Battle to save the Acorn pub in Haggerston loses out to the wrecker’s ball

© NN — Dominator: as ever, the block on the pub site will be higher than its neighbours

THE ACORN, THE VICTORIAN PUB opposite Haggerston Park in south Hackney, is to be demolished.

Loving Dalston first alerted Hackneyites, in 2016, to the threat to this E2 8PB boozer, centre of a community in the housing estates near Queensbridge Road, and a campaign began to save it.

But a planning-appeal body has overruled Hackney council to allow a developer to demolish the 1866 building and replace it with nine flats. Paradoxically, the plans include a licensed basement venue, although it’s unlikely to be much like the Acorn that made the Cockney and other working-class locals feel so comfortable.

Acorn1016: Acorn pub Queensbridge and Whiston rds 281016 © DavidAltheer [at] gmail.com — Lovely ironwork that adorned the modest 1860s exterior

Lisa Shell, who chairs the Hackney Society, told Loving Dalston that despite efforts by Camra, the Hackney Society and Hackney council planning office, the Planning Inspectorate, a government body, upheld owner Macneil UB40’s appeal against the council’s refusal to replace the Acorn with a seven-floor building — plus a basement “drinking establishment”.

She said: “A recent submission to Hackney planning by the owner suggests that preparations are now under way to swing the wrecker’s ball at yet another historic Hackney pub.”

David Altheer 131118

* Backstory: Last-minute push to save pub for the people; Property investor silent on Acorn plans; Precious but little-known pub; London pubs in trouble

* All pictures on this page © DavidAltheer [at] gmail.com, and all for sale for reproduction. Most photographs are available in bigger formats.

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