Promising news. Building works are due to start at the Black Cap in Islington. It is hoped that this renowned LGBT+ cabaret venue will reopen before the end of the year. It was closed some ten years ago by then owners Fawcet Inn but a dedicated group of campaigners have been determined to see it reopen and, hopefully, they have been successful.
The Hackney Tap in Mare Street closed last August but it has only just come to my notice. Operated by the Bloomsbury Leisure Group, it opened in 2021. The site was in 1802 the Town Hall. Later, the building was used as a Midland Bank where Jack Cohen (founder of Tesco) opened his first business account. The reason for the site’s closure is not known. The Grade II-listed site will now become a branch of Gail’s Bakery. According to the Metro newspaper, the new arrival isn’t particularly welcome and many local people would have preferred to have kept the pub. But did they use it?
In the meantime, Bloomsbury Leisure Group have recently opened a new venture opposite Charing Cross station. It is called Stranded and it is featuring Czech Budvar beers.
See the entry in our Pub Information Update for a full description.
The Newman Arms in Fitzrovia, previously leased by Big Penny (formerly Trumans), has a new owner. The freehold has been acquired from the Shaftesbury property group by a relatively new pub company called Aldrich Inns. See the Trade News column for more information.
Tottenham based Bohem Brewery, producers of authentic Czech beers, have come south of the river. They have taken over the Queens Arms in Battersea, which had been closed since 2022. The pub has been refurbished, which included installing ten Lukr side-pour taps, imported from a specialist Czech manufacturer. These are used to serve their own products directly from a cold store. There is also a cask conditioned beer available.
The Shaston Arms in Soho has changed hands. It has been leased by Blandford Forum based Hall & Woodhouse for some 25 years and they wished to continue but the freeholders, the Shaftesbury property group, refused them a new lease because they wanted the site for a project of their own. H&W’s long standing landlady, who had managed the pub since it was converted from a shoe shop in 1999, has retired. We wish her well. Shaftesbury, who appear to be disposing of their pub holdings in Fitzrovia but not in Soho, have appointed new operators. The Shaston will remain a pub but much more food oriented than before. It was originally reported that the site was to become a restaurant but that would have required full planning permission for the change of use.
Windsor & Eton Brewery have taken the lease on Woody’s, next to the river in Kingston. The previous independent operator had decided to stand down after 17 years and was pleased to see the bar pass into good hands. It is W&E’s first venture outside Windsor.
The former Antic outlet, the Woolwich Equitable, which closed following a rent dispute in 2023, is set to reopen as a Nepalese restaurant. It’s a sad loss to the pub trade of a distinctive building. It was built in 1935 in the Art Deco style as the headquarters of the Woolwich Equitable Building Society. It is Grade II-listed. I checked the Borough of Greenwich’s planning website and could not see any application for change of use, which is required to convert a pub into a restaurant.
Early opening in Stratford
In the article, Early Doors, I said that some pubs in the Stratford (E15) area opened early to serve the railway works. While railway workers certainly did use the pubs in question, the reason for their having early licences was actually the proximity of a wholesale fruit and vegetable market. This closed around 1990 when the New Spitalfields Market in Temple Mills opened. As far as is known, there was only one other pub in the area which used an early licence. This was the Burford Arms, which was nearer to the market. It closed and was immediately demolished in 1994. My thanks to Colin Price for obtaining this clarification from the former landlady of the Railway Arms, Janet Dooner, who ran the pub until 2017.
The Railway Tavern in Stratford stopped using its early licence during the pandemic. The pub is currently being redeveloped to include a hotel but a replacement pub, incorporating part of the existing one, will be included.
Since the printed magazine went to press, BrewDog have announced the closure of their bars in Camden, Shoreditch and Shepherds Bush.