A pub where King Edward VII reputedly had secrets trysts with his mistress Lillie Langtry has been sold to a Hong Kong-based developer.
The Clifton Hotel in St John’s Wood, which dates from the 19th Century, is currently empty with a “to let” sign outside. Residents fear it will be turned into housing, further slashing the handful of surviving local pubs.
Convivial London Pubs plc sold it to a Malaysian lawyer based in Hong Kong for £3.2 million. More than 1,600 people have signed a petition to reopen it for the community. Agents representing the new owner, named in Land Registry documents as Kay Ian Ng, said his intention was to let it as “a going concern”, but gave no timescale.
Residents are already fighting a planning application to turn the nearby Star — the set for the video of Housemartins hit Happy Hour — into housing.
Campaigner Simone Fletcher said the battle to save the Clifton, in Clifton Hill, had “galvanised the community”. Resident Grazyna Green added: “It’d be a shame if the community lost use of it. It goes back 200 years.
“A picture of Edward VII has hung outside for as long as anyone can remember.” Edward, nicknamed Bertie, had a three-year affair with actress Langtry after they met at a Mayfair dinner party in 1877. As royalty were not allowed to go into pubs, the married king reputedly had the Clifton, originally a hunting lodge, rebranded as a hotel.
Professor Jane Ridley, author of Bertie: A Life Of Edward VII, said: “St John’s Wood was notorious as the area where rich men kept their mistresses.”
Convivial bought the pub for £2.6 million in 2006, before the property market crash. The group disposed of it and six other London pubs last year in preparation for voluntary liquidation.
Howard Kayman, of estate agency Aston Chase, said: “The new owner is aware of local feelings but his intentions are to let the pub/restaurant as a going concern. A “to let” sign has been placed on the building by Savills Commercial”.
Mr Ng did not respond to requests for a comment.
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The Campaign for Real Ale called on people to seek to get their locals listed as Assets of Community Value under the Localism Act, which gives pubs extra protection if they are put up for sale.
