Chelsea Society have had another visit to The Queens Head Pub

Sneak Peak from Chelsea Society Website: We're not happy with this, are you? In our meeting with the owners there was no mention of a restaurant!

We Want OUR PUB BACK! The Chelsea society " As this pub is in close proximity to flats and houses we would object to music and singing amplified through loudspeakers. There would be no objection to a traditional pub piano." What????? There has always been entertainment on a saturday night, replacing that with a traditional piano? WHAT??? See below...

"On 18th November Michael Stephen and Chris Lenon met the owner at the premises and he explained in more detail his ideas for the property. We went into the basement and noted that the ceiling-height was adequate for a restaurant and that there would be enough space for a kitchen, a store-room, and toilets. There is a disused 19th century kitchen range which would be preserved as a feature in the restaurant.

On the ground floor, the area would be reduced by converting the southern part on the Tryon Street frontage into a house, but increased by extending it into open space on the north side. In view of the fact that the basement is being brought into use as a restaurant, and that the serving area of the bar will be reduced to make a more efficient use of space, the public area of the premises will actually increase. However we await the floor plans showing the areas concerned.

The owner sees the future of the pub as a traditional Chelsea pub. There is some good Victorian panelling around the walls and around the bar, and we requested that this be carefully dismantled and re-used. As this pub is in close proximity to flats and houses we would object to music and singing amplified through loudspeakers. There would be no objection to a traditional pub piano.

On the Tryon Street frontage, the house to be converted from part of the bar area would have the same external appearance as the existing terrace of houses."

http://chelseasociety.org.uk/queens-head-tryon-street/

Notes before Consultation on 30 November

Before the consultation it is probably worth having another look at this painting. Painted in possibly the twenties or thirties of the Queens Head pub. There is talk that the developers want to annex what is now ( and then) the salon bar and turn it back into a house. Which it hasn't been for almost 100 years. We had heard somewhere that this bar was added to the Queens Head on the understanding that it remain part of the pub in 1919. We have people who have been checking the land registry to find out wether this is the case our ACV protects the whole pub including the saloon bar and the kitchen upstairs which we understand to mean that they would have to apply for planning to turn this part if the pub into a residential property. The developers have assured us that the space that would be a pub would actually increase because they would move the toilets on the ground floor into the basement. They have suggested that the original pub space was 98 sq metres but it would increase to 160 sq metres. It is important to ask questions relating to this at the consultation. We have heard that a restaurant could be being proposed in the basement, at our meeting we were told that the basement would be a kitchen and extra bar area and for the toilets. During our research into this. It is becoming clear that it may not be technically possible to have a kitchen in the basement due to fumes etc. All of these things will need to be investigated on wednesday and it is important that you ask questions regarding the basement and floor space. The Save the Queens Head demands are simple. We want exactly the same pub, in the same place, the name to still be the Queens Head , for a live in landlord , lgbtqi friendly and entertainment. The consultation is our chance to demand these things from the owners, who bought this land cheaply as a working pub with livein staff back in 2010 have managed to get the live in staff off the premises making it more lucrative. They would not have paid Chelsea House prices for it at all in fact only 2 or 3 million. The saloon bar turned into a townhouse would make treble that sum. We do not want anything that resembles or is a restaurant, there have been so many popular pubs in Chelsea which have been turned into restaurants, only to close after a couple of years. Look at the Red House! Is this a plan by developers to keep changing these popular bars into pricey restaurants a ploy? So that once people forget they can develop them into residential properties. In the case if the Queens Head which has been a pivotal community hub engaging with the local community, ;the gay community and the wider tourist community, which is hundreds of rbkc taxpayers keeping money into the borough and attracting visitors from further afield and replace that with a pricey restaurant and a townhouse and flats above? That no one will live in! Please come support our community and support the reopening of the Queens Head!

Save the last LGBTQI Pub in Chelsea!

We have our ACV but the battle isn't over, we need to reopen our Queens Head pub, exactly the way it was, immediately. Please come to the Public Consultation on 30 November from 11am - 8pm at The Queens Head Pub Tryon street. Without your support this pub will become a name on a list of the lost great pubs of Chelsea, please come, have your say and please help us re-open it.

London’s Chelsea and its disappearing LGBT haunts

We get a mention in the Financial Times!

When Dudley Winterbottom retired as longstanding secretary of the Chelsea Arts Club in 2013 he left a job description for his successor. “Amiable lunatic, bipolar by demand, love of arts and hedonism needed to run club for really lunatic artists and others, none of whom have any money, but are good at spending what they do not have.”.....(more)

Public Consultation 30 November at tThe Queens Head 11am - 8pm

Public Consultation 11am to 8pm on 30th November in The Queens Head Pub

Public Consultation 11am to 8pm on 30th November in The Queens Head Pub!
Come to the Public consultation on The Queens Head Pub. See what the developers have in mind and make sure your voice is heard!
Please come and do your homework on what kind of pub you want. This is our chance to reopen the Queens Head the way we want it!. 

Public Consultation 11am to 8pm on 30th November in The Queens Head Pub

-Public Consultation 11am to 8pm on 30th November in The Queens Head Pub. The developers have extended the time until 8pm but I know it isn't convenient for the shopworkers of the Queens Head Community. We have extended the original time until 8pm but at that time the doors close! So please, please come and have your say!