{"id":740,"date":"2020-01-22T18:08:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T18:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=740"},"modified":"2020-01-22T18:12:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T18:12:30","slug":"pub-news-january-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/01\/22\/pub-news-january-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Pub news – January 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Goodbye to Lenny<\/strong>: I\u2019m sad to report that Lenny, the resident cat at the Pride of Spitalfields, passed away on 19 November at the grand old age of 19 which, I am told, is equivalent to 90 in human years. He will be missed. With thanks to Kim Rennie for the photo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Choice? <\/strong>One\nof our regular (and reliable) correspondents has relayed the sad story of a\npopular pub, several times its local CAMRA branch Pub of the Year, which its\nregulars feel is being badly managed by its owners. There appears to be no\nintention, as is so often the case, to engineer its closure for redevelopment;\nit just seems to be incompetence. It is, of course, always open to customers to\n\u2018vote with their feet\u2019 and go elsewhere but with pubs the theory of competition\nfails. The pub\u2019s regulars don\u2019t want to do that. This is their local; they love\nit and they want to keep it. I\u2019m not naming the pub because I understand that\ntalks may be happening and I don\u2019t want to prejudice them. Let\u2019s hope that they\nsucceed. Otherwise, the pub will inevitably close \u2013 which no-one wants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admiral Vernon, <\/strong>Dagenham\nDock: I\u2019m pleased to say that this is a new addition to CAMRA\u2019s National\nInventory of Historic Pub Interiors Bulletin. This 1930s estate pub has kept a\ngreat deal of its original plan and fittings, including a sliding screen on the\nright-hand side, a popular device in interwar pubs to separate or amalgamate\nspaces as occasion and the level of custom required. For more details see the\npub\u2019s entry on the Heritage Pubs website https:\/\/pubheritage.camra.org.uk\/.\n<\/em>The full address is 141 Broad Street RM10 9HP. With thanks to\nthe Pub Heritage Group for the information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airman<\/strong>,\nFeltham: this distinctive \u2018Brewer\u2019s Tudor\u2019 pub (1 Hanworth Road, TW13 5AX),\nhaving being closed for a year, suddenly reopened in November. It is not clear\nat present who is operating the pub. Home made pizzas are served. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brewery Tap<\/strong>,\nBrentford: I am pleased to confirm the \u2018stop press\u2019 from last edition that the\npub reopened on 10 December. It is now linked to Duke of London (a car\nshowroom, not a pub!) next door at the Factory. The music will continue and\npizzas are available here as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cricketers<\/strong>,\nKew Green: this is another fine example of \u2018Brewer\u2019s Tudor\u2019 which was closed by\nGreene King at the back end of last year. A conversion to flats was rumoured\nbut no planning permission has so far been submitted. The pub is a\ndistinguished building in an attractive location and so it is hard to believe\nthat no-one can make a go of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enderby House, <\/strong>Greenwich:\nYoung\u2019s have purchased this historic Grade II-listed building in Telegraph Avenue\n(SE10 0TH), with a view to \u2018restoring it to former glories and opening it in\nthe summer as a premium riverside pub with two terraces overlooking Canary Wharf\u2019.\nIt was originally the headquarters of the Samuel Enderby company which was Britain\u2019s\nlargest whaling operation until the mid-1800s. They are mentioned in Herman\nMelville\u2019s Moby Dick<\/em>.\nIt then passed to Glass, Elliott and Co, the firm that laid the first two\ntransatlantic telegraph cables in 1857 and 1858. These failed but more\nsuccessful efforts were made in 1865 and 1866 when cable made at Enderby House\nwas loaded for laying onto I K Brunel\u2019s steamship, the SS Great Eastern. Given\nthe early history, I assume that fish will be on the menu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falcon, <\/strong>Clapham\nJunction: on their website, Nicholson\u2019s claim that the pub\u2019s interior was\ndesigned by the Dutch graphic artist M C Escher. Jeanne Rathbone, the secretary\nof the Battersea Society Heritage Committee, queried this with the artist\u2019s\nfoundation who replied that he had no involvement with the pub. Ms Rathbone\ncommunicated this to Nicholson\u2019s, who are part of M&B, but they have not\nchanged the website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magdala Tavern<\/strong>,\nHampstead: the local paper, the \u2018Ham &\nHigh\u2019 <\/em>reports that publican Dick Morgan,\ndespite a year of delays, is still hopeful of reopening this inter-war former\nCharrington\u2019s pub sometime this year, once the last of many legal requirements\nhave been dealt with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market Porter<\/strong>,\nthe Borough: the pub is still using its early morning market licence and is\nopen from 6am to 8am. With thanks to Colin Price for the information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mirth, Marvel & Maud<\/strong>, Walthamstow: the former Granada cinema (186 Hoe Street) was turned into a pub by Antic in 2014. The Grade II* listed building, built in 1930, has however now closed, following its sale to Waltham Forest council who are planning to redevelop it into a 1,000 seat entertainment complex. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Colin Price<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Noah\u2019s Ark, <\/strong>Deptford:\nthis pub has been closed for some time and has recently been a solicitor\u2019s\noffice. It was still recognisable as a pub however so it came as a shock that\nthis Deptford High Street landmark was illegally almost completely demolished\nin November. Members of the Deptford Society alerted Lewisham Council who\nimmediately stepped in to order the works to stop. The demolition is a criminal\noffence under Section 169D of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Also, the\npub is in a conservation area. The council are now considering what to do next.\nOne curious point is that the building firm whose signs were displayed on the\nscaffolding during the demolition went into liquidation two years ago. I don\u2019t\nthink that this event could have been a misunderstanding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queensbury, <\/strong>Willesden:\nsadly, despite the tremendous efforts made by the Save the Queensbury group\nover seven difficult years, the planning inspector overturned Brent Council\u2019s\nrefusal of planning permission for the redevelopment. At least the Inspector\nacknowledged the quality of STQ\u2019s work. There were some odd aspects to the\nInspector\u2019s decision, including the comment that the redeveloped building would\nimprove a conservation area. The need for housing was also cited and I expect\nthat this will increasingly become the case. The redeveloped building is\nsupposed to include a pub but few expect that to materialise. If it does, then\nby that time potential customers would have gone elsewhere, not that there are\nmany alternatives in the area. One campaigner commented \u2018I\nsometimes get the feeling that pub campaigners are not seen as people trying to\nsave community assets but as a nuisance trying to prevent what the \u2018experts\u2019 \u2013\nincluding council officers \u2013 think should happen<\/em>\u2019.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spread Eagle, Wandsworth<\/strong>:\nin the last edition I mentioned that this Grade II-listed pub had been\npresented with a certificate celebrating its historic interior. Shortly\nafterwards we found out that Young\u2019s are to redevelop the pub, incorporating\nsome adjoining buildings to create hotel space and a set of offices for the\ncompany. Overall, the plans don\u2019t look too bad but there were a couple of\nrelatively small but annoying points. Young\u2019s plan to install a pewter counter\ntop. As Rex Ward, CAMRA South West London Branch\u2019s Pub Preservation Officer\ntold the Council, \u201cThis is out of character with this\nGrade-II listed pub and should be resisted. It seems a completely unnecessary\npiece of \u2018trendiness\u2019. There is nothing wrong with a traditional wooden counter\ntop<\/em>!\u201d Similarly, the existing wooden\npanelling is to be retained but \u2018stripped back leaving an aged effect\u2019. It is\nalready aged! All it needs is a good clean or a new coat of varnish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Telegraph<\/strong>,\nPutney Heath: good news following the pub\u2019s sudden closure a year ago. It has\nbeen purchased by Brunning & Price, the gastro-pub brand operated by The\nRestaurant Group. The pub is currently being refurbished to include \u2018open\nfires, wooden floors, bookcases, decent old furniture, and lots of rugs and\nplants\u2019 and a flat is being added to the side of the pub. The food offering\nwill be \u2018hearty pub classics complemented by more exotic influences from around\nthe world\u2019. It is expected to open in April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valentine, <\/strong>Gants Hill: this is another distinctive piece of \u2018Brewer\u2019s Tudor\u2019 from the 1930s but one that is sadly now doomed. It closed in 2017 but plans for redevelopment were withdrawn after local objections. The boarded-up pub is however \u2018attracting criminal behaviour\u2019 and \u2018makes no contribution to the town centre\u2019, according to Redbridge Council. Consequently they have agreed to its demolition and replacement by a development of 300 student flats, which appears to be a growth area for developers these days.
Compiled by Tony Hedger<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Goodbye to Lenny: I\u2019m sad to report that Lenny, the resident cat at the Pride of Spitalfields, passed away on 19 November at the grand old age of 19 which,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-740","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\/740","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=740"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/740\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}