Pub News – January 2025

The Telegraph recently ran an article featuring the ‘best pub in every English county’. Two pubs were included for London, one for Greater London and another for the City of London. The Greater London selection was the Blythe Hill Tavern in Forest Hill. The opinion was that it meets all of the key virtues of a good pub. It is Grade II listed and rates three stars on CAMRA’s inventory of historic pub interiors, in particular for its 1920s wood panelling. The City pub choice was the Cockpit, Blackfriars. This corner pub dates from 1860 and is also Grade II listed. It features many reminders of its days as a Courage tied house.

The Cockpit as it appeared in 2020 during lockdown

South London’s first community pub, the Ivy House in Nunhead, is now offering a discount on the cost of its cask beers for CAMRA members. This is not the only reason to visit this Grade II-listed pub. Originally built for Truman’s in the 1930s and previously called the Newlands Tavern, it was a famous ‘pub rock’ venue in the 1970s. Subsequently, it became the first pub in the country to be registered as an Asset of Community Value and in due course was purchased by a community group using the ‘community right to bid’ provisions of the Localism Act, a rare event in London. It reopened as the Ivy House in 2013. It retains many original features and fittings and rates two stars on CAMRA’s register of pub interiors of national historic interest. The pub holds community and music events, as listed on the pub’s website.

The Jolly Fisherman in Barking closed in 2019. It was subsequently sold by Stonegate and planning permission has now been granted by Barking & Dagenham Council for its conversion to a place of worship and community centre.

CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Bulletin for December reported that the Lord Southampton in Kentish Town, closed since 2022, has now reopened. It has been refurbished but the interwar interior has been preserved. The new management told the local paper, the Ham & High, that their aim was to turn the pub back into a traditional pub with no gimmicks, just a cosy atmosphere. They also have the benefit of the underground station reopening.

There is a serious danger that the Magdala may lose its first floor function room. The pub was sold by Punch Taverns in 2014 to Magdala Tavern Ltd which is controlled by property developers Mulberry One Capital Limited. It closed in September 2014 but, after a lot of effort, it was reopened in 2021 by Dick Morgan of Twickenham Green Taverns. The freeholders have now submitted plans to Camden Council to convert the function room into a two bedroom flat. This is a second attempt; the first, in 2019, having been rejected. The upper floors have already been converted to residential use. The function room is very much a community hub. As one customer told the Camden New Journal, it has ‘brought the community together for comedy nights, environmental talks, birthdays and celebrations – there is no other space like it’. Both the Heath and Hampstead Society and the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum have submitted objections, as have many individuals. The pub is a listed as an Asset of Community Value. The freeholder’s planning consultants are now claiming that the pub has shown that it could operate successfully without the function room and that conversion to residential use would be a ‘valuable contribution to housing stock in an era where we have a housing crisis’. I think that London may require something more than one more flat above a pub.

The Royal Forest Hotel in Chingford appears to have avoided the fate of many Whitbread-owned pubs which are situated adjacent to Premier Inn hotels. It has been acquired by the growing Heartwood Collection pub company and reopened in December after refurbishment. The pub has a number of letting rooms.

The hotel as it was in 2014.

The Grade II-listed Sekforde in Clerkenwell is facing a licence review following complaints from what is said to be a small group of neighbours about noise. Standing outside with a pint has long been the tradition here but it is reported that Islington Council want to stop the practice, close one of the pub’s doors and substantially reduce the number of outdoor tables. The pub’s management say that these measures will force them to close down. An Islington Council spokesperson said that the application for review has been made because the pub has not acted to ensure the ‘prevention of public nuisance’, which is one of the four statutory licensing objectives. The pub has existed since 1829, so it must have been there when any of its neighbours moved in. There are no reports of any sudden increase in the number of customers but I’m happy to be told otherwise. A similar situation has occurred in Berkhamsted with the Rising Sun, a popular canalside pub with a large garden.

The uniquely named Still & Star in Aldgate closed some years ago, despite a campaign to keep it which included having it listed as an Asset of Community Value. As long ago as 2016, an application was submitted to the City of London for planning permission as follows: ‘Demolition of existing structures, and erection of a mixed use office building, including ground floor flexible retail/cafe/commercial uses (Class E) and a public house (sui generis)’. This application was finally approved on 20 December 2024, a delay of eight years. There have obviously been some ‘difficult’ negotiations and the approval specifies that no part of the pub may be demolished before a full set of contracts for the redevelopment is in place. Unusually however the developers have been allowed five years in which to start work when three years is the customary period. Our planning system does seem to move in mysterious ways.

Having reopened as recently as March 2024, the Tipperary in Fleet Street has closed again. The developers are carrying out substantial works at no. 65 next door and these will involve the rear of the pub at no. 66. If all goes according to plan, the outcome will be a better pub with ‘enhanced facilities and accessibility’. The only concern is that it is not due to reopen until 2027. I’ve no reason to doubt the developer’s good faith but that’s a long time away…