgement was made against him, he stormed out of the room and the judge told us we would very likely never receive our money.

“He was of course correct.”

Mr Southall’s current video production company was incorporated in March 2011.

In 2019, a young filmmaker applied for a job at Dragonfly, and was told she had the job. She was assured the contract was on its way, so handed in her notice at her old job. But no contract appeared.

Days before her start date, Mr Southall told her he was withdrawing the offer because her references hadn’t checked out. When she spoke to her referees, they said he had not been in touch.

She said: “In hindsight I was younger and naive but nothing like this had ever happened to me, who was I to know?

“Now, I truly believe I dodged a bullet.”

Charlie Southall made an emotional video address to Hanover residents announcing he was abandoning his plans to turn the pub into a refuge, days before the tiles came off

Mr Southall did not respond to a request for comment. His full response to the question posed to him at the public meeting he called on 17 March was: “I knew this would come up because there’s been links left on social media.

“I’ve been running a very busy production company for 16 years.

“When we go out on a shoot we can have 20-30 people just in a day.

“Over the course of a decade, we’re talking about thousands and thousands of human relationships bringing in contractors, subcontractors working.

“This is a few relationship breakdowns, a few misunderstandings, there’s a few people who don’t deliver on a promise.

“There’s going to be complaints about any business, any restaurant gets bad reviews, any supplier will have these issues.

“Yes, there’s things been written online about these topics.

“There was one year in 2017-2018 pre-Brexit, we were doing well, we were riding high. In that year we invested £300,000 into the freelance talent pool.

“The people who we have good relationships with, you don’t hear from them, do you?”

The meeting was called in response to questions made over how he stood to personally benefit from converting the pub into a residential refuge and an associated £85,000 crowdfunder.

Brighton and Hove News is happy to make it clear Dragonfly Digital Video Productions has absolutely no connection with Dragonfly TV.

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Comments 17

  1. Arthur Tillstone says:
    3 years ago

    just what happens when a recalcitrant child gets his hands on daddy’s wallet.

    Reply
  2. lawless says:
    3 years ago

    “The people who we have good relationships with, you don’t hear from them, do you?”

    We’d love to – why don’t you ask some of them to speak up?

    Reply
  3. Car Delenda Est says:
    3 years ago

    Vexatious litigator, and a criminal.

    Reply
    • Bob Fossil says:
      3 years ago

      Classic Sociopathy.

      Deceitful, impulsive, arrogant, disrespectful, uncaring, manipulative.

      Sounds like a right douche.

      Reply
    • Glenn says:
      3 years ago

      I presume our philistine council gave him permission to rip the skin of the building off?

      Reply
      • Roger says:
        3 years ago

        You would be wrong. I understand the council have forced the work to stop – at least for now

        Reply
      • Christopher Hawtree says:
        3 years ago

        Why do you “presume” that? If you had checked before putting a fatuous comment which seems to have strayed from the Argus, you would have seen that you are wrong. What is the point of you?

        Reply
  4. Dave says:
    3 years ago

    Lol no mate, if you have clients that love your business they will speak up on your behalf. If your a turd murchant who rips people of left right and centre, only 10% of them will probably take you to court.

    Good on this newspaper for calling out this cowboy

    Reply
  5. frank teague says:
    3 years ago

    Where is coffeemate in all this?

    Reply
  6. Dodged Bullet says:
    3 years ago

    I had a very similar interview with this company when I had just left university, I was given an AUTOGRAPHED book by the pathetic interviewer and was asked for feedback on it. Was told I had the job shortly after then was “ghosted” after I asked further questions about pay and start date. A bullet dodged.

    Reply
  7. sd says:
    3 years ago

    It would be great to see a list of all of his businesses so we know what to avoid contributing to.

    Reply
  8. Tolley More says:
    3 years ago

    It just shouldn’t happen in Hanover! We have Green councillors, you know!

    Reply
  9. Some Guy says:
    3 years ago

    The story about the photographer is absolutely flabbergasting. I wouldn’t so much as take a selfie with him after reading that. Demanding the RAWs for free day-of is essentially promising the photographer you’re going to rip them off. It’s like promising your bank manager you “just want to hold” a million pounds with one foot in your getaway car. Suing them over a shoot HE no-showed is even more bizarre.

    Reply
  10. wayne jolley says:
    3 years ago

    My wife has donated a good amount of money to this man I am gutted if I ever meet him I will give him a piece of my mind this money could have gone to the Red Cross for Ukrainian appeal I have never met him but I have formed a massive dislike of him my wife is very unwell and maybe not top of her game and has been taken in by the first story maybe the journalist responsible for this should apologise

    Reply
    • Emmie says:
      3 years ago

      Really sorry to hear that. Go Fund Me pulled the fundraiser so your wife should be refunded by them in full (if that’s how she donated). Many people were duped by this man so your wife shouldn’t feel bad that she was – it easy to be tricked by con-artistes

      Reply
  11. john smif says:
    3 years ago

    1. Routinely stiffs contractors
    2. Belittles said contractors when challenged
    3. Lies to everyone
    4. Seems to think he’s awesome
    5. Has a delusional haircut.

    Now where have I seen this narcissistic charade before?

    Reply
  12. Lou Cliff says:
    3 years ago

    This man is a loathsome thug. Google his name!

    Reply

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