Montague Arms news - is it to rise again

 

The Rise and Fall of The Montague Arms – By Kevin Mullan ©July 2022

 

The Montague Arms is to rise again! I say ‘rise’, but the truth is somewhat more complicated. This May (2022), a second planning application was submitted to Lewisham Council by CMT Construction. The first – a proposal to completely demolish the existing building and build flats, with a token small ground-floor premise to accommodate the provision to maintain an A4-Class element (i.e. a licensed establishment) – was withdrawn in 2021 after much opposition, including from local councillors. Having taken the time to register local residents’ objections to the lack of a realistic public bar and live music space for the community, the developers have come back with a plan that they hope is more amicable.

 Now, the proposal is to retain the core building and extend the property. Additional rooms will be constructed upstairs, lengthening the existing storeys. The flat-roof area, that once housed the Mont’s famous stage back in the glory days, will be incorporated into a new two-storey residential block. The rest of the ground floor will remain as a fulfilment of the A4 stipulation, but obviously that means a much-reduced pub area. So what about any capacity for live music events, I hear you ask? That’s where it gets interesting.

The Monty is not so much rising as falling. Under the new application, the cellar is to be dug out to create a subterranean gig space with appropriate headroom for audiences and performers alike. The space will extend under the whole of the existing property. It will host underground music – in a very literal sense! This works for the developers in a two-fold way: those who were concerned about the previous disregard for a viable pub/music venue are perhaps now more likely to be placated; new residents in the redeveloped ground floor and upstairs, plus those who live in close proximity to the pub, will be insulated from performance noise due to the underfloor location.

 The question now is how, in reality, do local residents feel about the revised plans? Are they appeased? On 17^th July, a meeting of local residents was called by a young local couple, James and Agatha, who posted flyers in letterboxes along Queens Road and knocked on residents’ doors in an attempt to mobilise and canvass local opinion. Under the heading ‘Would you like to save the Montague Arms together? Let’s do it!’, the flyer invited residents to gather outside the pub to discuss ‘…ideas for the space and to start actions towards reclaiming it!’

 

Curious to find out who and how many would attend and what the local sentiment was, I strolled up to the premises at the meeting time of 2pm on a roasting hot Sunday afternoon. I was fearful that the extreme weather would drastically affect turnout, but gradually more and more people joined along the Kender Street side until there were approximately 14 of us; a diverse group in terms of age, sex and race with a surprise guest, Martin, who older readers may remember from the days when Peter Hoyle was the pub’s owner (think stuffed zebras, a horse carriage and various nautical artefacts).

 I soon established that James and Agatha were the organisers of the rather anonymous group, themselvesonline, that had printed and distributed the flyers. I introduced myself as a member of a small group of local residents, self-styled as the Montague Arms Restoration Society (MARS). Our activities had been limited to keeping an eye on planning applications and research into ownership. The pub was not up for sale or lease and, as the first application had actually proposed full-scale demolition, any ideas that the MARS group had along the lines of raising money towards a community-owned leasehold had long ago been written off by us all as being pipe dreams.

 While congratulating James and Agatha on their proactive work in mobilising the natives, I discovered that not only had they put flyers in local doors, they had also pinned meeting notices to the boards on the Montague’s windows. Disturbingly, these had been removed and replaced by laminated posters from the developers. In an attempt to defuse hostility and combat misunderstanding ahead of the gathering, the posters stated in block capitals ‘WE ARE NOT DEMOLISHING THE MONTAGUE ARMS’ followed by a series of bulleted messages summarising the developers’ new plans, including, as the third bullet, ‘The entertainment space is moving to the basement where noise can be better contained.’

 

This seemed to me like an aggressive-defensive move by the developers. Not all former frequenters of the pub live along Queens Road, myself included, and it was by sheer luck that a friend who had received a flyer alerted MARS to the planned discussion. Attendance was no doubt affected both by the weather and the ignorance caused by the tearing down of publicly visible notices. Were the owners in fear of us? Well, we were soon to find out.

 Suddenly, as we were all busy introducing ourselves to each other and reminiscing about good old times, a tall man appeared and announced that he was the owners’ representative, Eddie, and that he “looks after” the property. He reiterated the message on the posters: there are no plans to demolish the pub, any suggestions or rumours to the contrary were – in his words – “fake news”. He claimed the intentions are to renovate, build an extension and allow for a lease on the pub and cellar space. Apparently, he understands about commercial viability as he has “a meze restaurant in Clapham”.

 Eddie explained to us that the building needs urgent work, that the interior is in a state of disrepair and decay and that any further hold-ups to the application could prove costly. The Council was already dragging its heels and, with emphasis, he added that local objections would make things worse. Then, to our enormous surprise, he produced a bunch of keys and said “Come, I will show you inside.”

 What could we do, but file inside in a single line through the residents’ door entrance? Once inside, we were met with cobblestones and the old fireplace – hidden from public view ever since a recent owner built a new partition. The musty smell of a building that has been missing the presence of humans regularly opening and closing doors and windows wafted up our nostrils. “Be careful!” warned Eddie. We followed him up the uncarpeted staircase.

 It became apparent that the whole of the upstairs had been stripped of carpets, wallpaper and furniture. The communal kitchen was an empty space, as were the bedrooms. Everything looked like an attempt had been made to start an upgrade from scratch, but that work had been abandoned before any improvements could be made. “As you can see, the place is unfit for human habitation,” said Eddie. It was difficult to disagree.

We moved back downstairs, onwards to the ground floor and into what used to be the bar area. In rather messy surroundings, it was hard to recognise it as the place in which I have both enjoyed and endured music of all types and styles over several pints. The bar was minus its copper sheeting panels; the spirit shelves had lost their mirrors; the raised seating area no longer had its benches; the antique ceiling fans that kept punters cool on stuffy summer nights were nowhere to be seen.

Once again, Eddie pointed out that much work needs to be done and illustrated where the new end wall to the pub would be by standing close to the main entrance doors and spreading out his arms. At one point he gazed upwards and exclaimed “There are holes in the roof!” One of the group attendees retorted “Yes, mate. Those holes are where the fan system was screwed in!” The cellar was not included as part of the show.

Following the tour, the residents filed back outside and reconvened to share their thoughts. I think it’s fair to say that opinion was divided. There were those who couldn’t contemplate anything other than a return of the ground-floor stage and even the fan system – the idealists – and those who accepted that the new application is probably the best we can hope for, all things considered – the realists.

Personally, like one of my fellow MARS members in attendance, I fall into the latter category. It’s not what we dreamed about, but it’s the only offer in town for a return to a pub and live music venue. My concern is that the basement space will, by necessity, have to include room for the pub’s beer cellar and toilets – what impact will that have on the entertainment space and maximum audience capacity? There are yet-to-be-resolved issues, relating to disabled access and Health & Safety inspection. Also, will the asking price for a lease be set at a realistic level?

It’s likely to be several years before we know all of the answers to the above questions – that’s if Lewisham Council Planning Committee approve the development, of course.