More than 100 protesters fill chamber as demolition plan is thrown out

A CELEBRATED pub has been saved from the bulldozers after a massive campaign to stop its demolition.
Councillors took the rare step of ignoring advice from the Town Hall’s own planning experts and threw out proposals to knock down the Crown and Goose pub and the neighbouring New Camden Snooker Hall – both in Delancey Street, Camden Town.
They voted unanimously against the scheme, submitted by developers DE & J Levy, at a decisive meeting on Thursday night.
More than 100 objectors packed the council’s main chamber to protest against the proposals which many felt would lead to a ‘super-pub’ opening in the residential street.
Planning Chairman Councillor Brian Woodrow appealed for calm, asking people in the public gallery not to applaud members who spoke out against the scheme.
In a stirring five-minute speech, Russell Grant, Chairman of the Delancey Street Residents Association, told the meeting that the corner buildings would be replaced with a giant “beer barn”.
He said: “They are riding roughshod over the whole planning process. The proposed building is totally unacceptable and inappropriate.
“Let’s be clear this is not a design for a restaurant. It has clearly been designed as bar, a vertical drinking bar at that. There are 17 stools and a kitchen the size of a dog basket.”
Officials in the planning department had given the scheme the initial green light but the demolition failed to find favour with councillors with the final say on applications.
Labour Councillor Jake Sumner told the meeting: “It’s clear from the report that the Crown and Goose isn’t a historic building but it does fit in so well with the conservation area and the buildings around it. It doesn’t detract. It allows the buildings to breathe and doesn’t compete.”
The pub on the junction with Arlington Road, became symbolic in the wider battle residents in the area are facing to curb the number of late-opening large bars opening under new licensing rules.
Holborn and St Pancras Frank Dobson waded into the row on two occasions insisting that quiet, family pubs should not be scrapped in favour of high-capacity venues. A floor-plan of the replacement building revealed bar stools and a small kitchen which residents argued would not sustain a restaurant.
During the meeting, Labour Councillor Dave Horan added: “The anxiety that people have about what kind of establishment it will be, I think, will be borne out. We really should turn it down.”
Tory Councillor Mike Greene added: “They are clearly not planning to use it as a restaurant from the floor plan.”
Developers DE & J Levy did not attend the meeting and were informed of the result on Friday afternoon.
It was the second time a bid to knock down the treasured corner buildings has failed. In late 2003, a similar application failed to even reach the committee stage.