Ep 25 Pubs v The Wrecking Ball - London Pubs Facing Extinction

Death, Near Death  and Resurrection – 3 tales of pubs facing destruction.  The Still and Star, The Wenlock Arms, The Carlton Tavern

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Google map with pubs covered in previous episodes pinned, courtesy of Andy Meddick:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/4/edit?mid=12c-WKa3XiT1qTLydK8psZocUR7Y_Wes&usp=sharing

Or TinyURL: https://tinyurl.com/bduca5dv

The following resources are referenced or quoted frequently in these episodes:

• Ted Bruning  -- Historic Pubs of London (ISBN 978-0658005022) and London By Pub (ISBN 978-0658005022)
• Wikipedia
• https://londonspubswherehistoryreallyhappened.wordpress.com/  by Ann Laffeaty

Additionally, the  following resource(s) were used / quoted in this episode:

Still & Star:

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/12/18/so-long-still-star/

https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/historic-200-year-old-pub-23791756

https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/about-us/

https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/national-news/save-the-still-and-star/

https://news.cityoflondon.gov.uk/city-corporation-approves-revised-aldgate-office-development-honouring-historic-pub/

Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z39FPw0X9GU

Ms Goor’s photos:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/nYfNn12SyN6G7Dcd6

Wenlock Arms:

https://londonist.com/2012/01/wenlock-arms-saved

https://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Wenlock_Brewery_Co._Ltd

https://camra.org.uk/pubs/wenlock-arms-london-124755

Article: Terror at Wenlock Brewery:  http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/112/bh-112-003.html

Carlton Tavern:

https://vinepair.com/articles/historic-london-pub-demolished-rebuilt/

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/carlton-tavern-pubs-westminster-city-council-london-dudley-b1143950.html

Intro music:

Vivaldi - Spring Allegro by John Harrison w/ the Wichita State University Chamber Orch

Photo:  Ewan Munro

Website: https://historiclondonpubcast.com/

E-mail: hosteric@historiclondonpubcast.com

Transcript

Welcome to this episode of The Historic London Pubcast. I'm Eric Blair, and I'd like to take you on a journey through the rich history of London's iconic pubs. My goal is to share with you my passion for the great old pubs of London. I want to give you some facts to help you appreciate the history of these hallowed establishments mixed in with some fun stories that make it all go down as smooth as a well poured pint.

Today's episode is a little different, as you can see from the title Pubs Versus the Wrecking Ball. I want to cover the issue of preservation of historic pubs in light of modern development. This is a nuanced issue and both sides have their points. I think the best way to proceed is to discuss three pubs that face destruction, and what has happened in each case.

Let's start with a small pub in the Aldgate area, The Still and Star, located at One Little Somerset Street. The pub goes back to 1820. Spitalfieldslife.com reports on the history as provided by Mr. Michael Cox, a former Landlord. 

“The block once contained eight butcher’s shops which were all bought up by one owner, who opened the pub in 1820. Before it was renamed Little Somerset St, the passageway leading to the pub was ‘Harrow Alley’ but colloquially known as ‘Blood Alley.’ At that time, the City of London charged a tariff for driving cattle across the Square Mile and, consequently, a thriving butchery trade grew up in Aldgate and Whitechapel, slaughtering cattle before the carcasses were transported over to Smithfield.”

Mr. Cox also explained about the pub's name, The Still and Star,

“The pub originally had its own still, which was housed in the hayloft above, while ‘star’ refers to the Star of David, witnessing the Jewish population of Aldgate in the nineteenth Century.” 

Apparently, the upper floors of the building provided housing for pub Owners and others over the years. As can be expected, there were renovations as time passed, but it remained a lovely historic pub with a loyal clientele. Then in 2016, the issue of redevelopment arose. The area around the pub was being filled with modern office blocks, and those builders turned their eyes to the land that the poor Still and Star occupied. When they proposed to the City Council that they wanted to tear down the pub, an outcry erupted. This was a fight that would last about seven years.

Here is some of the discussion reported in the articles from The Londonist, 

“The 19th Century pub was not a listed building, but history buffs and a local Councilor argued it should be kept because of its one-of-a-kind status.” 

Councilor Anthony Manchester objected to the development. He said, 

“The Still and Star pub, to my mind, represents an important part of our heritage and one we should seek to preserve where possible, particularly in regard to the working-class heritage of the area.” 

He added, 

“This is the last so-called slum pub in the area. It is a pub that was originally a residential building that was given a license to serve drinks.” 

The City Heritage Society's Chairman, Peter Luskin, said, 

“We consider that this is a rare survival of a simple, single room and still public house and should be retained. It is the only remaining example in the city and is a rarity nationally.” 

The London and Middlesex Archeological Society Secretary, Vicky Fox wrote to the Development Corporation, 

“This proposed scheme continues to fail to address the nature of the pub's historic significance as a building or mitigate the harm that would be caused by its destruction.” 

But there was counterargument.”

Architect Frederick Ludwig, whose firm was hired by the Developer, said that,

“They had worked with the organization Historic England and found out that the pub operated as a chain since the 1920s, and the inside had been rebuilt multiple times.” 

He added, 

“It is a slum pub by history but not by fabric, so there's nothing in the building that merits any kind of protection in that sense.” 

Mandy Rice Davis, a figure in the Profumo scandal, once said in court in response to a previous witness stating that he never had an affair with her,

“Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?”

Mandy's question can be asked here as well. Look who Mr. Ludwig was working for. Also, I take in his statement that he is implying that The Still and Star might have been less than a pub prior to 1920. I think it's clear that that is not the case. SunFire Insurance Company records indicate a, Francis Newland had been a Victualer at the street address in 1820. The British definition of the term Victualer is a person who is licensed to sell alcoholic liquor. Sounds like he was a Publican to me! The Victorian Society, whose role is in part to save from destruction Victorian and Edwardian buildings of special architectural merit, also weighed in.

Jo O'Donnell from The Society said,

“The Sun and Star is really important because it is a very rare survivor of what is once a very common type of pub. It's got a real sense of history. There have been so many important historical things that have happened here. A French Victorian illustrator even drew this pub on his journey around London, looking at all the ins and outs of the city. It was also where Robinson Crusoe was partially written.” 

In all fairness, Mr. O'Donnell's comment about Robinson Crusoe relates to the area. Author Daniel Defoe died in 1731, long before the pub came about, but it is still a point. This is a historical area, and it needs to be handled gently. The problem was tbhat the pub was not a Grade II Listed building. That would have made it untouchable when it came to demolition. Half a step was achieved in 2016, per an article on The Victorian Society website. 

“Initial plans to demolish the pub were first made in 2016. The Victorian Society, along with other heritage organizations, campaigned successfully for the City of London to grant the pub Asset of Community Value status, and it was spared demolition.” 

So, in 2016 building occurred around the pub but it remained still standing. But somewhere around 2020, The Forsey Hotel Group unveiled renewed plans, which still included the demolition of the pub. The pub had ceased operations sometimes around 2017, but reader comments to a Spitalifields Life  article of 2020 showed that it was a well-remembered and well-loved establishment. Richard Burke wrote in the 1970s and 80s,

“I worked in the area and very regularly frequented The Still and Star daytimes and evenings. It was a very friendly pub with clientele of business people who one got to know after a period of time. Sad to see it go.” 

Alan Beecham said, 

“Very sad news indeed. My uncle Will was the Landlord 1953 to 1959, and my Aunt Lil took over when he passed away. Haven't we got enough big ugly office buildings already?”

Rebecca Boland posted,

“I used to pass this almost daily when I worked in Alley Street in the late 1970s, and it was a busy working boozer. Coming back to work in the area five years ago, it always had people outside drinking in the summer.”

Angela Gore posted, 

“I took some pictures of this pub Christmas of 2011 when it was painted for the festive season, and in January 2012 when it returned to normal.”

Miss Gore provided a link to her photos and it is in the notes. 

In the end a deal was struck with a Builder who gets to tear down The Still and Star, erect a 16-storey office building and build a new pub beside it with The Still and Star name. The City Council approved this plan, 16 to 5. Councilor Manchester, whom I quoted previously, did not go for the plan. He said,

“The redesign looks to me like a very typical cavernous city pub for city workers, and not at all in keeping with the heritage of the slum pub we're trying to protect.”

Right on Councilor! There is a four-minute video on YouTube taking a last look at the pub, and that's linked in the notes. Remember, when this video was shot, the pub had not been running for several years, and appears a bit run down from the outside. After you watch it, I suggest you go back and look at Angela Gore's pictures from 2011. It was nicely dressed up then. That should be our last memory of The Still and Star. Joni Mitchell was right when she sang, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

Okay, I'll quit crying in my beer and move on to our next story. Cheer up! These tales do not end as sadly as The Still and Star. Let's talk about The Wenlock Arms at 26 Wenlock Road in Hackney. The fact that I provide a street address gives you a clue that it’s still an operating pub. So, our story will relate how the pub saw it close, it had a near-death experience. First, let's chat about the pub's history. Wiki tells us The Wenlock Arms first opened for business in 1787 and was operated by the nearby Wenlock Brewery as a brewery tap. From my surfing around, it appears the pub may have operated on its own before becoming a tap, which happened around 1835. That is when the current building was constructed. From that point until the mid-20th Century, the story of the pub and the brewery are intertwined. The brewery changed ownership over the years but continued to operate as the Wenlock Brewery. The financial demise of the New London Brewery in Lambeth in 1925 allowed the Wenlock Brewery to pick up that brewer's licensed houses. The licensed house list generated in 1936 tabulate a very impressive 178 pubs in the Wenlock family, almost all in London. Wenlock brewed a full range of ales and stouts. During the war the brewery was an air raid shelter. An article entitled, “Terror at Wenlock Brewery” by Stephen Sadler is linked in the notes and tells of the frightening events of September 10th, 1940, when the brewery and the surrounding area was hit by aerial bombing. Some of those taking shelter were trapped in the basement for a time, and an adjacent ammonia facility was damaged, resulting in leakage of deadly gas. A victim count was not provided in the article, possibly because not all the fatalities occurred on the night of the bombing. Victims exposed to ammonia gas continued to die over the following months because of their exposure that night.

Sometime in the 1950s, Worthington Brewery bought Wenlock for its Bass subsidiary, but there was pressure on the in town breweries and Wenlock Brewery closed in 1962, but The Wenlock Arms continued to operate as a pub. I first found out about it from a Londoner who recommended it as, “A real working man's pub.” I discovered it was a little scruffy but totally charming nonetheless. 

Wiki relates that footballer David Beckham used to join his grandfather for drinks at The Wenlock Arms, even after he became a superstar. It was that kind of place, genuine, and the area around the pub was also a bit scruffy back in the first decade of the 2000s, but not for long. Gentrification came to Wenlock Road. The brewery was long gone and the site occupied by flats.

For those map fans out there. The brewery was located at the corner of Wenlock Road and McCarver Street. The pub is a block and a half north on Wenlock Road and Stewart Street. The fight over the pub began in the second half of 2010. In September of that year, news emerged that The Wenlock Arms was planning to be demolished and in response a campaign to save the pub started. Back and forth occurred. But in January 2012, a Londonist article proudly proclaimed, 

“The Wenlock Arms has been saved!” The beloved pub was threatened with being torn down to make way for a block of flats, but Hackney Council have stepped in a second time to protect the building. The council rejected planning permission in October, stating that the pub, “Has historical value and architecture character and adds positively to the local distinctiveness of the area.”” 

The determined property owners still pressed the issue, serving a notice for demolition anyway, so the Council extended the Regent's Canal Conservation Area, in effect awarding The Wenlock listed status. With this, the Council has the power to block any proposals for demolition. The developers were forced to come up with a more acceptable plan. The pub underwent renovation, with the floors upstairs being converted for residential accommodation.

Yay! The pub got a new facelift and returned to operation in 2013. Happily, it continues to operate today, and the developers were able to get value additions by adding upper residents floors. See now, with a little bit of sanity, everyone can win. The remodel of the pub included brewing in the basement, but CAMRA reports that that was discontinued in 2023.

The pub has been recognized. It was runner up in the North London CAMRA Pub of the Year competition in 2016, and the winner in 2017. Thanks to all the pub lovers who stood up for The Wenlock. I am reminded of a line from a song, You're the Voice, made popular worldwide by Australian John Farnham. In America, the group Heart’s version is better known, but the same great line is in both versions,

“We know we can all stand together. We've got the power to be powerful.” 

So hopefully that makes you feel better after the downer of the story of The Still and Star. One more Pub Versus the Wrecking Ball tale now, and it has a different, very interesting outcome. The pub in question is The Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale in northwest London.

Wiki gives a short history,

“The pub was built in 1922, in 1921 for Charrington Brewery. It replaced an earlier pub on the same site that was destroyed by German bombing in May 1918. The building was noted for its unaltered 1920s interiors and glazed tiled exterior. It was the only building in the street to survive the Blitz during World War Two.”

It was owned by Punch Terence until at least June 2008. It was a pub beauty. A spokesman for Historic England said, 

“The site was remarkable, well preserved externally and internally. It is sprayed the hierarchy of rooms in their fixtures, fittings and decorative treatment and retained all its external signage. Few pubs were built at this date and fewer survive unaltered.”

The pub was on track to receive a Grade II protection status from the organization English Heritage. That status protects, as their website says, 

“Buildings with special architectural or historical interest considered to be of national importance”

But events overtook The Carlton before that could happen. The website vinepair.com does a good job of telling the story from here. The full article is linked in the notes.

“On Easter weekend 2015, the developers from CLT limited, an Israeli based property firm, demolished the site to what was described as piles of brick and glass. Three months prior, CLT limited requested permission to turn the upstairs part of the pub into flats and were denied. The council subcommittee concluded bulk height, and design would be detrimental to the view within the area.

Instead, the developers tore Carlton's tavern down without permission from the City, just one day before it would be confirmed as a Listed Building under Grade II status. When then manager Patsy Lord returned to work after news of the destruction, she was understandably distraught, “It is heartbreaking. There was no warning. I thought they were just going to dig in their backyard.” 

Patsy told ITV at the time, “Westminster City Council sent a planning enforcement team to find that the pub had been demolished.” Even more unsettling, the developers worked against protocol, abandoning the 1984 Building Act that requires authority to be given notice about any demolition six weeks prior. In the months following, disheartened community members made their voices heard in the form of protests and council meetings, 

“I have never seen anything like it in my life,” Westminster City Councilor Rita Bigham said at the time of the destruction, “I went past just the other day and there were people drinking inside the pub. There was no warning whatsoever. The whole community is in shock. How can they do this without approval?” 

As the city mourned the loss of the beloved historical site, the Westminster City Council relayed a stark message to CLT Limited - recreate in facsimile the building as it stood immediately prior to its demolition, and they complied.”

Six years later, The Carlton Tavern stands tall on the same street as it did in 1921 and beyond. The news of the pub's reopening was posted on the Rebuild the Carlton Tavern Facebook page, which garnered over 3000 fans since its inception. In the wake of the pub's demolition, people said it was impossible. Polly Robertson, one of the leaders of the Rebuild the Carlton Tavern campaign, told the Guardian,

“Many people said Polly, it's not worth it. Nothing's going to happen, and I just thought, no, I'm not going to let it lie.” 

Thanks to ample footage and photo archives, builders were able to reconstruct the site to look almost exactly as it did before the demolition.”

 Thank you vinepair.com. An article in The Standard tells of how this happy ending brings out good folks. 

“The new lease sees Ben Martin and Tom Reece started their business, Homegrown Pubs, during the COVID lockdown period and were on the hunt for their first project when they heard about The Carlton Tavern's destruction and the subsequent rebuild order. “It felt like fate. We looked at a few different pubs, actually out in the country at first, but then we saw the Carlton Tavern. Tom lives just down the road and I grew up in the area and went to school just across the road, and I remember drinking here a few times when I was 18 or 19, so it was just a weird twist of fate,”” Ben told the news agency.

“I think everyone thought we were absolutely nuts when we took on the pub as our first project. Especially as it was during the lockdown, no one could see the potential at first because it was literally a shell and a huge amount of work. But Tom and I saw the potential and just thought it was such a great opportunity.”

Ben and Tom became active in the early rebuild stages. According to Tom, “Part of the Phoenix arose from the ashes. The remains of the pub's banister, stairway, fireplace and even part of the bar were rescued in the rubble. These working fixtures, she said, helped to tell the story, character and charm of the building. A century after The Carlton Tavern first opened its doors, the site's new owners welcomed the community once again on April 9th, 2021.

Congratulations everybody on a great community effort and best of luck to Tom and Ben, the new Publicans. I was going to add a snide comment to the developers who got their just desserts, but from all accounts the rebuild was a fine job. Perhaps they accepted their penance with grace, and if they did, we must respect that. Researching this story, I found that The Carlton case is often cited in disputes with builders all over Britain. It seems to have emboldened the forces for historic preservation. Like the song says, “We have the power to be powerful.”

So, there you have it. Three tales of pubs fighting their demise. I hope this episode comes across as both cautionary and encouraging. Of the three, The Wenlock Arms is my favorite because the pub was preserved with a makeover and the builders got upstairs flats that I'm sure went for a pretty penny.

If you have listened to the Southwark Two Episode, you might recall The Wheatsheaf. An overhead rail line needed to come through right where the pub was located. The compromise was that the top floor of the building was taken out, the overhead rail put in and the ground for the pub was refurbished and preserved. Modernization is a fact of life. It's a force that can and shouldn't be eliminated, just controlled. So not to be destructive to things that keep us in touch with our past. Okay, enough moralizing for me. I'll sign off now. Thanks for tuning in. As always, please thumbs up, like, subscribe, and all that. My email is in the notes hosteric@historiclondonpubcast.com if you want to drop me a line.

Until next time then, Cheers!