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Abstract

Pub campaigners have been cautiously celebrating after a planning inspector threw out the latest bid to turn part of the Admiral Mann pub into flats following a two-year battle.

The pub, off Brecknock Road – once a secret haunt of Arsenal’s 1971 double winners including Cup Final goalscorer Charlie George – was closed in 2014 despite a campaign by regulars from Kentish Town and Holloway to save it.

Owner Woodham Properties, which has put the pub on the market, challenged Camden Council’s rejection of its plans to redevelop the Admiral Mann and an adjacent building and build six flats. The developer later appealed.

However, following a public inquiry which saw Woodham Properties and its architects go up against planning chiefs, residents, councillors and leading figures from the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), government planning inspector And­rew Owen has ruled that planners were right to reject the scheme.

Mr Owen threw out the appeal because of a number of concerns, including fears over how the development would affect the historic character of the locally-listed pub and adjacent building, construction noise and the small size of one of the flats.

Woodham’s plans would have seen the pub retained but Save the Admiral Mann campaigners, who secured an asset of community value (ACV) listing for the pub, argued that it would be too small and the flats would make it “unfeasible”. Mr Owen agreed with them.

Welcoming the decision, Richard Lewis, chairman of the Save the Admiral Mann committee and a Camra member, said: “This campaign has been a bit like climbing a hill. We are not at the top yet. But I feel like we’ve reached a turning point. I would not go as far as saying we’ve won but it’s looking good.

“We are now taking stock of where we are, but understand the property developer is in a difficult position having had a number of successive plans rejected or withdrawn.

“We look forward to working towards an amicable solution, where the pub can be reopened and once again serve the people of Holloway and Kentish Town as it did previously since the Victorian era until 2014.”

He added: “We are part of a nationwide movement that is fighting back against pub closures at a grassroots level and hopefully this will make developers think. They can’t just close pubs.”

The campaigners believe Woodham Properties could come back with a new planning application. However, the ruling that the main building must be used as a pub with accommodation for the person who runs it will undoubtedly affect its value.

The developer could not be reached for comment.