Threat to the Carpenters Arms

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Actress Sheila Hancock's childhood home 'saved' as council rejects flats scheme for pub

Published: 15 February, 2016

By RICHARD OSLEY

REGULARS who say the future of their favourite pub was under threat from a flats conversion in the upper floors are celebrating after the council threw out a property developer's plans.

Drinkers at the Carpenters Arms in King's Cross Road, King's Cross, breathed a sigh of relief after the scheme to create three flats above the bar was turned down.

They had warned that the pub, which was the childhood home of national treasure actress Sheila Hancock, would not be able to function properly if it had to keep the noise down for tenants upstairs.

The refusal issued by Camden's planning department followed warnings that King's Cross is losing all of its traditional pubs in property deals.

Developer Mendoza Limited had repeatedly insisted that the pub would stay open in their plans, and that the landlord was taking up a large residence upstairs which could, with the addition of a roof extension, be divided up into new homes.

The pub is one of the main venues of Camden's "darting scene" with multiple teams playing at the bar, and it has been celebrated as a meeting point for friends priced out of the area's new wave of wine bars. Last year it was designated an "Asset of Community Value" by the council in recognition of its popularity in the neighbourhood.

Robert Fraser, one of the pub's customers, said: "I have already had to move from two pubs because of greedy property developers, and fear there will be little choice of pubs locally and within my price range to frequent."

Frank Wyard, who has lived in the area for 60 years, added: "It seems every pub is sold to property developers, regardless of the local need."

Co-licenser Jacqueline Gold said three pubs had been lost in King's Cross Road in recent years.

In this case, Camden's planners ruled that they could not permit changes which might undermine the running of the pub. The council's verdict said: "The proposed residential flats would result in loss of space within the existing public house which would prejudice the long-term retention of the public house which is an important local community facility."

Mendoza Limited said through their agents that the upper floors "were not used by the community" and that the pub would not have been closed under the plans. Only the landlord's leased residence and residential floors would be affected, it added.

The company must now decide whether to appeal against the block on their plans to an inspector.

A PROPER PUB: SHEILA'S DAD SANG AND HER MUM PLAYED THE PIANO

ACTRESS Sheila Hancock has fondly recalled her childhood years spent in the Carpenters Arms pub, where her father once ran the bar.

The RADA-trained actress, 82, who made her television break in the 1960s in the sitcom, The Rag Trade, and went on to star in some of the nation's favourite programmes including EastEnders and Doctor Who, recently said she had gone back to visit and not much had changed.

In her book The Two Of Us, about her marriage to Inspector Morse star John Thaw, she devotes passages to her family's time at the Carpenters Arms, describing how her mother played the piano there and her father sang The Road To Mandalay.

"The whole place rattled as trains passed the backyard. Sleep was not easy. I was often still awake when Dad shouted 'time, gentlemen, please'," she wrote.

In an article for the property title The London Magazine, she added that it was "a jolly place", adding: "Recently I was in the area and went to have a look at the pub. Surprisingly, it didn't actually look that different inside."

Landlord says developers 'don't care about community' as pub faces new luxury flats threat

Published: 8 April, 2016

by TOM FOOT

THE names of its loyal regulars - some recently departed - are fixed on little plaques above the bar. Three darts teams throw their arrows at a board in the corner. On quiet afternoons the soundtrack is warm laughter, on Saturday nights there is live music. And the carpet is a little bit worse for wear.

If you were asked to draw a traditional London pub, the way they looked before the trend for leather sofas and expensive roasts, you might sketch something like the Carpenters Arms - as traditional as they come, a place where, over the years, many strangers have become friends.

But there is a shadow hanging over the happy community sharing stories each night at the pub in King's Cross Road, King's Cross. Publican David Wheeler says another attempt by the building's freeholders to redevelop the Carpenters' upper floors could be the bar's death knell. He faces eviction from the flat he lives in upstairs amid proposals to create new flats which, if London's recent property trends are anything to go by, will be in demand on the private market.

The worry is that the pub will lose vital space and eventually the new tenants will complain about the natural noise coming from a well-used pub below. Camden Council have turned one application down already, but as soon as that victory was celebrated in the pub, along came a fresh request for redevelopment.

"You can pop in here any time and see the value of the place," said Mr Wheeler. "The area has changed over the years, it has got more diverse, but there is still a good community here. What is London, but its community?"

He added: "These property developers, they just don't care about the community, they carry on regardless. It is about profit - and that's not a bad thing - but not when it is to such an extent that it is affecting the way of life."

Mr Wheeler grew up in Anwell Street, between King's Cross and the Angel, and worked as a painter and decorator after an apprenticeship with the former Greater London Council. He said buying the pub 20 years ago with his partner, Jacky, whose parents used to go to the pub, was a "no-brainer".

"The heart of London is not Big Ben, it is places like this. But that is what is being destroyed," Mr Wheeler said. "They are getting rid of all the things that are for the people."

There is a monthly karaoke night and open-mic singing sessions at the Carpenters, with men and women darts teams playing regularly in the London leagues. They raise thousands of pounds each year for Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Marie Curie cancer charity, a cause which is close to Mr Wheeler's heart after both his parents died in the Hampstead hospice.

He said: "You hear about Elton John getting a knighthood. Well there's nothing wrong with his music, but the man is no doubt a multi-millionaire. And nothing for those nurses?"

Regulars at the bar this week praised the pub's affordable drinks.

"Where else can you get a nice glass of red wine for £2.90?" said Denis McCarthy.

Mr Wheeler said: "Pubs are becoming very expensive and what is happening is that the idea of getting a round in - getting a round in is something that is unique to Britain - is dying. You see people going into these new bars and saying, 'I'll just get my own'."

The building's owners, Mendoza, are challenging an application by a group called the Carpenter's Arms Supporters for the building to be listed as an Asset of Community Value.

The ACV status, they hope, would make it easier to fight Mendoza's planning application to build flats upstairs and section off part of the pub with a staircase.

In its latest planning application - currently on the desk of Camden's planners - the developer said: "This redesign of the upper floors is not aimed at any particular social group. The pub will still be able to function as at present. The upper floors are not used by the community but have a residential use. The pub would continue to be an asset to the community."

But Mr Wheeler said: "I couldn't believe it when the Black Cap shut down. That really focused the attentions of people on what is going on.

"One closes at the back of King's Cross, well that's not really much of a story for some people, but the Black Cap? And I think the councils, too, both Islington and Camden have been very good with us so far. I think they've realised what's happening. But they could do more. I think one solution could be that they make a ruling that every pub - and you could do this with public buildings and churches - is automatically listed as an Asset of Community Value.

"The way it works now is that the people have to prove that the place is part of the community. But it should be up to the developer to prove the business is no longer viable, when they buy the building."

He added: "This is a comfortable pub. We have done just fine. We take some holidays, we go to see some musicals, we have a meal out. But this is not about me, it's about the people here. We've had the same staff that we started with 20 years ago - but that is unusual, we must be doing something right."

LETTERS: Carpenters Arms: Developers are creating ghost towns

Published: 5 April, 2016

CARPENTERS Arms publican David Wheeler is absolutely right to assert that certain property developers "don't care about the community" (Pub faces new luxury flats threat, April 8).

It's a shame that they are even allowed to call themselves developers because in reality they are community destroyers.

How can they possibly add value to anybody or anything in the long term if they are helping to turn the neighbourhoods they are supposedly developing into ghost towns?

In theory these premises could survive as a pub even if the upstairs floors are converted into flats but the whole ambience would change.

When a landlord starts to lock a pub from the outside rather than the inside he becomes alienated from his former home and the public house changes beyond recognition.

The back streets of King's Cross are in serious danger of becoming as sterile as the new developments that have engulfed the industrial sites of the area, so the sooner the Carpenters Arms is listed as an asset of community value the better.

IAN SHACKLOCK
Monsell Road, N4

We want our pub back, plead regulars, as work begins on upstairs flats at 'The Carps'

Published: 28 October, 2016

by TOM FOOT

A COMMUNITY pub stands boarded up as a property developer prepares to turn the upper floors into private flats, leaving regulars fearing that it will never be the same again.

The changes at the King's Cross Road pub - the childhood home of actress Sheila Hancock - are going ahead despite it being listed as an asset of community value (ACV), supposedly a layer of extra protection against sales and development.

Regular Liz Bond said: "Us ordinary people with principles and morals don't want a wine bar or a gastro-pub. We just want some tradition, and it's not only us. It's also the many tourists and business people who have always commented on how much they appreciate The Carpenters.

"We'd like our voice to be heard. We say bring back our Carps. It's not the same street without it."

The 170-year-old building was bought by Mendoza in 2014. It plans to divide the upstairs into three flats, having won approval after a planning battle, but because the building has been "listed" as an ACV it has been forced to keep a pub on the ground floor. It is unclear what will open on the ground floor when refurbishment is finished but customers fear the pub will no longer be as it was, a key venue for darts leagues and a meeting point for customers priced out of the more expensive wine bars that have moved into redeveloped King's Cross.

Jacqueline Pursey, who lives nearby, said: "It's really taken the heart out of Frederick Street. It kind of lit up the corner. It was a real community pub.

"King's Cross hasn't always had such a nice reputation. It's not like you could go in any pub round there. But you could go into that pub. You could join in the conversation, chatting at the bar, or you could sit on your own and read a book.

"I haven't been going out so much. Every time I walk past I just keep crying."

Landlord Dave Wheeler ran the pub for more than 25 years after taking over the local near where he grew up.

Mr Wheeler, who is staying with a friend and is registered homeless, said: "I'm very angry. I'm sad for the pub and for the people who went there. They are genuinely lovely people.

"I will miss that pub. It was always a good local pub for local people. It's a shame. And all to build flats no one can afford."

Mendoza could not be reached this week but agents acting on behalf of the company told Camden Council planners that the changes at the pub reflected the changing nature of King's Cross.

They added: "Public houses are changing to reflect this new affluence. The Carpenters Arms with its extensive ancillary upper floors, large areas of which are unused, represents a mix which no longer reflects today's needs. On the contrary, many public houses function successfully on the ground and basement only with a small kitchen, with the upper floors converted to provide much-needed independent residential accommodation or offices."

Actress Sheila recalls growing up in 'a jolly place'

ACTRESS Sheila Hancock has fondly recalled her childhood years spent in the Carpenters Arms, where her father once ran the pub.

The 82-year-old, Rada-trained actress, who made her television break in the 1960s in the sitcom, The Rag Trade, and went on to star in some of the nation's favourite programmes, including EastEnders and Doctor Who, recently said she had gone back to visit and not much had changed. In her book, The Two Of Us, about her marriage to Inspector Morse star John Thaw, she devotes passages to her family's time at the Carpenters Arms, describing how her mother played the piano there and her father sang The Road To Mandalay.

"The whole place rattled as trains passed the backyard. Sleep was not easy. I was often still awake when Dad shouted: 'Time, gentlemen, please'," she wrote.

In an article for property title The London Magazine, she recalled it as "a jolly place", adding: "Recently I was in the area and went to have a look at the pub. Surprisingly, it didn't actually look that different inside."

LETTERS: Carpenters Arms reflects city's diversity not 'new affluence' of King's Cross

Published: 4 November, 2016

"IF it ain't broke don't fix it" is an expression that made a lot of sense when campaigners were striving to protect the Carpenters Arms, but it is obviously gobbledygook to property developers like Mendoza (We want our pub back, plead regulars, October 28).

When a council singles out a pub as an asset of community value (ACV) this is a pretty clear signal to opportunist speculators that the pub in question is a well-established meeting point for a well-established community. So why on earth do property developers like Mendoza, their agents and apologists think it is acceptable to destroy the ambience and continuity in places like this?

Judging by their quoted policy to "reflect the new affluence of King's Cross" they seem to be celebrating and championing a horrible and aggressive programme of social cleansing. How can they reconcile their actions knowing that they are helping to purge communities that have existed and thrived long before most of them had even been conceived?

When a developer revives a derelict area, it can be admirable in principle, even if the end result is a sterile complex of privatised courtyards, unaffordable homes and boutiques. But Frederick Street is not derelict and the last thing the Carpenters needs is a facelift. London would not be London without its diversity and any policy to "reflect new affluence" stinks of homogenisation.

I sincerely hope that I have misunderstood your news story, that Mendoza's agents' wires have been crossed and that the Carpenters will be reopened very soon as a proper boozer that reflects and welcomes the key Londoners that help to keep London special.

IAN SHACKLOCK

Monsell Road, N4

Developers do not understand what the people need - in this case, for us, it's the Carpenters

Published: 10 November, 2016

MANY thanks for the article about the closure of the Carps - The Carpenters on King's Cross Road (We want our pub back, plead regulars October 27).

We feel we have to respond strongly to Mendoza's comments. They make the point that King's Cross is changing and becoming more affluent. To us this makes it clear that they don't understand what the people want and need round here. There are areas of King's Cross that are up-and-coming and provide a service for people who want that kind of thing. However our area of King's Cross has always been residential, mainly social housing, and the Carps (pictured) was used by mixture of local working class people and tourists who wanted to use and appreciate a traditional London pub. Post office workers from Mount Pleasant walked down to enjoy a pint and a chat at lunchtime. Back-packers from the hostel opposite were frequent visitors and specially enjoyed sitting outside in the summer with a drink. We would like to know what kind of people Mendoza think will be renting the new flats they say they are making on the upper floors of the building?

Will they be social housing? We have read on social media that this is how Mendoza operates, buying up traditional pubs in order to make more money to put in the Isle of Man.

We have also heard they will be turning the bar into a licensed restaurant. As locals we know very well that there have been numerous attempts at opening restaurants round here, and all of them have failed miserably.

Our well-patronised fish and chip shop further up the road is now a place selling "pulled pork" and is empty.

We would like to ask if there is a loophole in the law that says if an Asset of Community Value fails, does this mean that the nature of the building can be changed and the owners are free to do what they like with it.

Is this the intention we wonder? Otherwise we would like to repeat how devastated we feel at the loss of the Carps. Local working class people, elderly people, disabled people, people who are on benefits and trying to get their life together, and people who just want to enjoy a pint and read the paper.

Where can they go now? Where can we go to enjoy a Saturday karaoke night? We would like to think that someone out there will read this and help us in our quest to keep at least some of London traditional and in the price range of local working class people who are being priced and pushed out of the areas where they were born and grew up.

JACQUELINE PURSEY, TERRY WOOD, ELISABETH BOND

& many other Carps regulars who feel the same as we do

London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged to investigate closure of Carpenters Arms

Published: 17 November, 2016

By TOM FOOT

DEVASTATED punters at a boarded-up King's Cross pub are calling on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to investigate its closure as part of an inquiry into overseas property developers.

Elisabeth Bond and Jacqueline Pursey are among former customers who want to see the Carpenter's Arms in Frederick Street reopened just as it was and say its closure has "ripped the heart out of the community".

Isle of Man-based Mendoza are redeveloping the building to create new flats upstairs, although the future of what will operate on the ground floor is unclear, with former regulars worried that a wine bar will replace what was a traditional local pub.

Ms Bond said: "As closing pubs goes, the case of the Carpenter's feels particularly disgusting because it was a genuinely flourishing local boozer. Sadiq Khan said this week that promoting social integration is a matter for everyone, for every citizen of our cities. That's exactly what the Carpenter's was promoting - and now no more."

Details of the Carpenter's Arms case - the pub was supposed to be protected by being listed as an Asset Of Community Value (ACV) by Camden Council - have been sent to Mr Khan who, after his election as Mayor in May, pledged to investigate a trend across London for overseas developers to buy up buildings and turn them into expensive modern flats.

Mendoza has not responded to the New Journal's requests for a comment, but in documents provided to the Town Hall the company's planning agent said they wanted to transform "the Carps" - as the pub is known locally - into three flats with a modernised bar downstairs to reflect the "new affluence" of King's Cross.

On Friday, Ms Bond and Ms Pursey were outraged to find estate agents showing off the new flats upstairs to one interested party - offering £6,000 a month for a three-bedroom flat and two studios.

The New Journal also took a look around the flats, one of which was for 20 years the home of long-serving landlord Dave Wheeler, who is now registered homeless.

Mr Wheeler said the campaigning customers would "not let go of this in a hurry", and warned the suggested levels of rent for flats in the building were beyond most people's means

In a statement, Mr Khan said: "We welcome investment from around the world in building new homes, including those for first-time buyers. At the same time, as more and more Londoners struggle to get on the property ladder, there are real concerns about the prospect of a surge in the number of homes being bought by overseas investors."

Former EastEnders actress Sheila Hancock grew up in the pub as a child, often recalling how her father ran the bar and played the piano downstairs.

In their planning application submitted to Camden Council, Mendoza said: "The Carpenter's Arms, with its extensive ancillary upper floors, large areas of which are unused, represents a mix which no longer reflects today's needs.

"On the contrary, many public houses function successfully on the ground and basement only with a small kitchen, with the upper floors converted to provide much-needed independent residential accommodation or offices."

The Mayor's spokesman said: "The inquiry is happening and there will be more info on that in due course. There will be a point of call to communicate details to when the inquiry team is together. All info will be communicated and on our website shortly."

Why the Carpenters Arms pub is boarded up

Published: 24 November, 2016

IT never ceases to amaze me how much nonsense Mendoza's agents are prepared to throw at us while they try to justify their hostile plans for the Carpenters Arms, ('Dear Sadiq, why our pub is boarded up,' New Journal, November 17).

They claim that they will provide much-needed accommodation and they have stated that the existing building represents a mix which no longer reflects today's needs.

How ridiculous!

To achieve their aims they have made a publican homeless and are marketing the upstairs accommodation at totally unaffordable prices.

Why would anybody be prepared to pay a premium to live and sleep above a lively venue unless their intention was to complain persistently until they manage to destroy the ambience of that venue?

What makes the agents so sure that the needs of today are any different from the needs of the previous 60 years?

Do they seriously believe that they have a green light to force an established community into extinction?

These plans add no value to the King's Cross area and any benefits gained by the privileged few will be far outweighed by the permanent damage inflicted on the community.

IAN SHACKLOCK

Monsell Road, N4

'Property firm shut our booming pub'

Published: 24 February, 2017 - By Tom Foot

Regulars fear 'Carps', with its darts matches and weddings, will become 'something fashionable'

A PLANNING inspector has heard how a pub at the heart of the community hosted darts teams five nights a week for 20 years before it was shut by a developer.

Former regulars at the Carpenters Arms, in King's Cross, are in a battle with property company Mendoza, which wants to create three new flats above the pub. It was refused planning permission, a decision now being challenged.

The final decision now rests with planning inspector Alastair Phillips, who heard from both sides at an appeal hearing this week.He visited the pub on Tuesday and is expected to reach a decision within six weeks.

The pub's former landlord, Dave Wheeler, who lost his home and is now registered homeless but without enough points to get on the council waiting list, was joined by supporters at the Camden town hall hearing.

"We had five darts teams, Monday to Friday, and the custom was for the landlord to supply the food for the teams," Mr Wheeler told the hearing.

"We had numerous weddings. We would supply the buffets. Wet sales were very good. It was a successful pub for 20 years but Mendoza shut it down."

The inspector was told how Mendoza bought the King's Cross Road pub in 2013.

It has said it will open a drinking establishment in place of the Carps but has not been clear what form it will take. Former customers fear a gastropub will replace the traditional pub.

The main issues at stake, according to the planning inspector, are whether the application to create three flats would jeopardise the running of a new venue downstairs - listed as an asset of community value - and whether noise from the pub would make the flats uninhabitable.

Ken Hogg, a pub expert appearing for Mendoza, told the inspector that the new establishment would be a "lock-up"-style venue, without any live-in staff. Mr Wheeler responded: "It will no longer be run for the community then, will it? The manager could be living in Hollywood. They'll just be running a business."

Mendoza rep Chris Hicks said the three flats proposed were "all family size, two two-beds and a three-bed". They were "meeting a need" in terms of building more homes in Camden.

He told Mr Wheeler: "Times are moving on". "Maybe for you," replied Mr Wheeler, who lived above the pub for 20 years.

Judy Dainton, from Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood Association, warned that the developer's plans to turn the pub into "something fashionable" were a retrograde step.

Ian Shacklock, representing the Campaign for Real Ale, said that the regeneration of King's Cross had "not done a lot for Carpenters", adding that new bars popping up did not serve the community.

A statement from Carpenters Arms Supporters group, read out at the hearing, said: "If the appeal is upheld it will be the end for another community asset that has served the area for over 140 years, turning the area into a sterile community with no focal point, no place to meet friends and relax for a few hours."