Notices have gone up on a demolished pub in Kilburn signalling a long-awaited start to rebuild it ‘brick by brick’.
Israeli developers CLTX have put in an application start work on The Carlton Tavern in Carlton Vale which they illegally reduced to rubble in April 2015.
Surveys are currently being carried out at the site to assess how the building should be rebuilt.
Rubble and materials around the base of the building have been left unmoved since the injunction was served in July 2015, which will now be sorted.
Tom Crockett, conservative representative for Maida Vale, said: “It’s all baby steps at the moment. The applicants have applied to deal with trees at the back of the property and taking substantial steps to rebuild the site.
“There’s been a lot of scepticism around the Carlton, with people saying it’s all going to be for nothing and the developers won’t comply with it so hopefully it will be good to see.
“It’s a big job, they have to match materials like for like, some of what they salvage will be quite rare. They have 24 months to apply which is a fair amount of time for them to get on and do it.
I’d like to think it will become a more viable pub as a result as its got its own celebrity status now.”
Rob Cope of Friends of Carlton Tavern: “We are delighted that the rebuilding work is about to start. We look forward to seeing our beloved pub restored, stage by stage. We trust the work will be done sensitively and that the local community will be involved in the pub’s rebirth”.
The pub, which dates back to 1920, was knocked down with all its contents inside, shortly before it was due to be given a Grade II listing by Historic England.
CLTX, based in Tel Aviv and owned by Ori Calif, called in bulldozers after their application for planning permission in January 2015 to replace the pub with a bar and block of flats, was rejected by the council.
In events that stunned the community, CLTX put in an appeal against their rejected planning application two weeks after reducing the Victorian pub to rubble and insisting it be heard in secret, by written representation.
The council then slapped CLTX with an enforcement order to rebuild the pub ‘brick by brick’.
It was heard by public inquiry in May 2016 who ruled it must be rebuilt “in facsimile”.
Cllr Daniel Astaire, Westminster Council cabinet member for planning and public Realm, said: “The council has stood side by side with residents to demand that the Carlton Tavern should be rebuilt brick by brick.” “This is another important step in the process and we are pleased that the developers are undertaking surveys ahead of starting construction.
“We look forward to seeing the Carlton Tavern being restored as the beating heart of the community.”
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