{"id":300,"date":"2019-05-22T13:18:57","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T13:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=300"},"modified":"2019-05-22T16:41:52","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:41:52","slug":"pub-news-may-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/05\/22\/pub-news-may-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Pub News – May 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Congratulations to Mick and Sarah of the Alexandra <\/strong>in Wimbledon who won the Best Community Engagement Pub award in the recent Young\u2019s Brewery Awards. I have previously mentioned their \u2018open door\u2019 Christmas dinners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is beginning to look as if we are having the same issue with\nhotels as we had with pubs becoming de facto restaurants. The Grade II-listed Audley <\/strong>in Mayfair\nhas been closed by operators Greene King while the top three floors are turned\ninto hotel rooms. The pub is a wonderful example of late Victorian red brick\nand pink terracotta with an equally splendid interior, said to be more akin to\na gentleman\u2019s club. Let us hope that this is retained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting developments at the Baring Hall Hotel<\/strong>, Grove Park (SE12). The pub, which is listed as an Asset of\nCommunity Value (ACV) and has recently been Grade II listed, has been put up\nfor sale by the Antic group because, as I understand it, they need to repay\nsome of the funding to their private equity backers, Downing. Plans for\nredevelopment were fought off before Antic acquired it, and there was some fire\ndamage. Local campaigners have set up a company, the Baring Trust, with the aim\nof purchasing it and returning the pub to its former glory, including the hotel.\nWe wish them well. The pub remains open in the meantime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pub names often tell a tale, so I was unhappy to learn that\nMarston\u2019s intend to change the name of the Bear <\/strong>at Noak Hill (Romford RM3\n7LL) once the current refurbishment is complete. According to the Romford Recorder<\/em>, the pub has been called the Bear since 1715 but this was\nreinforced sometime in the 1950s when the publicans met a zoo owner who sold\nthem a bear called Rhani. Rhani lived in a cage at the rear of the beer garden\nand, when Rhani died, a replacement, Honey was acquired. The landlords retired\nin 1974, as did Honey, in her case to a zoo in Cambridgeshire. Marston\u2019s want\nto rename it the Deer\u2019s Rest because deer often wander into the garden. Locals\nhave set up a petition calling for the pub to remain the Bear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This looks like another\nSection 25 case. The licensee who has run the Brewery Tap <\/strong>in Brentwood for 18 years has been refused an extension to\nhis lease and the pub will become a managed house under Ei Group\u2019s Craft Union\noffshoot. The licensee, Ian Boyd, describes the Brewery Tap as \u2018tiny\u2019 and told the Morning Advertiser <\/em>that the way he ran the pub to avoid antagonising neighbours\nappeared to be at odds with Craft Union\u2019s stated method of operation. The local\ncommunity launched a petition calling on Ei Group to change their mind and it\nreached over 1,000 signatures in 24 hours. Both the local council and MP are\nagainst the take-over. An application to have the pub registered as an Asset of\nCommunity Value is being made although this may not help in this particular\nsituation. Mr Boyd has also approached Ei Group with a proposal to buy the\nfreehold of the pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battle to save the Chelsfield <\/strong>in\nBromley continues. In February the council unanimously rejected the planning\napplication from Punch Partnerships (PML) Ltd, taking the view that the plan\nwas obviously commercially driven and showed no respect for the community.\nPunch\u2019s solicitors told the council that they should \u2018strive to resist being unduly persuaded by the volume of\nobjections against the application<\/em>\u2019. In other words, \u2018ignore the peasants, however many of them\nthere are\u2019. What breath-taking arrogance! Punch have, predictably, taken the\ncase to appeal and the council have equally unanimously agreed to continue the\nfight. They have been supported by the local MP, Jo Johnson, who wrote to the\nPlanning Inspectorate in no uncertain terms asking for the appeal to be\nrejected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a \u00a3300,000 refurbishment, Shepherd Neame have reopened the Cheshire Cheese <\/strong>in Little Essex Street, the Temple. It was built in 1928 in the \u2018Improved Public House\u2019 style by renowned pub architect T H Nowell Parr for Style & Winch\u2019s Brewery. It is now Grade II listed. The ground floor bar has been given a \u2018contemporary feel\u2019 while there is a wine bar in the basement and a \u2018function and meeting facility\u2019 on the upper floor. Sheps have also acquired the Compton Cross in Soho. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was sad to learn from CAMRA\u2019s East London\nand City branch that the Dispensary<\/strong>, in Leman Street,\nAldgate, a regular Good Beer Guide entry and former branch Pub of the Year, has\nclosed. It is understood that a recent rent increase has made it impossible for\nAnnie and David, who ran the pub for 13 years, to continue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A planning application has been lodged to turn the Earl Haig <\/strong>in Crouch\nEnd into a nursery. Although the agents selling the property are still\ninsisting that the pub had not been viable, many local residents disagree and\nare concerned about the loss of what they regard as a community asset. They are\ntrying to have the former British Legion hall listed as an Asset of Community\nValue. John Cryne, the chair of CAMRA\u2019s North London\nbranch, told the local paper, the Ham & High<\/em>, that he\nhad lodged an objection to the plans. He said, \u201cPrevious attempts to change from community use have been rejected\nbefore and I urge that they be rejected again. The value that a pub has as a\ncommunity facility is now well recognised<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To update the story of the Grosvenor <\/strong>in\nStockwell (page 32 of the last edition), it reopened on 22 March and happily is\nbeing run by Tom Power, the licensee of the Priory Arms SW8. There are five\ncask beers available plus two ciders and 18 more beer taps. The full address of\nthe Grosvenor is 17 Sidney\nRoad SW9 0TP, halfway down Stockwell\n Road between Stockwell and Brixton. (whatpub.com\/pubs\/SWL\/3931\/grosvenor-stockwell<\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get frequent reports of pubs catching fire or being illegally\ndemolished but the Jester <\/strong>in Cockfosters has had both! Barnet council issued a Section 125\nnotice instructing the owners to rebuild the pub. The owners appealed but the\norder was upheld. They have now appealed further and this should be being heard\nabout now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good news. The Magpie\nand Crown <\/strong>in Brentford, which is\nadjacent to but not part of a development in Brentford High Street, was to be\nclosed for the duration of the works. Happily someone has had second thoughts\nand it has since reopened under a new licensee. It is understood that there is\nno long term threat to the pub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Ham & High <\/em>again,\nthe ground floor of the Old White\nBear <\/strong>in Hampstead was going to\nreopen as a pub with the owner granting a lease to Bramley Bars. Nothing has\nhappened however and the owner, who also runs a school which uses the upstairs\nfloor, is reportedly in dispute with the authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Squirrel, <\/strong>formerly the Skiddaw, in Maida Vale is under threat. The upper\nfloors have already been converted to flats and an application has now been\nsubmitted to Westminster Council for the conversion of the remainder. This has\nthe potential to be a classic \u2018Trojan horse\u2019 case. The pub, which dates from\n1881, is included on CAMRA\u2019s National Inventory of Pub Interiors of Outstanding\nHistoric Interest and there is obviously concern that these important features\nwill be lost. The pub was formerly operated by Faucet Inn and, as usual, the\nagents for the developers are claiming that the pub is not viable and that they\nare doing the local community a favour by converting it into flats. The local\ncommunity appears not to agree however, as illustrated by a recent protest\nmeeting outside the pub, which included the local MP and a six foot tall\nsquirrel. CAMRA\u2019s West London branch are\ninvolved in the campaign and have lodged a comprehensive objection to the\ndevelopment. Previous attempts to add an extra floor and extend the building\nwere however rejected so there may be hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also gone is the Water Poet <\/strong>in Spitalfields.\nThe pub, named after John Taylor, the Waterman Poet (1578 to 1653), will be\ndemolished as part of the controversial Norton Folgate development. The pub was\nrebuilt in 1904 and although the new development will apparently include a pub,\nit will hardly be a replacement.
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  For\nthe second edition running, I\u2019m pleased to report on a pub that was turned into\na restaurant and has now reverted to being a pub. The Watermans\nArms<\/strong>, an ex-Watney pub next to the Bulls\nHead in Barnes, closed in the 1980s and became a succession of chain\nrestaurants. It has now been reopened as a proper pub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nis also a Watermans Arms <\/strong>in\nWater Lane, Richmond. It is one of the oldest pubs in\nthe area, dating back to at least 1660 and rebuilt in 1898. It closed in March\nand has reportedly been sold by the Ram Pub Company (Young\u2019s). It is no longer\nlisted on their website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\nwe go again. The Winchester Tavern <\/strong>in\nHighgate has already had its upper floors, once the hotel rooms, converted into\nflats. Now an application has been submitted to similarly convert the function\nroom behind the pub. The pub has been an Asset of Community Value since 2015\nbut was closed in 2016. According to the local paper, the Ham\nand High<\/em>, Haringey council has indicated that\nthe application could be accepted so long as the pub remained viable. The\ndeveloper\u2019s agents have suggested that the pub could be moved to the basement.\nThe local residents\u2019 group have rejected this on a number of grounds, not least\naccess, and are campaigning against the proposal. They have support from local\ncouncillors. The pub was incidentally originally the Winchester Hall Hotel,\nwhich can be seen on its exterior ironwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned the Worcester Park <\/strong>in the last edition. Clive Taylor has sent me this rather sad photo; note the ironic sign. Clive also mentioned that the first pub on this site was built in 1794 and was rebuilt in 1865 and 1936. In 2002 the Spirit Group spent \u00a31 million on a refurbishment but ten years later the pub was closed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Compiled by Tony Hedger<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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