The pub trade in a part of east London was set to receive a boost ten years ago this week.
Walthamstow is to experience a pubs boom this autumn when three revitalised premises open their doors.
Concern had been raised about the future of pubs in the area when Chequers, the last venue left in the High Street, closed down earlier this summer.
But up-market London chain Antic Ltd, which boosted Leytonstone by refurbishing and reopening the Red Lion last year, confirmed to the Guardian it has taken over the building and hopes to begin trading by the end of September.
Meanwhile former Antic staff have acquired the lease on the recently-closed Bell pub on the corner of Forest Road and Chingford Road, and expect to reopen it within weeks after an extensive refurbishment.
And workmen are also busy renovating the Cock pub in Walthamstow High Street ready for its rebirth later this year.
Antic operations director Max Alderman said the Red Lion, which recently won the Campaign for Real Ale’s East London Pub of the Year award, had been a huge success and said he believed there was a growing thirst for such pubs in Waltham Forest.
He also confirmed that Antic wants to make its temporary Leyton Technical Olympics ‘pop-up’ pub permanent, with the firm currently in negotiations with the council over the plans.
He said: “We had people advising us not to move into Leytonstone because they thought there was nothing there – but that’s precisely why we wanted to do it.
“We’ve found that London is moving east and there’s lots of nice people in places like Walthamstow and Leytonstone but they had nowhere to go.
“It’s been a case of ‘if you build it they will come’ for us.
“You’ve also got the Bell reopening with one of our former managers. I hope we can compliment each other and I wish them well”.
Mr Alderman said refurbishment works on the Chequers would begin next week and that the ‘feel’ of it would be similar to the Red Lion, serving gastro-pub homemade food and a selection of real ales.
Louisa Potter has taken over the lease of the Bell with her husband, who ran Antic’s White Hart pub in Stoke Newington for ten years.
She said: “Just personally I’ve known half a dozen people who have moved out of Stoke Newington to Walthamstow in the last few years.
“People are getting priced out of the market there and Walthamstow’s got a growing reputation.
“The support we’ve had so far has been fantastic – the people of Walthamstow are amazing”.
She added that the pub would also focus on food, real ale and live music.
The Guardian was unable to reach anyone from The Cock for comment.
https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/20900967.three-revitalised-pubs-set-open-walthamstow/
