Most of our pub news is contained in the WhatPub Update column but here are a selection of cases which are worth a closer look.
An application to convert the Beehive in Walworth to residential use has been refused by Southwark Council. Significantly, as well as objecting to some technical aspects of the design, the council also referenced Policy HC7 of the London Plan 2021, citing a failure of the marketing evidence to justify the loss of the pub. The pub had previously been registered as an Asset of Community Value.
Readers may remember that among the pandemic casualties in the hospitality trade was the Italian restaurant chain Prezzo. One of the outlets that closed was the former Bull on the Green (previously the Bull & Crown) in Chingford. According to a report in the Waltham Forest Echo, local opinion is in favour of this very impressive Grade II-listed building, built in 1898, being returned to its original use. One local resident was quoted as saying ‘Turn it back into a pub. Let’s go back to the good old days’. The freehold is owned by a local property management company. We can but hope…
The owners of the Cricketers in Kingston upon Thames appealed against the council’s refusal of their application to convert the pub into a self-contained four bedroom dwelling house but the Planning Inspectorate has dismissed their appeal. Let’s hope that there may now be progress with the Cricketers Kingston Community Association’s plans to reopen the site as a pub and music venue. The pub is an Asset of Community Value.
It is very rare for pub signs to feature living people. One such is the Duke of York in Fitzrovia, the current holder of that title having given his permission in 2014. Although this feature has attracted some attention, more worrying is a possible existential threat to the pub in the form of a redevelopment proposed by the pub’s owners, Shaftesbury PLC, who bought the pub from Greene King in 2018. In April, they submitted a planning application for the first, second and third floors to be converted into residential accommodation. The plan includes relocating the first floor bar/function room to the basement. The pub dates from 1767 and was rebuilt in 1897 but is not listed.
Sadly, the same owners intend carrying out a very similar development at the nearby Wheatsheaf. The pub, rebuilt by Youngers in 1931, has a distinctive mock Tudor frontage and is one of those pubs in the area with a literary reputation. The planning application was registered by Camden Council on 26 October last year but nothing appears to have happened yet. The pub remains open in the meantime.
Readers may recall that in 2021, the Hope in Richmond was converted into a private members’ club. This usage has now come to an end and an application has been made to Richmond upon Thames council to reinstate its status as a pub. This is necessary because the uses are in different planning classes. Consent was granted on 27 June. The head lease of the site is held by Stonegate (EI Group as was).
Readers will recall that Fuller’s (the pub company) closed the Mawson Arms/Fox & Hounds when they moved out of the brewery site because it was surplus to requirements. An application has been submitted to convert the Grade II* former offices in the same terrace into four four bedroom houses. They were originally built as houses in 1715.
Currently however, there do not appear to be any plans for the pub, which was once the residence of writer Alexander Pope.
