The Cock Tavern in Somers Town

• THE imminent closure of the Cock Tavern in Somers Town is another small but seemingly irreversible step in the creeping gentrification of the area, (Campaigners meet to save Cock Tavern pub, February 10).

It will herald the loss of yet another cultural facility of Somers Town unnoticed by the wider world, namely the Irish working class for whom the Cock has been a cornerstone for as long as I can remember. Wedding receptions, wakes, birthdays, christenings, all have been staple offerings for years. Pass by on a Sunday lunchtime you’ll hear live Irish music.

Whether it survives as, gawd help us, another gastropub or follows all the other pubs in the area by being converted into private accommodation it will not be in the interests of the locals, Irish or not, but those who can buy their way in.

KEN JONES, NW1