{"id":3539,"date":"2023-05-31T12:21:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T12:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=3539"},"modified":"2023-05-31T12:21:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T12:21:14","slug":"pub-news-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2023\/05\/31\/pub-news-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Pub news"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In a somewhat curious part of the Coronation celebrations, the supermarket chain, Tesco, took over the Grade II-listed <strong>Castle <\/strong>in Farringdon on 4 and 5 May. The pub, part of M&amp;B\u2019s Castle chain, was suitably decorated and a Coronation themed range of food was on sale plus cocktails at \u00a36.00. Tesco made a donation of \u00a3250,000 to the Prince\u2019s Trust from the occasion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Positive news about the <strong>China Hall<\/strong> in Rotherhithe. On 10 May, after a wait of over a year, Southwark Council refused an application from owners, Hamna Wakaf Ltd, to turn the ground floor and basement into flats. The upper floors had already been converted. The Council\u2019s first reason for refusal was \u2018The submitted marketing evidence does not sufficiently demonstrate that the proposed development for a change of use of a public house (Use Class A4) to residential flats (Use Class C3) would comply with Policy HC7 (Protecting public houses) of the London Plan 2021 and Policy P42 (Pubs) of the Southwark Plan 2022\u2019. There were two further reasons relating to social rent and parking. The pub has been closed since January 2019 so it is not clear what happens now. An appeal is likely.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Progress at the <strong>Constitution <\/strong>in Camden Town. Camden Council approved Young\u2019s application for a premises licence on 14 April. Presumably the pub\u2019s reopening cannot be far off.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is worrying news from the <strong>Harrison<\/strong>, a music pub in St. Pancras. An arbitration award of \u00a399,000 has been made under the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 against the operators in favour of its owners, the Wellington Pub Company, in respect of rent arrears for the Covid lockdown period between March and September 2020. The operators, who have run the pub since 2004, are looking to appeal but the process is very limited and is expensive. Fundraising is in progress, including a series of seven benefit gigs which started on 17 May. The pub is also receiving support from London\u2019s night czar, Amy Lam\u00e9, and the Mayor of London\u2019s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme, as well as the Music Venue Trust and local councillors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to the Morning Advertiser (29 March), there are 21 pubs in the UK which have Michelin stars. The only one in London remains the <strong>Harwood Arms<\/strong> in Fulham.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Well, it didn\u2019t take long for new operators to take over the <strong>Knights Templar<\/strong> after Wetherspoon\u2019s closed it in March. Berkeley Inns, who also took over the <strong>Rugby Tavern<\/strong>, have taken a new lease and are reopening the pub under the new name of the Last Judgement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Following its reopening, the <strong>Old Justice<\/strong> in Bermondsey has been added to CAMRA\u2019s register of historic pub interiors with a two star rating. This is a tribute to the quality of the restoration work done.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is an old riddle: \u2018which is the only football team mentioned in the Bible?\u2019 The answer is <strong>Queen of the South<\/strong> (Matthew 12 v 42). Well, now there is a pub of the same name. The former White Hart Tavern in Norwood Road, Tulse Hill has been taken over by the Brading Group and should be reopening shortly. A new premises licence was secured in April. Quite why it has been renamed after the Dumfries football team, I don\u2019t know.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Grade II-listed<strong> Queens Head<\/strong> in Limehouse reopened in April after a three year closure. Formerly operated by Young\u2019s, this was the pub where the late Queen Mother was pictured pouring a pint of Special.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sadly, the plans to restart brewing at the <strong>Ram Inn<\/strong> in Wandsworth, the former Young\u2019s brewery tap, appear to have been abandoned and the pub no longer sells cask beer. It has been described as being \u2018more of a bar\u2019.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Following Fuller\u2019s giving up the lease earlier this year, the <strong>Ship <\/strong>in the Borough has been taken over by the True Pub Company which specialises in providing \u2018good pubs for all\u2019. One of the company\u2019s directors told the Southwarknews website that they will respect the pub\u2019s history (it dates back to 1805) and keep its original features. They will however be refurbishing the garden. They hope to reopen the pub at the end of May. There is, to date, no news of the<strong> Inn of Court<\/strong> in Holborn where Fuller\u2019s also gave up the lease around the same time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In March, the operators of <strong>Simpsons Tavern<\/strong> off Gracechurch Street (EC3V 9DR) successfully appealed against the possession order obtained by the freeholders. It is understood that negotiations continue in the background.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fuller\u2019s have let the <strong>Spread Eagle<\/strong> in Croydon to Whelan Inns. Built in 1893, the premises were originally the Croydon branch of the Union Bank of London. Whelan\u2019s have refurbished the Grade II-listed site at a reported cost of \u00a3300,000 which included replacement furniture, a new sound system and wide-screen TVs for sport. The upstairs function room has also been brought back into use. There will also be live music. It was due to reopen on 17 May. It is understood that they will continue to sell Fuller\u2019s cask beers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is a possible threat to the <strong>Winning Horse<\/strong> in Claygate which has a one star historic pub interior. A former Mann\u2019s house, it has been closed for three years but is an Asset of Community Value. The current owners, the Wellington Pub Company, have notified the local authority that they intend to sell the freehold. It is hoped that a community group may emerge to bid for it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pub-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3540,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3539\/revisions\/3540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}