▲ In January last year, Waltham Forest Council ordered the owners of the Antelope in Leyton (E10 7BQ), Tzvi Ltd, to reinstate the interior of the pub after it had been converted it to accommodation without planning permission. Tzvi Ltd had appealed to the Planning Inspectorate but had been refused. Sadly, nothing appears to have happened since, which is very disappointing. Possibly, further legal action is happening behind the scenes.
▲ The Calthorpe Arms in Grays Inn Road (WC1X 8JR) was one of the Ram Pub Company sites sold by Young’s to Punch Pubs. The pub was given Asset of Community Value listing by Camden Council on 6 December following an application by the Calthorpe Street Residents Association. Sadly, according to the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood Forum, the new owners are challenging this. The local community will however fight to keep it, not least as a tribute to prominent local community activist, Judy Dainton, who passed away earlier this year and who had helped obtain the listing for her favourite pub. The Calthorpe Arms is Grade II listed. If Punch have any grand plans for the pub, they need to bear that in mind. See also Christine Cryne’s article.
▲ Some promising news about the Cock Tavern in Somers Town (NW1 1HB). Planning permission has been granted for both the fire escape from the first floor function room and a new kitchen. This should reinforce the viability of this community local, one of the last in the area. The works will be followed by refurbishment of the exterior
▲ The Cricketers in Fairfield South, Kingston (KT1 2UL), a noted local live music venue, closed in 2017 and was sold to developers. Planning permission for conversion to residential use was however heavily opposed and has been refused. As a consequence, the Cricketers Kingston Community Association are looking to have the pub listed as an Asset of Community Value. The Association expressed their thanks to CAMRA’s Kingston & Leatherhead branch for their advice and support.
▲ The owners of the Duchess of Kent in Islington (N1 8PR) appealed against Islington Council’s refusal of their application for change of use to a juice bar and their appeal was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate. The inspector’s decision letter mentioned Policy HC7 of the London Plan 2021 several times but accepted what the owner’s agents had said about the efforts made to market the site as a pub. The inspector did however require some of the external pub fittings to be retained. There is, of course, no appeal against the inspector’s decision for objectors, only for the applicants.
▲ The Grade II-listed George in Stepney (E1 0LA), famous for its live music and huge tiled painted mural, faces another threat over noise levels. Back in 2019, owner Pauline Forster managed to obtain a deed of easement to prevent any objections about noise levels being made by the tenants of newly built housing close by. This situation has arisen again with the redevelopment of the Exmouth Estate behind the pub. Unless complaints from this new source can be avoided, the pub faces the loss of its music licence on which its existence relies. CAMRA’s East London & City branch have been rallying support in the form of objections to the planning application for the redevelopment. CAMRA’s London Pubs Group have also submitted an objection. Let us hope that a solution will be forthcoming as before, although, under the principle of ‘agent of change’, it should be for the developers to find that solution, not the pub’s owners.
▲ When it was put up for auction in November 2021 by owners Tavern Propco Limited, the future of the H G Wells in Worcester Park (KT4 8TA) looked grim. This large, distinctive redbrick Victorian building with a patio and beer garden had already closed prior to the first lockdown. The MyLondon news website recently reported however that the £2 million reserve price had been met and that according to the auctioneers, Savills, the new owners ‘intend to undertake a full refurbishment prior to reopening’. The identity of the new owners is not known. Redevelopment always remains a possibility because it is a large site but, for now, there is hope that it will reopen as a pub.
▲ The Jerusalem Tavern near Farringdon (EC1M 5UQ), the only London tied house for the St Peter’s Brewery from Norfolk, closed on 23 February. The lease expired last year and it appears that the landlord refused St Peter’s Brewery a renewal, deciding to operate the pub themselves. This is, alas, an all too familiar story. It will reopen under new management as the Holy Tavern. Although the building is Grade II listed, it has only been a pub since 1996 and was a convincing recreation of an 18th century tavern. St Peter’s Brewery are looking for alternative premises in London.
▲ The Peacock in Aylward Street, Stepney (E1 0QW) has closed to allow its upper floors to be converted into accommodation. The pub is to be retained and should reopen, although with a somewhat different layout, in six months’ time. The long serving landlady has taken the opportunity to bow out. What drew my attention to this case however was that planning permission was given as long ago as January 2009 and the decision letter says that work must start within three years of that date. I checked Tower Hamlets Council’s planning website and I could not see any evidence of an extension being granted. If anyone can explain how it is possible to start work ten years late, it would be appreciated.
▲ It is understood that Punch Pubs will be making changes to the Grade II-listed Ram Inn in Wandsworth (SW18 4LB). This was also one of the Ram Pub Co sites sold to them by Young’s. Please see the item on SlyBeast Brewery in the Brewery News section.
▲ By the time of publication, Croydon will have lost another pub. The Skylark, a Wetherspoon’s pub in South End (CR0 1DP) was due to close on 27 March. The pub was thriving and a regular entry in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. No reason for its demise has been given, although it is suspected that Wetherspoon’s have taken advantage of a break clause in their lease. The company prefers to own pubs outright rather than rent them. Staff were advised of its impending closure on 10 March. This comes a month after the closure of another Wetherspoon’s venue, the Milan Bar, in central Croydon. Wetherspoon’s are hoping to relocate the displaced staff. A petition was created but, despite attracting over 1,200 signatures, it was to no avail. The loss of the Skylark means that there will be only one Wetherspoon’s outlet in central Croydon and there are now very few pubs serving real ale in South Croydon or, indeed, further down the Brighton Road. Steve Thompson
▲ The Star in South Harrow (HA2 0NG) looked doomed when, following its closure in 2019, planning permission was granted for its demolition and replacement with flats and the customary token ground floor bar. Having been unable to sell it however, Punch Pubs have refurbished it and it reopened in February. It is however not selling real ale.
▲ Happily, at the end of February, the City Pub Company reopened the Temple Brew House in Aldwych (WC2R 3JF). The brewing kit is currently mothballed and the beers are being brought in from a sister pub in Cambridge where they are brewed by Vanesa de Blas Montoya, the former brewer at this site.
▲ Sad news from St Albans. Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, (AL3 4HE), said to date back to the year 793 and arguably the oldest pub in England, faces an uncertain future following the tenant company (YOFC Ltd) going into administration as a consequence of the trading conditions during the pandemic. It is particularly sad for the licensee, Christo Tofalli, who was a prominent local pub campaigner. There is very little danger of the pub not reopening. It is owned by Mitchells & Butlers and they will either take it into their managed estate or find a new tenant.
▲ Following the departure of long term tenant Gary Murphy last year, Greene King took Ye Olde Mitre Inne in Barnet (EN5 5SJ) into its managed estate. GK have now announced that they will be refurbishing the Grade II-listed pub, parts of which date back to the 14th century. GK have however promised the Barnet Society that any changes will be ‘sympathetic to the cultural heritage of this Grade II listed building’. The MP for Chipping Barnet, Theresa Villiers, has also expressed her concerns to GK. I’m sure that local residents will be watching what happens. The pub is part of GK’s portfolio of historic London pubs which include the George in Southwark, the Anchor, Bankside, the Sherlock Holmes in St James, the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping and the Punch and Judy in Covent Garden.
▲ The reopening of the Winchester in Highgate (N6 5BA) is getting closer. The Northern Union Pub Company, which already runs the Albert in Primrose Hill, the Haverstock Tavern in Haverstock Hill and the Old White Bear in Hampstead, was granted a premises licence by Haringey Council in January. Some conditions were imposed in acknowledgement of local objections but, curiously, the issue of soundproofing has been left to the pub company and the residents affected to resolve between themselves. The decision notice says, “The committee acknowledged that the issue of soundproofing was primarily a matter between the residents of the building and the freeholder. The committee considered that it would be preferable for the applicant, residents and the freeholder to work together to find a way forward but that such matters were beyond the committee’s remit.”
▲ Thanks for the memory. Some time ago I suggested that it ought to be obligatory to put plaques on former pubs, or the buildings that have replaced them, which record the name and dates of the pub which has been lost. I am pleased to report that this has recently happened with the Good Intent in John Street, Rochester, a community pub closed to make way for a housing development. It was organised by the various groups who used to use the pub, including folk singers and a Morris dancing side, and was unveiled by the former landlady. It reads: ‘Here stood the Good Intent Public House. 1858 – 2020. Enter as a stranger, leave as a friend.’