03-06-2025
Labour council threatens historic London pub's beer garden
A Labour-run council has ordered an historic pub to scrap part of its riverside beer garden.
The outdoor area at the Trafalgar Tavern, by the Thames in Greenwich, south-east London, has regularly been named one of the best in Britain.
But the 19th century pub has now been served with an enforcement notice to remove about half its outdoor seating after the Royal Borough of Greenwich, which caused anger by restricting ice-cream sales earlier this year, said there had been complaints about access for pedestrians, wheelchair users and families with pushchairs.
Landlord Frank Dowling, who is appealing against the notice, said he could be forced to lay off staff if the council gets its way.
The 56-year-old added: 'If you don't have tables and chairs there, you're going to have tons of people standing around drinking. Vertical drinking is not something that works for us. That causes a different problem. It means we'll get more drinkers and fewer families.
'Without the tables, we won't need as many staff for table service. We also won't serve as much food, which means we won't need as many people in the kitchen.'
The Grade II-listed pub, which opened in 1837 and was once a favourite spot of Charles Dickens, serves customers on traditional wooden benches along the Thames Path, a narrow walkway on the bank of the river.
The pub uses a cobbled section of the path known as the ramp and the knuckle after receiving permission to put out tables and chairs in the daytime from the council in 2005.
But in March the authority issued an enforcement notice that ordered the pub to to stop using the land for drinking and dining and to remove all seating, umbrellas and tables.
In the notice, the council said there had been 'a material change of use' of the area without planning permission.
A council spokesman confirmed that there had been 'some complaints' about the seating and stressed the importance of accessibility for 'people in wheelchairs, the elderly or people with pushchairs'.
Mr Dowling, who has been the landlord since 2001, insisted the pub had not changed the way it used the area. He has appealed to the council's planning inspectorate and continued to use the contested land while the order is on hold during the appeal process.
A council spokesman said: 'Whilst it's not always appropriate to comment on individual cases, we know that the Trafalgar Tavern is a much-loved, historic venue – but we have had some complaints about the extended outdoor seating onto the Thames Path, and so there needs to be a balance.
'The Thames Path is very narrow, and it's important that everyone can use it easily, including people in wheelchairs, the elderly or people with pushchairs. There are planning policies in place that we need to follow, but we're confident we'll find a sensible solution that doesn't stop people enjoying the pub's view or using the Thames Path.'
It is not the first time the Trafalgar Tavern has had a run-in with the authority. In 2021, it was denied a licence extension to sell alcohol on an additional two floors following complaints from neighbours that it risked becoming like a nightclub.
