FANS of a historic Camden Town gay bar have hit out at claims that the owners of a restaurant chain planning to open on the site are running a “small family business”.  

Last week the New Journal revealed that the Breakfast Club – a group of eight café-style eateries – is set to move into the Black Cap in Camden High Street after it was abruptly shut down in April.

Founder Jonathan Arana-Morton made a public plea for unders­tanding as his company was deluged with opposition to the move, explaining that they were not used to courting controversy and had declined to hire a PR firm because “that’s not us”. 

His appeal has been met with a mixed reaction, with some warming to the idea of a business “which cares about the local community”. 

But many gave it a frosty recep­tion, describing Mr Arana-Morton’s statement as “disingen­uous” and “patronising”. 

Fans of the Black Cap, who had scrutinised the 3,700-word blog post, contacted the New Journal to highlight what they saw as inaccurate descriptions of the business as “small”, pointing to the company’s accounts, which show some £7million passed through their tills in 2014. Others singled out Mr Arana-Morton’s former career as the head of public relations at the Football Association and said this sat uneasily with his statement: “We were asked to get a PR company to help – but that’s not us either.”

Responding to the concerns, Mr Arana-Morton said: “I stand by both comments. Relative to a small corner store, no, we are not a small business. But relative to the hundreds of restaurant groups out there we are very small.”

Of his PR experience, he said: “It was public relations on a non-media level. I worked on community and charity stuff. I’ve got zero media training and it was a completely different team that dealt with that.”

A former Black Cap regular, Simon Happily, described Mr Arana-Morton’s statement as a “sob story” and called for a boycott of the firm until they scrap the plans.  

Councillor Danny Beales, who launched a petition to reopen the venue that has garnered 6,800 signatures, said: “I would implore the Breakfast Club to listen to the community and to withdraw their interest. It’s simply not good enough for them to say they are sorry and have good intentions.”

A letter from the #WeAreTheBlackCap group, which has more than 2,000 members and are fighting to reopen the famous drag and cabaret venue, said: “As a ‘small family business’ it is reprehensible that you think it is acceptable to take away a place which was a home for so many, and a place in which people found some alternative form of family.”

On Tuesday the Breakfast Club outlined their plans, if they are able to take over the lease, which includes a commitment to maintain the Black Cap as the dominant name of the venue “with The Breakfast Club very much as a sub name to its historic name”, to support a local LGBT charity and to run events, including a possible “drag Sunday brunch”.

Mr Arana-Morton said his company had been working with charities at all their sites, including supporting LGBT charities in Soho and Brighton. “It’s been going on for years and it’s not because of all of a sudden we’ve had massive backlash,” he said. “We are determined to keep that pub and bar element of it. The plan for it is almost the whole length of it will be a bar. We wanted to create the longest bar in Camden.”

He is still uncertain if they will be able to move in as a deal between Faucett Inn and the new owners, Camden Securities LLP, is yet to be finalised.