Another Community Victory in the Borough of Barnet - The Hendon Midland Hotel has been granted an Asset Of Community Value renewal

From the Midland Hotel Community Group

Dear Supporters

UPDATE ON DECISION FOR ACV

This morning, Barry Rawlings, the leader of the Council, considered the ACV nomination and APPROVED the Midland Hotel Pub to be listed as an ASSET OF COMMUNITY VALUE.

This is very great news as it means the pub has a layer of protection from demolition and any changes of use that may reduce its community status.

We would like to thank each and every one of you who wrote in with evidence of personal or community use of the pub. 

WIthout this written evidence, the ACV nomination would have failed no matter how many say they would like the pub to stay.

We would also like to thank those who showed their support by signing the petition that was started by a local resident and those who lobbied their councillors and other local politicians.

The future: there might be an appeal by the owner against the ACV decision or planning applications if the owner does not sell the pub

We will continue to keep an eye out for any developments.

We hope we can count on you again should the needs arise.

Have a very good Christmas and New Year.

CHEERS 🍻🍻🍻

Dave Paterson

Midland Hotel Community Group

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The Barnet Eye has been a supporter of the groups since its inception, we are proud to be able to bring you this news and look forward to The False Dots playing at The Midland Hotel when the pub reopens.

In the meantime we are playing at The Dublin Castle on Saturday 23rd December and would live you to join us!  (click here for a ticket)

Here is a little video we prepared earlier

The Saturday List #425 - Ten Reasons why we need to Save The Midland Hotel in West Hendon

The Asset of Community Value(ACV) application for The Midland Hotel in Hendon is coming up for renewal. This gives the pub a degree of protection from the greedy developers, who are hell bent on removing every community space from the Borough of Barnet and London in general and replacing them with 'luxury flats', that never seem to end up housing anyone on the waiting list in the Borough of Barnet, but do line the pockets of the people who put them up. 

So why should everyone in the London Borough of Barnet support the proposal to renew the Midland Hotel ACV?

Here are ten reasons.

1. The case has already been made and proven. This was done in 2018, when the original ACV was granted for five years (the normal term of an ACV). The only thing that has changed is that, in anticipation of the expiration of the ACV, the developers who own the pub, got rid of the tenant and have closed the pub. They are hoping that this will undermine the case, but in fact it makes it stronger, as it means we can demonstrate that there is a large gap in the community for a pub/community space. 

2. The pub hosted many community events. These events are now homeless. One good example of this are the regular events The Barnet Eye blog would arrange at The Midland. We'd hold our community awards at the pub every December, this was last held in 2019. Sadly Covid and the owners intervened. Now we are homeless and have nowhere to do this. You may ask "What are the Barnet Eye Community Awards?" - We asked local people to nominate local people, campaigners and good people who deserve a shout out and a pint on us. We'd give them a certificate and they'd get a mention on the blog. The best thing of all, was that it gave nice, decent people a chance to get together and mingle. We devised it to build community and the Midland Hotel was the heart of the awards. Click here  to read about and watch the video from the last awards. 

3. The pub hosted many charity events, raising money for great causes. I attended many such events and even organised a few myself, for charities such as MacMillan Cancer relief. Charities rely on such events for funding and to do this, spaces are needed.

4. Local people need a space to chill out, relax and talk. If we want to build a sense of community, we need spaces for people want to get out, have a drink, a cheap bite to eat and a chat with friends. These friends becomes a mutual support network. Such things keep many of us sane and happy. 

5. There is no other convenient pub in the locality. I did a search on google for pubs in the locality, this is the map. It is extremely handy for people using Hendon station, who might want a drink or a sandwich after a stressful day at work. Before covid, over 1 million people a year were using the station, and numbers are creeping back up to those levels. It is a busy location, but there is literally nothing else in the area for locals and commuters passing through. I am amazed that the developers could not see the potential for doing more with the pub as a pub.  For commuters arriving on a train, when their bus is not coming for a while, the pub also provides a handy refuge. 

6. With the closure of the Midland, the west of Barnet Borough has no music pubs. My band has played at the Midland Hotel numerous times, usually at least 3-4 times a year. We'd always put on two or three other bands with us, often young artists, giving them vital live experience. Music contributes 4-5 Billion a year to the UK economy. It would contribute nothing without artists starting off at such grassroots venues, that is why we need to protect assets of community value. My band has been playing regularly in Camden Town at The Dublin Castle since the pandemic. That is the nearest music pub accessible by the Northern Line Edgware Branch. Barnet is the mopst populous Borough in London. They are bidding for the London Borough of Culture. To my mind this is ridiculous, if they can't even protect the one music pub on the western side of the Borough. In 2015, this blog launched the Barnet  Save London Music Campaign at the Midland, specifically to stop music pubs from closing. 

7. A society that doesn't value community is a society that will fail. We need to build bridges in our community. Not everyone goes to pubs, but for some they are the absolute centre of their life. The best pubs are local pubs, where you will know a few people and have someone to chat to when you are feeling down. They are open every day of the year. For some people, in these desperate times, they will go into a pub and have a half just to warm up and see a friendly face. In times where many cannot afford to pay for heating and are stuck on their own, is it too much to give them a bit of respite from this, without walking miles in the rain? Pubs are communities and the people in them look out for each other.

8. Pubs provide employment opportunities and economic activities. Working in a bar is a very transportable skill. For many teenagers, doing a few shifts in a pub is a great way to legally earn some money. Pubs also employ cleaners, chefs and require maintenance that also keeps people in work. They support the local business community. Many commercial deals are done in pubs, staff have events and drinks etc.

9. People need spaces for Funerals, Weddings and other events. On several occasions, my band would turn up to the Midland Hotel to perform gigs, to find that there was a wake in full swing in the pub. Local people saying adios to friends, in the manner they lived their lives. This is absolutely key. Both our drummer Graham and myself had our 50th Birthday parties at the pub. I would have had my 60th there, had it been open. I had it at the Bohemia in Finchley instead, that is a great example of what the Midland should be with committed owners.

10. Well situated local pubs are good for the environment. Barnet Council should be actively encouraging anything which puts facilities as close to people as possible. If there is a good pub at the end of your road, you won't get in your car. The Railway Hotel is in a brilliant location, being next to the rail station and next to a bus stop. It is less than 20 minutes from central London. One of the reason I've promoted dozens of gigs at the pub is because people can easily get to it. Our band had built a good following in Hendon on the back of local gigs there. 

So what can you do to help? The answer is simple.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION TO RENEW THE ACV

Yesterday, my band launched our Xmas single. It is fair to say that the band wouldn't exist without the Midland Hotel and other such grassroots pubs. My band is playing next Saturday 23rd December in the Dublin Castle in Camden, another great music pub (click here for a ticket). I love the Dublin Castle, but we need such venues in our own Borough. Please check out our new video, sadly, we won't be playing this in Hendon this December, as there are no venues.

Update from the Save The Hendon Midland Hotel campaign

Two weeks ago we sent out the developers' leaflet " New Homes and a Secure Feature for The Midland Hotel" to all our friends and supporters in Barnet and beyond, inviting their comments and opinions. 

Clearly, different people have different views, which we readily acknowledge, so it has been our task to collate a consensus opinion from the feedback.  

To further that aim, we attach new developers' architectural drawings sent recently to us. 

Please feel free to send us any comments and observations on these more detailed plans for the pub and the accommodation blocks B and C.

Our current position is:

Click image for more readable view

* Car Parking. 

There are currently twelve car parking spaces within the boundary of the site; the new plan allows for three, limiting the pub's operational flexibility and making it less attractive as a destination/live-music venue.That is unacceptable to us.

* Construction of an upstairs outdoor terrace to replace the current ground floor facility. 

We ask what specific need this new terrace satisfies, given there is a serviceable and popular beer-garden/patio in situ on the ground floor, and we point out that upstairs terraces bring many problems of their own: accessibility for wheelchair users, the infirm and aged, and problems for nearby residents - noise, overshadowing, loss of light and privacy.  

 

Click image for more readable view

* Schedule of Works. 

On this issue, which contains some of the most worrying aspects of the new plan, we have no information so far. 

We do not know if the developers intend to close the pub, and if so, when and for how long. Nor do we  know what will happen to the existing licensee, long-term residents and existing staff members in such circumstances.  

The lack of detail at this point in the consultation process is unacceptable. Further, we are well aware that once planning consent has been given, local councils have no control of the timescale in which a closed pub is reopened - evidence The Carlton Tavern, Maida Vale, closed this last five years; The Olde White Bear, Hampstead, bar closed for six years; The Railway Hotel, Edgware (Barnet) closed for an extraordinary twelve years. 

Unsurprisingly, we are wary of falling into such a predicament ourselves. We must be careful not to blunder into trading away what we have today in exchange for unenforceable promises of jam tomorrow.

These concerns have been put to the developers' agents this week, and we await their reply.

Our Asset of Community Value (ACV) listing and our subsequent Local heritage listing are the yardsticks by which we must measure any new proposals for the site, ensuring that they are in the best long term interest of the pub and the local community. 

Our feeling is that the new proposals fall short of meeting those objectives. 

We are against any large-scale construction work on the pub which might change the intrinsic character of this fine old Victorian building, the oldest in the area; 

we oppose the unnecessary loss of nine car parking spaces and the loss of the existing beer-garden/patio, both important components of our ACV listing, which Barnet themselves have recognised.  

We will keep you posted on developments as they unfold. 

In the meantime, please continue to send us your opinions, comments and questions via mhhendon@gmail.com 

As said before, it is important to gather as much consensus as possible to what residents and patrons feel about the future of the pub and the site.

Dave Paterson 

MHCG 

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The Barnet Eye blog fully supports the aims of the campaign to retain this vital community asset.

Urgent update from the Save The Midland Hotel in Hendon Campaign - Guest blog by Dave Paterson

I’m writing this blog regarding a serious turn of events. The owners, EEH Estates Ltd, recently met with the licensee, John Teahan, to demand a punitive and astonishing rent rise of c.£8,000 a month. This ridiculous figure bears no relation to trading conditions in this corner of the borough, nor the ability of The Midland Hotel to service such a debt. The owners provided no evidence in support of their figure - local market conditions, site barrelage, turnover, or a shadow profit and loss account, so we must conclude that this punitive demand is an arbitrary figure plucked out of the ether, a figure primarily designed to intimidate.

Given that the owners first plan for the Midland was its demolition - which we successfully thwarted last year - and that our last meeting with them was taken up with similar discussions, it is fanciful to imagine that EEH has any long-term ambitions to run a successful hospitality retail business on this site. In which case, we can view this outrageous and unsustainable rent demand as a crude device to get rid of the licensee - and you need to know that this is indeed the case. 

This morning John received a letter from an  "In House Legal Council” for EEH Ventures, dated 8th November, informing him : “there shall be a rent increase to the total amount of £10,000 per month” and “look forward to hearing from you within seven days of the date of this letter”. That’s to say, by Friday.

Though not put in writing, John has been told that he will be evicted unless he agrees to this piracy! Like any shop-owner, EEH Estates Ltd have the right to board-up the site and cease trading anytime they choose.

Be that as it may, whatever EEH intends to do with the Midland will require planning permission at some point, and that will be the time and place for the MHCG, customers, supporters and local residents alike to take a stand. Having thwarted their plans once, there is no reason why we would not be able to do so again - in fact, with our Asset of Community Value listing in place, I’d say our case is even stronger today than it was.

On a note of interest to the wider community, EEH has also made it clear that if they don’t get what they want with The Midland they can “just walk away.”  I know that many of you would consider that to be no bad thing indeed.  It’s quite clear, beyond doubt, that The Midland Hotel stands in the way of the owners' designs. 

So please get behind us. It’s time to save The Midland once again.

Dave Paterson

Midland Hotel Community Group

Click here to register your support with the MHCG

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Editors comment.

As regular readers will know John and the Midland have been great supporters of the Barnet Eye. It is the venue for our annual community awards this year (assuming it is still open). John has given many artists a chance to perform over the years. It is vital that we do everything we can as a community to support the venue and all of our other local venues. The local councillors and our local MP must get involved as a matter of urgency to ensure that the owners know the importance to the community of the Midland Hotel. 

Rog.

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Please join us on Friday 13th December at 8pm at The Midland Hotel, Hendon, for the Barnet Eye Community awards and annual Xmas party. We are also looking for nominations for our community awards, click here for details. Free admission