The Apple Tree

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IT was a quirky, non-conformist bar near Mount Pleasant where everybody could be themselves.

But The Apple Tree pub is to become another pin on the map of London’s lost LGBT venues – after plans to convert into an eco-decking firm’s new showroom were presented to the council.

The pub, which opened in 2013, has stood empty since the Covid crisis and documents filed at the Town Hall confirmed it was sold last year, dashing hopes that it could ever wind back the clock to its former incarnation.

Ecoscape, which supplies environment-ally friendly building products including railings and fences, are ready to move in once conversion works have taken place.

The pub had moved its operations to a successful “pop-up” at Clerkenwell Green, but this stopped running two years ago.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and increased running costs, like many pubs in the UK, it was no longer viable for the business to keep operating,” said the applicant’s planning papers published on the council’s website.

“Subsequently, due to financial pressures, the business went into administration and the pub was sold to the applicant in 2024.”

The Apple Tree’s owner Lucy Fenton previously described the bar to the New Journal as a place for “people to go and be who they are, just how they want to”, adding: “If you don’t know where you are on your journey, then come here. You might meet like-minded folk, or we could even point you in the direction of what you’re looking for.

“There are so many things, like cultural reasons, that maybe mean [people] can’t be as open as they’d like to be. We’re a community venue – that’s what pubs are, they’re a community space. Pubs should be about fostering ­com­munity.”