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Saving the Pineapple, NW5
by Mark Hoile,
Pub Preservation Officer
This issue of The Full Pint brings news of a tense and fast moving story that began in the quiet residential streets of Kentish Town, and is to this day is still a burning issue at the heart of the local community.
The Pineapple in Leverton Street NW5, nestles amongst rows of well presented urban terraces, well away from the noisy and congested main routes of the surrounding area. It has been a home to the community for over 100 years, attracting a friendly and relaxed clientele who at times have even possessed their own door keys to the pub!
A family run Victorian free house, the pub was placed on the market by the widow of the late landlord Sean Gately. An early purchase was agreed with a property developer based on an understanding that the ground floor pub would be preserved as a going concern, with the upper floors renovated and converted to residential flats. However following the completion of the sale, a further party submitted new plans to redevelop the whole site into maisonettes and a new office, with the total loss of the pub. The departing family of the late landlord who have a strong attachment to both the pub and its customers then realised that they had been misled.
This news met an immediate response from the pub regulars who came together to create a dynamic and well-managed campaign group to save their local. The campaign committee quickly called a public meeting at a nearby church hall (above), attended by more than fifty interested people. This allowed a strategy to be developed calling on the resources available within those supporters who had joined the fight. Additional support came from North London CAMRA, and The London Pubs Group. The Pineapple campaign then rallied further support from London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and other notable public figures. Media interest was generated with main articles appearing in the London Evening Standard (13th December 2001), The Camden New Journal (13th December 2001), and on local radio.
Throughout early December each day became a race against time with the pub scheduled to finally close its doors on December 16th. However the first fruits of the protesters' efforts began to show when the full sanction of the mortgage to the new owners was delayed, when the pub was given a Grade II listed status by English Heritage. This action was the result of a submission by campaigners, which included a comprehensive set of specially commissioned professional photographs. A decision by the landlord's family then kept the pub open for a further three days as more beer had been delivered, and had to be drunk! This further raised the community spirit. The submission to English Heritage had revealed that the pub had a long and hidden history exhibiting many period features and had at one time been a butcher's shop with some fixtures still visible in the cellar today.
In advance of the final closure the campaign group organised an auction of all the removable wall mountings from the bar area. This raised £2000 for the fighting fund, with the intention that buyers keep the items in their own homes until the pub fully reopens, when they will once again be restored to the walls of the bar.
Whilst the pub remains shut (with a resident security guard) the campaign is stimulating the interest of local publicans and breweries for a potential resale and reopening as a public house early in 2002. The Pineapple is a superb example of the power of public protest and organised campaigning, when faced with the loss of both a public amenity and historical pub.
The Pineapple campaign group welcome support from all interested parties and can be contacted via the Full Pint, with further developments to be reported in the next issue. In the meantime, an information display will be available at London Drinker Beer Festival.
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 14.
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