{"id":5547,"date":"2025-07-28T09:22:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5547"},"modified":"2025-07-28T09:22:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:22:38","slug":"pub-news-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/07\/28\/pub-news-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Pub news"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Promising news.\u00a0 Building works are due to start at the Black Cap<\/a><\/strong> in Islington.\u00a0 It is hoped that this renowned LGBT+ cabaret venue will reopen before the end of the year.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hackney Tap<\/a><\/strong> in Mare Street closed last August but it has only just come to my notice.\u00a0 Operated by the Bloomsbury Leisure Group, it opened in 2021.\u00a0 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\u2019s closure is not known.\u00a0 The Grade II-listed site will now become a branch of Gail\u2019s Bakery.\u00a0 According to the Metro <\/em>newspaper, the new arrival isn\u2019t particularly welcome and many local people would have preferred to have kept the pub.\u00a0 But did they use it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Bloomsbury Leisure Group have recently opened a new venture opposite Charing Cross station. \u00a0It is called Stranded<\/a><\/strong> and it is featuring Czech Budvar beers.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See the entry in our Pub Information Update for a full description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Newman Arms<\/a><\/strong> in Fitzrovia, previously leased by Big Penny (formerly Trumans), has a new owner.\u00a0 The freehold has been acquired from the Shaftesbury property group by a relatively new pub company called Aldrich Inns. \u00a0See the Trade News column for more information.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/
Taken in 2018 under previous management<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tottenham based Bohem Brewery, producers of authentic Czech beers, have come south of the river.\u00a0 They have taken over the Queens Arms<\/a><\/strong> in Battersea, which had been closed since 2022.\u00a0 The pub has been refurbished, which included installing ten Lukr side-pour taps, imported from a specialist Czech manufacturer.\u00a0 These are used to serve their own products directly from a cold store.\u00a0 There is also a cask conditioned beer available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Shaston Arms<\/a><\/strong> in Soho has changed hands.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 H&W\u2019s long standing landlady, who had managed the pub since it was converted from a shoe shop in 1999, has retired.\u00a0 We wish her well.\u00a0 Shaftesbury, who appear to be disposing of their pub holdings in Fitzrovia but not in Soho, have appointed new operators.\u00a0 The Shaston will remain a pub but much more food oriented than before.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Windsor & Eton Brewery have taken the lease on Woody’s<\/a><\/strong>, next to the river in Kingston.\u00a0 The previous independent operator had decided to stand down after 17 years and was pleased to see the bar pass into good hands.\u00a0 It is W&E\u2019s first venture outside Windsor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The former Antic outlet, the Woolwich Equitable<\/a><\/strong>, which closed following a rent dispute in 2023, is set to reopen as a Nepalese restaurant.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sad loss to the pub trade of a distinctive building.\u00a0 It was built in 1935 in the Art Deco style as the headquarters of the Woolwich Equitable Building Society.\u00a0 It is Grade II-listed.\u00a0 I checked the Borough of Greenwich\u2019s planning website and could not see any application for change of use, which is required to convert a pub into a restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early opening in Stratford<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the article, Early Doors<\/a>, I said that some pubs in the Stratford (E15) area opened early to serve the railway works.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 This closed around 1990 when the New Spitalfields Market in Temple Mills opened.\u00a0 As far as is known, there was only one other pub in the area which used an early licence.\u00a0 This was the Burford Arms<\/strong>,<\/a> which was nearer to the market.\u00a0 It closed and was immediately demolished in 1994.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Railway Tavern<\/a><\/strong> in Stratford stopped using its early licence during the pandemic.\u00a0 The pub is currently being redeveloped to include a hotel but a replacement pub, incorporating part of the existing one, will be included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the printed magazine went to press, BrewDog have announced the closure of their bars in Camden, Shoreditch and Shepherds Bush.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Promising news.\u00a0 Building works are due to start at the Black Cap in Islington.\u00a0 It is hoped that this renowned LGBT+ cabaret venue will reopen before the end of the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5547","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\/5547","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=5547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5549,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions\/5549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}