Picture of the interwar pub, the Carlton Tavern Maida Vale, before demolition.
Carlton Tavern, Maida Vale. Before demolition. © Historic England
Carlton Tavern, Maida Vale. Before demolition. © Historic England

Demolished Pub To Be Rebuilt

UPDATE 6 May 2015: A Westminster Council Committee has agreed that an enforcement notice will be served requiring the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale, London, to be rebuilt in facsimile.

The committee, who met last night, will issue an order to the developers who illegally and unexpectedly demolished the interwar pub on 8 April.

The Carlton Tavern, built in 1920-21 for Charrington & Co, probably by Frank J Potter, was an early inter-war pub, carefully detailed and built of good quality materials showing the vision of a leading London brewery.

It was laid out as an improved pub with a public bar, saloon, and unusually a luncheon and tea room. The site was remarkably well-preserved externally and internally, the rooms remained in the same positions and they still had the original fixtures, fittings and decorative treatments. All the external signage remained too.

Few pubs were built at this date and fewer survive unaltered. It also had great historical interest as an improved pub, illustrative of growing concern at raising the reputation of public houses, by providing family facilities and reducing drunkenness. We were very likely to recommend the site for listing at grade II, however this is not confirmation it would have been listed, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for deciding which sites are designated and at what grade.

The Carlton Tavern was one of several interwar pubs across the country which we are considering for listing. Look out for news on this later this summer.