Our Objection to the Planning Application

I write on behalf of all our members who signed the petition for the Bailey to be listed as an Asset of Community Value.

The Bailey is now listed as an ACV, and, as such, should remain a pub. It has been an asset to our community for over 160 years, and if this planning application is approved, it will be lost as a community asset. It is a lovely, airy space, built for public use and interaction. As a pub, it enhances the wellbeing of our local community, and is a place you can casually meet friends for a quick drink, spend the evening reminiscing, hold work meetings, celebrate birthdays, take part in quizzes or pool tournaments, watch football with mates, meet new people, put the world to rights, or just have a laugh.

If this application is granted, it will no longer be a place you can mingle with anyone and have a quick half a shandy for £2 - it will be a restaurant for the well-off, where you have to have a sit-down meal with only your own acquaintances and have to spend considerably more money.

Furthermore, if the planning is approved, it will be lost as a pub for our community FOREVER. Once the above floors are flats, a future change of use back to A4 simply won't be feasible, due to objections over noise etc. Also, the upper floors of the pub have significant importance to the life and viability of a public house - in many cases they are used for accommodation for bar staff - bar staff who are often on very low wages and can't afford expensive rents elsewhere. In other pubs around Islington, parts of the upper floors are used as theatre spaces - The Kings Head and Hope and Anchor on Upper St, the Hen and Chickens on Highbury Corner. In other cases pubs successfully run additional bar or restaurant areas upstairs.

In fact, just look for example at the Old Kings Head on Holloway Road – now a Costa, and the Osborne Tavern on Stroud Green Road – now a Nandos – will these ever be recovered by their communities as public spaces? Hardly likely.

Finally, is there not enough A3 space as it is in the area? I’m sure you have the figures, but there is clearly an abundance of A3 commercial premises in the borough, and there is no need for any more.

Please listen to your community. What’s more important? The needs of local people, or the profits of the owners who probably have no interest in the local commuity – Manica Properties, registered in the Isle of Man!?