London mayor Boris Johnson has agreed to take steps to protect pubs in the capital from demolition or conversion by listing them as “communtiy assets”.
According to The Standard, Johnson told Conservative members of the London Assembly that he would include a specific protection for community pubs that would mean the onus to protect the premises would lie with borough planning departments rather than the local community, as is currently the case.
Quoted in The Standard, Conservative Assembly member Steve O’Connell said: “Good pubs are an asset to London’s communities. They deserve to be mentioned specifically in the Mayor’s forthcoming planning guidance to borough councils — at the moment they are covered as a broad generalisation.
“Unfortunately, a high number of these pubs are demolished or converted to other uses such as residential and retail services which radically alter community spaces and change the tone of the high street.”
The newspapers reports that 1,300 pubs have been losgt in London in the past 10 years.
