Ed Miliband shares locals’ concerns over plans for Dartmouth Arms

Published: 24th March, 2011
by DAN CARRIER

ED Miliband has called on his local pub to be preserved after regulars raised the alarm over a planning application.

The Labour Party leader said the Dartmouth Arms should stay as it is.

He spoke to the New Journal as a “Save The Dartmouth Arms’ Facebook group went online and customers shared worries about plans to alter the building in York Rise.

Landlords the Faucet Inn Limited, who bought the pub last year, have asked Camden Council for permission to convert the upstairs rooms into flats.

The company insists the bar will be retained but regulars fear the move could ultimately lead to them losing their favourite watering hole.

Staff currently live in upstairs, helping cut wage costs. The kitchen for the dining area is also on the first floor. 

Those rooms will disappear under the plans and the dining room will also lose space as a new staircase is carved into the building to provide access.

Mr Miliband said: “The Dartmouth is a really great local pub, so obviously I hope that any new development doesn’t do anything to ruin its character, or put it at risk.”

The Facebook group has been swamped with concerned voices – in just three days it has more than 300 members – and Highgate ward councillors, the Green Party’s Maya De Souza and Labour’s Michael Nicolaides and Valerie Leach, have all written to the council to object. A petition against the scheme is also being spread

Actor Neil Stuke, who starred in popular BBC sitcom Game On and is currently to be seen in the drama series Silk, said the plans had to be fought to ensure the pub remained a going concern.

He said: “I am very concerned about the long-term plans for the Dartmouth. 

“Who wants to buy a flat above a pub? We must save our local.”

Fellow thespians Damien Lewis, from Band of Brothers, and Andrew Lincoln – Egg from This Life – have also added their voices against the plans. 

Regular Anna Kusner said: “The Dartmouth is the hub of our community – it makes our area feel like a village. People from all walks of life come in. 

“It shows what a diverse city we live in. We worry if these 

plans go ahead in their current guise they will eventually say the pub is no longer viable as a going concern and will try to turn the whole building into flats.”

Karen Emanuel, who lives next door, said: “This application not only looks likely to threaten a much-loved pub, it has been done without any notification to those it will affect. 

“The new extension will take away sunlight from surrounding gardens. It will also mean the loss of a dining area and a kitchen.”

But the pub company say they have no plans to close the pub for good and are dedicated to running the Dartmouth as a good local. 

Faucet Inn’s commercial and finance director Geoff Newton told the New Journal: “I can categorically say we have no intention of closing the pub. 

“We bought the pub a year ago and we have absolutely no intention to convert the whole building into flats. “All we have done was put in a planning application to develop the upstairs. 

“At the moment there is fairly basic accommodation and we simply want to convert that into flats.”

He added that the company had done a similar scheme at other pubs they owned – but they were in the business of selling beer, not building houses. 

He added: “It will not affect the pub’s operations in any way. First and foremost we are a pub company. 

“We bought it because it is a great community pub and we are very proud of it. 

“The Dartmouth is an integral part of our business and we are looking to grow and improve the food we can offer. 

“We want to basically invest back into the fabric of the pub.” 

Staff at the pub said there were plans for a new kitchen in the cellar.