Queens Head Chelsea Revealed as the Fourth Plinth!

Now darlings once you've finished writing your letter of support and popped your name on the petition...

Petition "The owners of the pub: Re-open Queens Head Chelsea"

Please sign our the petition "The owners of the pub: Re-open Queens Head Chelsea" and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.

Our goal is to reach 100 signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here:

https://www.change.org/p/the-owners-of-the-pub-re-open-queens-head-chelsea?recruiter=29754325&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

Thanks!

Save the

Following the example of the Black Cap Pub

https://www.change.org/p/the-new-owners-of-the-black-cap-reopen-the-black-cap/u/17384051?recruiter=59751825&utm_source=share_update&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive

A New offline Service called Pub to be introduced! Happy Friday!

What an idea, why has no one thought of this 😒😒😒 #dailymash #pub #saveourpubs #shant

A photo posted by Mark O'Regan (@markiovelli) on Jun 24, 2015 at 5:16am PDT

Campaigners hoping to save a pub that has served the gay community for more than 60 years have applied for it to be given protected status.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/plea-for-protected-status-in-battle-to-save-chelsea-gay-pub-frequented-by-stephen-fry-a3350076.html

Campaigners hoping to save a pub that has served the gay community for more than 60 years have applied for it to be given protected status. 

The Queen’s Head in Chelsea, whose regulars have included Stephen Fry and “Naked Civil Servant” Quentin Crisp, closed two weeks ago because of “astronomical” rent increases.

A pub has stood on the Tryon Street site, near King’s Road, for 176 years but campaigners fear it will now be turned into flats or reopen as a “bland, corporate, faceless” venue. Holly Johnson from Frankie Goes To Hollywood is among those backing calls for the pub to be reopened as a gay-friendly venue under the same name with its traditional drag and karaoke evenings. Read More

Our letters to the council opposing the closure of the Queens Head (7)

Our letters to the council opposing the closure of the Queens Head (6)

Queens Head History (1)

"The Queens head has always attracted a Bohemian crowd with its unique atmosphere and alternative entertainment at weekends. In the '60s, when Chelsea was "swinging", the pub was a magnet for local fashion and art personalities. Quentin Crisp drank here in the '70s and going back even further, it's rumoured that Oscar Wilde was a patron in the late 1880s! In his autobiography, national treasure Stephen Fry describes the place as a "very Chelsea gay pub".
The BBC's war correspondent John Simpson's great-great-grandfather was the landlord here in 1871; he dropped dead behind the bar after mistakenly drinking poison in the form of line-cleaning fluid. It's rumoured that his spirit continues to frequent the snug to this day..."

Our letters to the council opposing the closure of the Queens Head (5)

letters to the council opposing the closure of the Queens Head (4)

All you Single Ladies!

All the Single Ladies!

ACV Asset of Community Value is now live

Our application for the ACV Asset of Community Value is now live. Its important that we get this as it gives us some protection for the pub from developers. There is a link to add your comments. Please do this asap! Many Thanks! Click on the link below and add your comments!!!

https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/planning/searches/details.aspx?adv=0&simple=tryon+street&simpleBatch=20&simSubmit=Search&id=ACV/16/05879&cn=203664+Save+The+Queens+Head+Group+85+Marlborugh+61+Walton+Street+&type=application&tab=tabs-planning-1

Closing Time for Gay Pubs!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/04/closing-time-gay-pubs-lgbt-venues-property-prices

Closing time for gay pubs – a new victim of London’s soaring property prices

LGBT venues are being lost and with them gay and lesbian heritage, but do cultural shifts also play a part in this trend? READ MORE

Freddy's interview on an American Radio Station

Here's Freddy's interview on an American Radio Station:

One of London's oldest gay bars is pouring its last pint

PRI's The World

August 22, 2016 · 3:00 PM EDT

By Kierran Petersen

Click here Read More and listen to the interview!

Why is it important for the Queens head to have an ACV status?

This is why its really important to put as much detail in the comment section of our ACV application:

Despite recent changes to legislation which protect pubs listed as Assets of Community Value (ACV) by the local community under planning law, there is still more work to be done. 29 pubs are still closing each week, two of which are converted to supermarkets alone.

Pubs currently fall within the A4 planning use class which means that without ACV status, they can be converted to any of the use classes, or even demolished, without planning permission or any community consultation. These other uses include:

• A1: Shops which include retail warehouses, hairdressers, undertakers, travel and ticket agencies, Post Offices, pet shops, sandwich bars, showrooms, domestic hire shops, dry cleaners, funeral directors and internet cafes.
• A2: Financial and Professional Services such as banks and building societies, professional services, estate agencies, employment agencies and betting offices
• A3: Restaurants and Cafes for the sale of food and drink for consumption on the premises (restaurants, snack bars and cafes).
• B1: Business (temporarily for up to two years) which includes offices, R&D of products and processes and light industry appropriate in a residential area.
• Demolition: A developer can also demolish a pub without planning permission.

More info can be found on the CAMRA website at

http://www.camra.org.uk/pubs-matter1

Working with Interested Parties

letters to the council opposing the closure of the Queens Head (3)

This is good news but remember the freeholders didn't tell us anything of the sort, that the pub was going to be refurbished etc, before the pub closed and most people thought it was a done deal that it would be closed forever! Thank you for all your letters, the protests I think they have all have had an effect on the Freeholders and the fact that we are going for an Asset of Community Value. We need to be sure that our demands are addressed and that it is in fact a pub and not a winebar or restaurant! We will be meeting with the representatives of the freeholders next week. The list below is what we want from any future incarnation of the Queens Head!

• -The establishment should retain the name ‘Queens’ Head’
• -The establishment should keep the character and spirit of the Queens’ Head; it should remain an LGBT venue, and continue to include the type of entertainment which has always been on offer (including quiz nights, cabaret and drag events, and karaoke)
• --It should remain affordable and accessible to local residents and workers, including maintaining a good and reasonably priced menu
• -The facade should remain intact, including the original pub sign and golden bird figure on the exterior wall.The original fixtures and fittings should not be further destroyed, and the existing bar area and its ancillary areas should also remain intact
• -The pub should be reopened by Christmas 2016

Hope for Queen's Head regulars as freeholder says pub closure 'temporary'

See More...

Freddy's Speech at the last Karaoke

'Cool' London is dead, and the rich kids are to blame

The cool, creative class has been priced out of London, which means the capital is becoming more bland and boring by the minute, says Alex Proud... READ MORE

London Live News 5th September 2016

Our letters opposing the closure of the Queens Head (2)

Ken's Last Karaoke at The Queens Head Chelsea!

Our letters opposing the closure of the Queens Head (1)

A Polite Notice...

A Polite Message:
Happy Friday

Lost Pubs of SW3

All the closed pubs in SW3 and most have been chaged into flats for rich people or restaurants or expensive bars no one goes into...including The Queens Head which has only been closed for a week!.....
http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/london/sw3_chelsea.html

The Markham Arms was turned into a bank

DISAPEARING PUBS IN KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA ...

Here is a report on the disapearance of pubs by the Chelsea Society:

PUBS IN KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA This is a background document to provide the evidence base for a new planning policy for the Kensington and Chelsea Core Strategy. It provides evidence on: • the origins, growth and decline of pubs in Kensington and Chelsea • the growth of pubs and beer houses during the 19th century • the loss of pubs since 1900; and • an analysis of the losses and the escalating pressures for change of use, especially to housing, in the last ten years in the absence of a policy to resist the loss of pubs. The background includes details of the Chelsea Society’s 2005 Exhibition on the rise and fall of pubs in Chelsea and the detailed analysis of changes....

Read More:
https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/wamdocs/PUBS%20IN%20KENSINGTON%20AND%20CHELSEA%202012.pdf

Too Many pubs being turned into flats!

I passed the dear old Coach & Horses on Ray Street in Clerkenwell recently to discover it has closed, and very sadly planning has been submitted to convert this historic building into flats. The history surrounding this pub is fascinating. Deep within Dickens' Oliver Twist territory it is just around the corner from Fagin's lair on Turnmill Street. It stands adjacent to the former bear-baiting site of Hockley-in-the-Hole, where locals used to gather for raucous entertainment. Situated along the banks of the River Fleet (now Farringdon Road), the predecessor to this pub would have had a hatch at the rear for enacting a swift exit via the Fleet. The now subterranean water source can still be heard tinkling beneath a drain outside. #coachandhorses #clerkenwell #clerkenwellpub #saveourpubs

A photo posted by INDIA WRIGHT (@indiaswright) on Jun 21, 2016 at 12:07am PDT

A letter to the neighbours on behalf of the freeholders!

This is a letter that was sent in August to the people in the neighbouring streets by The Queens Head. There was nothing to warn the customers of the impending closure of the pub in under three weeks and we only heard by word of mouth three weeks ago. In the letter it does say that the community will be consulted, but how likely is that in the future when the pub regulars were not advised of it officially at all?
Cavendish PR Briefing

Goodnight Queens Head (For now) From all the Chelsea Quizzers!

Goodnight Queens Head (For now) From all the Chelsea Quizzers!

That's time at the bar folks....

"We've pulled our last pints, poured our last gin and tonic....
We've said a tearful "Good bye" to our last customers...
The lights are out, the doors are locked for the last time...
Me, Hadi and Michael are cashing up for the very last time...
We're now sitting with a final drink toasting all of our amazing friends in an empty, dark pub that will never be the same.
That's time at the bar folks, time at the bar....

http://metro.co.uk/2016/09/05/another-gay-bar-to-close-its-doors-after-making-one-final-stand-6110485/

Another gay bar to close its doors – after making one final stand.....

The bars, clubs or gay nights that have closed in London since 2000.

There’s big talk about the number of gay bars and clubs that have closed in recent years, using an old copy of Fluid magazine, (which no longer exist either) from 2001 we discover the bars, clubs or gay nights that have closed in London since 2000. Read more...