Developers ordered to rebuild demolished pub

Delighted to hear of Westminster City Council’s response to developers CLTX Ltd who razed to the ground the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale, West London, in what was widely interpreted as a cynical fiscal manoeuvre only days before it was due to become a listed building.

The pub was the only building on the street to survive the WWII blitz and it was considered an important historic building.

But just days before it was due to be listed, the Tel-Aviv-based developers drove in the bulldozers and brought down the building.

Now, in what’s thought to be a first for any council in the UK, Westminster City Council has instructed that it be re-instated “brick by brick”.

Earlier, Patsy Lord, the landlady, had been told by the owners to close for an ‘inventory’ on Easter Monday. When she returned a couple of days later there was the 94 year-old pub and there it was, gone, as Gaybo was wont to say.

But Westminster City Council issued a fast-tracked enforcement notice requiring CLTX to rebuild the pub “as it stood prior to its demolition” thus delighting pub customers and local residents in the process.

What’s more – just in case they were thinking of doing so – the notice also prevents the owners from selling the site before the building has been fully restored from the ground up.

Three months before this, the council had refused planning permission to demolish the pub and replace it with apartments and this refusal is being appealed by CLTX.

Good luck with that one, guys!