26/11/24 - reopened - full details in The Ham & High at
https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/24761652.lord-southampton-pub-kentish-town-reopens-cosy-local/?ref=eb&nid=2390&block=article_block_a&u=3571b060d3c8cfa9b988201d51a923f9&date=031224
May 2024 - Set to reopen. Licence granted, CAMRA Local branch supported application. - hoardings removed and pub interior looks undamaged.
Jan 2024 - application granted - The "framework" opening times - the latest possible - were from 11am to 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, until 12am on Friday and Saturday and 10.30pm on Sunday, with 30 minutes' 'drinking up time'. But tobacco will not taint the air around the Lord Southampton pub in Haverstock after Camden councillors banned smoking outside outright. The application was filed by Milegate. The solicitor for Milegate said "a new operator would open a "community pub", with Milegate possibly building flats above it, and assured the meeting there would be proper management plans and dispersal policies.
Dec 2023 - an application has been subitted for a drinks license by the freehold owner - see pic. Both freehold and leasehold are registered on the AG&G site - £1.5m for the former! Milegate own many pubs. In the North London Branch they currently are:-
Baring
Toll Gate
Victoria
Royal Oak
Lord Southampton
They don't tend to run pubs themselves but lease them.
Update 11/01/22 - "Sadly the Lord Southampton Pub/Hostel in Kentish Town is Boarded and Closed with the Freehold For sale as vacant premises"
This is how it was before closure -
No Limits are now running the place and have added hostel accommodation. Contrary to fears there is still cask beer, Doom Bar. Opposite the St Pancras Alms Houses, this blue tiled pub stands on the corner with Grafton Terrace, just a few doors down from where Karl Marx once lived. Walk back into another era and admire the horseshoe bar that divides the pub into 3 areas.
The back area to the left has a table football machine and a pull down television screen to right. The L-shaped bar, above which is a very stuffed fish, dominates one room. This is very much a locals' pub with dartboard, large cabinet displaying silver sports trophies and television in the corner. There is a pull down screen for big events. The upholstery and carpet is blue balanced by wood wall panelling and large plants on the windowsills. The pub is food free. Listed on CAMRA's London Regional inventory of historic pubs.
Historic Interest
Local Camden listing:- A mid 19th century public house on the corner of Grafton Terrace and Southampton Road. Of three storeys with rendered elevations, rusticated quoins and window architraves. It is a storey taller than the neighbouring terraces which enhances the visual landmark status it has within the streetscape. It was given a major refit between the wars, as indicated outside by the buff and mottled dark blue faïence facing. The dividing walls were progressively cut through between about 1973 and 1986, but you can still gain a good sense of how the pub was laid out half a century or more ago. There were three rooms, each with its own external doorway and also an off-sales area entered from Grafton Terrace which remained in use till the late 1970s. There are plenty of inter-war features remaining. These include extensive wall panelling, exposed timbers in the ceilings (to create an olde worlde effect) and the bar counterand back fitting.
The most intact part of the Lord Southampton is the left-hand rear area which forms an intimate panelled space with its own glazed hatch to the servery. It’s here that the door to the gents’ leads off and from it a big surprise – to get to the gents’ you need to walk over a steel bridge spanning a small enclosed yard below.
One star - A pub interior of special national historic interest
Listed status: Not listed
An erstwhile haunt of Karl Marx recently brought back to life.
This prominent street corner local was built in the 1850s and was given a major refit between the wars: the cream and mottled blue faience tiling to the ground floor facade probably date from this period. It has recently (2024) been reopened after undergoing an excellent restoration.
The principle entrance is from Southampton Road and leads via a small tiled lobby to the bar room. There were once three rooms around the central servery, each with its own external doorway, and additionally an off-sales area entered from Grafton Terrace. This remained in use until the late 1970s and now serves as a kitchen. At one time, there would have been a partition dividing the main room, and to the right of the servery you can see where a wall has been replaced by an archway. There are many interwar features, including extensive fielded wall panelling, the bar counter (which has been given a new top) and a fine mirrored bar-back. An attractive area of the pub is the rear left-hand rear area, which is approached via an elegant timber archway. It forms an intimate panelled space with its own glazed hatch to the servery (no longer in use).
The recent restoration has revealed the black and white checkered tiling around the base of the counter, but has also involved the replacement of the ceiling, which had hitherto displayed the exposed beams that were so characteristic of interwar pub design.
This Pub serves no changing beers and 2 regular beers.
Lord Southampton, London
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