Last orders for the traditional boozer?

nlnews@archant.co.uk
22 August 2007

TRADITIONAL pub fan Grenville Ignatius at the Hope & Anchor Picture: Dieter Perry

AH, THE enduring image of the London boozer!

A fine range of ales, dishes full of peanuts on the bar and a warm, smoky welcome.

However rose-tinted the vision, the reality may soon be history

in these parts as pubs are left to rot, demolished or converted into flats and lavish restaurants - with faithful locals left to search for the next nearest drinking hole they can afford.

More than 500 pubs in the capital have been lost in the last three years alone - 89 demolished, 170 converted to flats or shops and 251 closed and awaiting their fate, according to figures from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

A survey of pubs in Haringey confirms the news.

The problems are two-fold. Rising property prices in Crouch End, Highgate, Hornsey and Muswell Hill means publicans are appealing more to affluent families and professionals than their traditional audience.

In Tottenham and Wood Green, the list of pub closures is huge and growing.

The Suffolk Punch in Green Lanes, The Botany Bay in Philip Lane, The Duke Of Cambridge

at the Great Cambridge Roundabout, The Prince Of Wales in Scotland Green, The Plough in Bruce Grove and The Red Lion in Tottenham High Road have all gone.

The Bull and The Rose & Crown, both in Tottenham High Road, have been turned into flats, while The Narrow Boat in Reedham Close, Tottenham Hale, also faces demolition.

"It's a constant battle," said Keith Flett, a Tottenham resident who contributes to CAMRA's pub database. "Who knows where we are going to be in 10 years.

"A lot of people drink at home now. You have got TV, DVD, cable and the web, and beer is so cheap in supermarkets.

"The problem was that only a certain niche used to go into those pubs, and now the clientele has changed.

"I do think the gastro thing is very mixed. If it's largely being operated as a restaurant then the pub is lost, but if it's still selling beer and has a beer garden then it's not."

For other drinkers it's not so clear cut what a traditional boozer even consists of, what with the smoking ban and influx of pool tables, slot machines, satellite TVs and music changing the atmosphere completely.

Grenville Ignatius, who cam-paigned against the refurbishment of The Queen's in Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, and now drinks up the road at the Hope & Anchor, Hornsey, said: "You find quite a lot in the Hope & Anchor. It's a traditional pub - the menu has the landlady's special.

"But everything is being moved over to the pub companies and breweries which invest a lot more in the kitchen, and drinks are playing second fiddle.

"The tradition of people coming out for a drink after work has died out.

"Pubs are changing and the people are adapting. They tend to be expensive and it's driving people to the supermarket.

"It's also about the older generation moving out, and the house prices are creating a new trend of people coming in."

But it's not all doom and gloom - perhaps the pub industry will split in two, some chasing the "gastro pound", others championing themselves as "community pubs".

"There will be a future," added Mr Ignatius, "provided you have got the people running them who are running them now. While you have got live music and live football and quizzes the demand will stay. There's life in the old dog yet!"

Indeed, one Crouch End institution, hidden among the trendy bars, has probably the cheapest beer in the borough.

With a warm welcome and traditional surroundings, the canny pub-lover should see the Hornsey British Legion Club in Elder Avenue as one of their last traditional drinking outposts - and at £2 for a pint of Stella Artois, it's a bargain. Cheers!