A set of private apartments is set to be built on the site of a 120-year-old pub in Brixton, fuelling the row over gentrification in the area.
The Canterbury Arms, a once popular venue for music, comedy and wedding receptions, was demolished in January, with the sight currently standing as a wasteland in an otherwise heavily populated area, on Canterbury Crescent, standing next to the Pop Brixton.
The pub’s demise is the latest in a long line of pub closures in Brixton. Other recent establishments to close include the George IV and the Hamilton Arms.
The Fitzgerald family, owners of the pub for 20 years, hosted the last party at the pub in August 2015, before publishing an open letter to the pub’s many patrons saying: “The bar will cease trading on September 5 2015. This closure reflects the insatiable appetite of property developers for backstreet corner sites that will be developed into flats for tenants who live in far off lands, and these developers call it progress which may be so… But where do local people who want to be part of a community and their friends and relatives go to socialise?”
The developers, May developers, had previously noted in 2013 that the site could be used for a “range of community uses – the exact use of which to be determined after liaison with local residents and groups”, however there appears to be no sign of such a project at present.
Musician Ben Donnelly, a member of the band Careless Sons, wrote on Twitter:
@wincelow “Ah c**p, my favourite pre-Brixton Academy pub is being demolished and turned into flats. Farewell Canterbury Arms, we had some great times”.
