Friday 5 September 2014

Save our Pubs

Was on BGOL train from Queens Road to Wanstead Park today and noted:-

Lord Rookwood: still boarded up but intact.

The Three Blackbirds (once a den of Jacobite conspirators, hence the name) - and its garden, including several mature lime trees - in Leyton High Road: all but demolished except street frontage, which is obscured by scaffolding.

Also, the Antelope in Leyton (meeting point of 1892 Lammas Day wrecking party) has been sold to a developer and will not reopen as a pub.

Thought Eugene Morgan had bought it from Punch, but they'd refused to sell. Punch have since gone under.
All used to have live traditional folk-music and/or jazz.
It is killing live music as well as pubs.

Once a pub is sold an ACV listing is irrelevant.
We urgently need to apply to list EVERY decent pub (and parks and community halls) in the borough asap.

We MUST also work with the local Historical Societies, and CAMRA if there are any local members (none were at the HandH meeting).

We must find a way urgently to get people to sign up to join WFCS so we can get the signatures we need.
Could we drop the membership fee to half price for those who agree to sign? It is a crisis after all!

I did try to convey the urgency of this, but everyone seemed to see it as a personal crusade to do with the Hare and Hounds (except their braindead regulars who destroyed the public meeting).

Also, I feel like I am somehow personally toxic. Others need to do this - or at least front it.

If we don't do this then WF will soon be left with nothing but JD Wetherspoon and a few pricey hipster pubs playing loud tinned pop music - a pint at the now-trendy Chequers in Walthamstow (open evenings only so local market shoppers can't lower the tone) now costs £4.50!
Katy.

Hi, Geoff!
Always good to say hi to a fellow cyclist, bellringer and railway enthusiast!

Thanks for the information you sent today about CAMRA's new parliamentary lobbying campaign and the consultation form.  I had already distributed the campaign's website address, which I got from the latest "What's Brewing", in an email yesterday morning (concerning a local pub due to close down this weekend!)
I will do the same for the consultation web-page (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JKMX63K)  later in the week.

Can you please tell me how to access any online sources of information showing what company/pubco actually owns a particular pub (or in some cases - such as the Ferry Boat Inn, in Forest Road, Walthamstow, which is owned by Thames Water! - is the longterm leaseholder)?  I am sure there must be a list somewhere in the public domain.  This would be most helpful to us.
Locally to me, Waltham Forest has no buildings or open spaces yet listed as Assets of Community Value.
  The WF Civic Society have been trying to get a campaign off the ground to list all sorts of local community facilities as ACVs.  WFCS is not a pub preservation society! but so far we have worked on an application for one pub in Leyton, whose tenants had asked us to try to list it, and at our Executive Committee meeting yesterday (Wednesday) evening we considered several more possibilities for listings, including a few pubs.
  WFCS had agreed not to apply for listing without owners' consent unless a building or open space is under immediate threat.  However, since our local pubs are under threat and most are owned by distant pubcos rather than their Guvnors, this may require a different approach.  Therefore the Committee have now agreed there could be circumstances in which we might unfortunately feel it necessary to go ahead without the agreement of owners (or even necessarily of residents/tenants/managers) - so we could become more flexible towards listing public houses.

In case you want anything for "London Drinker", Waltham Forest borough has just lost or is about to lose 3 more pubs (The Heathcote sold Real Ales, but the other two didn't so you may not be so interested):
The Heathcote Arms (344 Grove Green Road, Leytonstone) is a large iconic community pub with a spacious upstairs function room.  It has played host upstairs and down to musicians ranging from jazz and Big Bands to heavy metal; with Bert Jansch and a plethora of folk-music superstars having perfomed at the Folk Club and at benefit gigs there over recent decades.  Due to close on Sunday 7th September.  No heritage listing, and not in a Conservation Area; however the Leyton and Leytonstone Historical Association are well on the way to getting the Heathcote Arms listed as an ACV.
[I am copying in the LLHA's historical pubs expert.]

The Northcote Arms (Grove Green Road, Leyton/Leytonstone border) is also apparently closing down (or possibly already closed).  Crumbling, rough and pokey, a true East End community local; however I doubt it will be much missed by many or that it ever served any Real Ale.  (Unless WFCS are approached and specifically asked to help out, we will not be doing anything about it.)
The Antelope (Church Road, Leyton) closed in June.  It is boarded up although the tenants upstairs still live there, as their period of notice has not yet expired.  It was a friendly (if rather blokey), genuine Irish pub with live "pub-Irish" music at weekends, which served excellent and cheap Guinness but no real ale.  The pub is of local historical significance, due to Marsh Lane opposite which leads down to the Leyton Marshes Lammas Lands; it was the meeting place in 1892 for a 3,000-strong riot on the Marshes against encroachment on the common grazing land.  Lessee Eoghain (Eugene) Morgan tried to buy it from owners Punch Taverns many years ago, but they refused to sell.  (WFCS will try to get ACV listing for the Antelope, if the LLHA are not already on the case, as 3 nearby pubs have gone recently.)
(Interestingly, the Antelope's former clientele have mostly switched to the Bootlaces in Lea Bridge Road, also an Irish pub.  Ironically, this may have saved the 'Laces, which was rumoured to have been sold last year for redevelopment into a trendy hipster wine-bar!  However, like the Antelope, it has never served Real Ale.)
Wishing you all the best with the CAMRA lobbying campaign - I already suggested in my email on Tuesday that people should lobby their MPs to ask them to sign the parliamentary motion (EDM?).  I have left your thread (slightly redacted, as it was aimed at CAMRA members) attached below.
Katy.
--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 4/9/14, Geoff Strawbridge <geoff@westmiddx-camra.org.uk> wrote:

Subject: Pubs Matter - So Why Can't We Have A Say?
To: katyandrews2012@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Thursday, 4 September, 2014, 1:04

Dear Katy
Pubs Matter - So Why Can't We Have A Say?
The Grosvenor, The Old White Bear, The Star, The Tottenham, The Packhorse & Talbot, The Trafalgar Arms, The Black Lion, Turner's Old Star. These are just a handful of the dozens of iconic London pubs currently threatened with demolition or change of use. We lose 100 pubs in the capital every year.
ONLY robust protection through the planning system can change this. The good pubs are closing along with the not-so-good ones. 

See www.pubsmatter.org.uk for details of our new national planning campaign - Pubs Matter.
This campaign launch coincides with a government consultation on planning. The technical consultation
outlines the latest package of planning reforms. With the exception of some additional controls on betting shops, there is not a lot in it for our pubs. The 98 page document is a pretty depressing read . 

This Administration claims to be 'the most pro-pub government ever' - yet ministers are proposing to relax what little planning controls we have. We are urging CAMRA members to take part in the technical
consultation, before 26th September.

With enough voices calling for proper planning protection for pubs, we can influence policy before it is implemented.  To make participation as straightforward as possible, we have prepared a helpful guide along the lines of CAMRA's London regional response. 
In a nutshell, we are calling for "the closure of planning loopholes which allow change of use or demolition of pubs without planning permission."
If you only have time to answer one question - type that into Question 2.22.   

The full background brief, along with CAMRA's draft detailed responses can be found on our regional website.
The link to the consultation is here:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JKMX63K.
If you require any further information, please contact James Watson, London Region Pub Protection Advisor. on 07818 421475 or jwatson@iee.org.
Geoff Strawbridge,
Regional Director 
CAMRA Greater London Region.

The Campaign for Real Ale is a limited company, registered in England with company number 270286. Registered office address:  230 Hatfield Road , St Albans , Hertfordshire AL1 4LW.
Email address: camra@camra.org.uk.
VAT number: 540116687.

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