Property business: Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin
After a month of issuing “no comments” on its future, Wetherspoons have confirmed that they are to close the popular Skylark pub on South End.
The move has been described as “a huge loss for the area”.
The decision comes despite a petition supporting The Skylark being signed by more than 1,200, many of whom will have been regulars at the usually busy boozer, located in a large, two-storey building that was previously a carpet shop and Green Shield Stamps outlet.
The closure, announced by the Tim Martin-run pub chain last night, is the second by the company in Croydon in less than a month, following the closure of The Milan Bar on the High Street in February.
Staff were summoned to the Skylark yesterday afternoon to be given the news. Around 50, mainly part-time, staff are affected, and they have been told that they can get work elsewhere in the chain if they want it.
Last orders: The Skylark’s closure will leave just two ‘traditional’ pubs between Croydon and Purley
A Wetherspoon spokesman told Inside Croydon, “We can confirm that Wetherspoon is closing The Skylark pub in Croydon.
“The final trading day for the pub will be March 27.
“There will be no redundancies as all staff are being offered jobs at other Wetherspoon pubs.
“We understand that staff and customers will be disappointed with the news.
“On occasion Wetherspoon does close pubs and this is the case here.
“We thank the staff for their hard work and excellent service and our customers for their loyalty.”
Some beer-lovers reckon that the Brighton Road in South End, once over-optimistically dubbed “the Restaurant Quarter” by Negrini-era council executives, will be left with just two pubs left in the 2½-mile stretch between the Flyover and Purley after The Skylark’s closure.
The chair of the Croydon branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, David Lands, said, “I think it’s a huge loss for the area.
“We’ve lost so many traditional pubs along the Brighton Road. Going down from the flyover you’ll be left with possibly two pubs on that main road before you get into Purley itself.”
The closure of The Milan Bar is thought to have been linked with a property deal.
Sources suggest that the bar, located in the Grants complex, had been offered for sale for at least three years and that it may yet re-open as a pub under new owners. If The Skylark is being sold by Wetherspoons for similar reasons, then it will appear as if Tim Martin’s company, post-Brexit, is trying to make more money from the commercial property business.
Lands said, “The Skylark was always popular, so I can’t believe it wasn’t turning over enough money.”
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