The pub in 2021

AN 11-year-old child has written to Camden Council, pleading with it not to let a pub reopen.

The schoolboy said he would be woken up in the night and have his education disrupted if The Lord Southampton in Southampton Road, Maitland Park, was granted a licence. The pub was run as a hostel until its closure during the pandemic lockdown and was sold at auction last year.

Its new owners want to return it to its original guise – a backstreet community pub staying open until 12.30am on weekends.

The child’s letter told the Town Hall: “My bedroom faces the pub. I am really worried about the noise and whether I will be woken up in the middle of the night. As the pub would be able to stay open very late, this would make it extremely difficult to get to sleep because of the noise.

“Backing this up, a house near the pub had a party once and this caused loud music and conversations including all language to be heard by me. This made it very difficult to get to sleep at all, let alone at my bedtime.

“I would be very tired every night and I am very worried about what this would do to my sleep and my school work. Please, please do not let this hap- pen. Please stop me from being woken up.”

There have been other objections based on how the pub building was run when it was a hostel.

Another resident warned: “The elderly and families living in the area found it unsafe because of the late hours, drug-taking and pubgoers lingering and smoking outside even after the pub has closed.”

But others have welcomed the news that a much-loved Victorian pub could be reborn on a site where a pub has stood since 1752. The name dates back to the 1850s, when Lord Southampton was a landowner of Maitland Park. Philosopher Karl Marx used to pop in for a pint when he was liv- ing in Grafton Terrace.

Martha McGrath hosted the pub for 43 years until 2016 – and is believed to have been Camden’s longest-serving licensee.

With Catholic church St Dominic’s a stone’s throw from its doors, the Southampton was often used to celebrate baptisms, confirmations and marriages – also holding wakes.

It was also the haunt of celebrities from a generation of British stage actors who also made it in film – Pete Postlethwaite, Alan Rickman, Peter O’Toole and Bill Nighy were regulars.

Pub campaigners the Campaign for Real Ale told the Town Hall: “Our north London branch is writing in support of the licence application for the Lord Southampton pub.

The pub has been closed since January 2022 so we welcome the pub reopening. Pubs are important community meeting places and should be protected.”

The Met Police say they can support the application if a number of anti-crime and other measures are taken, including CCTV, limited numbers of customers allowed in an outdoor smoking area, and that closing times are capped at midnight at the weekends.