North Pole, North Kensington

Built c. 1885. ex-Massive, closed suddenly in late August 2012. Now new owners Riding House Properties have leased the ground floor to Tesco and the inside has been stripped. Planning permission for ancillary changes to facilitate retail use including changing the signage, colour and frontage granted by Kensington & Chelsea despite objections from local residents quoting the draft pub protection policy. The option of an Article 4 Direction was rejected as not relevant, despite Government Ministerial support for such action where pubs are under threat. The possibility of compensation may have been the reason for the Council’s reluctance. Tesco opened by mid 2013 with upper floors converted to flats..