Castle keep - Westminster City Hall pays out £20,000 a year to stop Balmoral Castle pub from falling down
Published: 16 April 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM
COUNCIL finance bosses are shelling out more than £20,000 a year to keep a derelict pub in Pimlico closed.
City Hall is paying building contractors to keep the Balmoral Castle, on the Churchill Gardens Estate encased in scaffolding to keep it from collapsing.
Opposition leaders say City Hall are taking the “easiest and costliest do nothing” approach, rather than repair the building that has been empty since 2006.
According to the council’s property department “the building has been empty since the lease to Watney Truman Limited expired in 2006. The building is derelict, has structural problems and is being supported by scaffolding at a cost to the council of £20,400 per annum excluding VAT.”
The Balmoral Castle is a Victorian pub that has been identified as an “unlisted building of merit”.
Leader of the Labour group, Paul Dimoldenberg, said: “For the past four years, this pub has been empty and yet Westminster Conservatives have done nothing to repair it or find a new use for the building. The Conservatives have taken the easiest and costliest option of do nothing.”
Rosemary Westbrook, Westminster City Council’s director of housing, said: “The history of the site is that the company that used to run the pub decided to end its lease because they felt it was no longer a viable business. They then handed the lease back to the council.
“The building also has structural issues and that is why we have erected scaffolding around it to ensure it is safe and secure.
“Residents should be assured, however, that we want to resolve this situation and we will be working with them in the coming weeks.”