Wednesday 15 September 2010

THIS JUST IN

This just in from the lovely @shoozographer on Twitter:


Just spoken to someone at Wenlock Arms. They will be open til Oct, and until the bulldozers come. That's two weeks.

8 comments:

  1. Hey guys. My homebrewing club (The London Amateur Brewers) meets upstairs at the wenlock the first Monday of every month. We were told at our last meeting we could have our November meeting there, but then we'd have to find a new venue. So I don't think they're tearing the place down till at least mid-november, with the implication that is definitely won't be open by December. Thought you'd like the info...

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  2. Have you checked if they have planning permission to do this? They can't just roll in and knock it down without going through the process -- a process that people can object in.

    I can see that permission was granted for redevelopment of the rest of the old Wenlock brewery site (application 1332/2009), but that specifically leaves the pub alone.

    Even if the owners have sold up, it may still be possible to save the fabric of the building, pending a transfer of management. But it needs investigation.

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  3. Thanks for the extra info, Ben. Intriguing!

    The Beer Nut - yes, you're quite right. I looked at the same documents. I just called the company responsible for the next door bit this lunchtime and I've asked them to confirm or deny whether their development includes the pub - they said they'd call back. I will put a proper blog post up about the planning stuff when I get to the bottom of it.

    In the meantime, Camra and Fancy A Pint have both been very supportive. Sniff.

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  4. And there's a thread on CAMRA's dedicated pub-saving forum.

    It's quite possible they'll stick up a hoarding and demolish it quickly some Sunday morning when no-one's looking. I think the site will need to be watched very carefully once the pub closes its doors.

    At least they now know they're being watched.

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  5. Thanks for putting that up there!

    I think you're right - the lack of available information on dates would suggest that someone is trying to keep this as quiet as possible. It goes without saying that the pub's zillions of fans deserve a chance to say goodbye...but the lack of publicity and concrete information has also denied other successful pubs in the area the opportunity to look at taking it over as a going concern, which would have kept it alive.

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  6. Hi John Cryne here Chairman of CAMRA in North London. By chance we have ameeting in the pub next Tuesday night the 21st - all welcome! Hopefully a chance to find out more.

    Further posts to follow.

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  7. I found this paragraph in the Additional information planning statement (about the 9th document down from the top)

    2.7 The site measures 0.12 ha in area and forms an island bounded by Wenlock Road to the
    west, Sturt Street to the north, Taplow Street to the east and Prestwood Street to the south.
    The Wenlock Arms Free House situated on the north western corner of the site lies outside
    the applicant’s ownership and does not form part of the application proposals.

    Given that the statement says the Wenlock is outside of their ownership, I'm not sure what's going on!

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