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Abstract

A community pub stands boarded up as a property developer prepares­ to turn the upper floors into private flats, leaving regulars fearing that it will never be the same again.

The Carpenters Arms, better known as “The Carps”, has been shut by developer Mendoza, which says it wants the building to “reflect the new affluence” of King’s Cross.

The changes at the King’s Cross Road pub – the childhood home of actress Sheila Hancock – are going ahead despite it being listed as an asset of community value (ACV), supposedly a layer of extra protection against sales and development.

Regular Liz Bond said: “Us ordinary people with principles and morals don’t want a wine bar or a gastro-pub. We just want some tradition, and it’s not only us. It’s also the many tourists and business people who have always commented on how much they appreciate The Carpenters.

“We’d like our voice to be heard. We say bring back our Carps. It’s not the same street without it.”

The 170-year-old build­ing was bought by Mendoza in 2014. It plans to divide the upstairs into three flats, having won approval after a planning battle, but because the building has been “listed” as an ACV it has been forced to keep a pub on the ground floor. It is unclear what will open on the ground floor when refurbishment is finished but customers fear the pub will no longer be as it was, a key venue for darts leagues and a meeting point for customers priced out of the more expensive wine bars that have moved into redeveloped King’s Cross.

Jacqueline Pursey, who lives nearby, said: “It’s really taken the heart out of Frederick Street. It kind of lit up the corner. It was a real community pub.

“King’s Cross hasn’t always had such a nice reputation. It’s not like you could go in any pub round there. But you could go into that pub. You could join in the conversation, chatting at the bar, or you could sit on your own and read a book.

“I haven’t been going out so much. Every time I walk past I just keep crying.”

Landlord Dave Wheeler ran the pub for more than 25 years after taking over the local near where he grew up.

Mr Wheeler, who is staying with a friend and is registered homeless, said: “I’m very angry. I’m sad for the pub and for the people who went there. They are genuinely lovely people.

“I will miss that pub. It was always a good local pub for local people. It’s a shame. And all to build flats no one can afford.”

Mendoza could not be reached this week but agents acting on behalf of the company told Camden Council planners that the changes at the pub reflected the changing nature of King’s Cross.

They added: “Public houses are changing to reflect this new affluence. The Carpenters Arms with its extensive ancillary upper floors, large areas of which are unused, represents a mix which no longer reflects today’s needs. On the contrary, many public houses function successfully on the ground and basement only with a small kitchen, with the upper floors converted to provide much-needed independent residential accommodation or offices.”


Actress Sheila ­Hancock has fondly recalled her childhood years spent in the ­Carpenters Arms, where her father once ran the pub.

The 82-year-old, Rada-trained actress, who made her television break in the 1960s in the sitcom, The Rag Trade, and went on to star in some of the nation’s favourite programmes, including EastEnders and Doctor Who, recently said she had gone back to visit and not much had changed. In her book, The Two Of Us, about her marriage to Inspector Morse star John Thaw, she devotes passages to her family’s time at the Carpenters Arms, describing how her mother played the piano there and her father sang The Road To Mandalay.

“The whole place rattled as trains passed the backyard. Sleep was not easy. I was often still awake when Dad shouted: ‘Time, gentlemen, please’,” she wrote.

In an article for property title The ­London Magazine, she recalled it as “a jolly place”, adding: “Recently I was in the area and went to have a look at the pub. Surprisingly, it didn’t actually look that different inside.”