‘Vulture capitalism’: the new paint job on the historic market pub this week, with a stained glass window missing from the Grade II-listed building
There’s a growing row down Surrey Street, where the centuries-old market pub, a Grade II-listed building, has yet to submit a licensing application for planned raves in the beer garden until 3 in the morning.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Vanished heritage: the fate of this stained glass window from the Grade II-listed Dog and Bull pub is uncertain
The pubco that has taken over Croydon’s oldest pub, the Dog and Bull on Surrey Street, has been accused of “cultural vandalism” and “vulture capitalism”, and has been reported to the authorities for altering the building’s protected Grade II-listed frontage.
A market pub has been on the site for 750 years. But this week, the more traditional Dog and Bull pub sign hanging out across the street market was taken down, replaced by an amorphous, unrecognisable abstract of “The Dog”.
Locals have expressed concerns about the fate of Victorian stained glass in the front window – which reference the pub’s heritage dating back to Surrey Street market’s medieval roots.
96%
said that they prefer the long-standing Dog and Bull name to the pointless and unnecessary alteration dreamt up by some business executive at Laine, the Brighton-based pubco off-shoot of Punch Pubs.
Jennie Tucker, the “hospitality brand and marketing consultant” at Laine, so presumably someone responsible for the decision to jettison the pub’s name, has claimed: “You spoke, and Laine listened!”
Which given the result of our unscientific survey and the horrified reaction of unconsulted local members of CAMRA, seems unlikely to be true.
In an astonishing denial of reality, Tucker issued a statement which claimed that no name change is actually taking place: “The pub will proudly remain ‘The Dog’, the name everyone knows and loves.”
And Tucker said: “Laine is embracing the heartfelt connection the Croydon community has with this cherished spot.” Of course they are… by changing the pub’s name and removing its heritage assets.
Pub culture expert Mark Dodds, a member of the national executive of the Campaign for Real Ale – CAMRA – described the changes to the Dog and Bull as an “appalling idea”.
Unimpressed: pub traditionalist Mark Dodds
Dodds called it: “Preposterous cultural vandalism. Vulture capitalism.”
A long-time campaigner against large, homogenised chain pubcos, Dodds said, “Laines – infected by the dead hand grip of Punch Pubs.”
Looking at the possible removal of the stained glass, Dodds said: “Seriously. what’s going on in the mind of anyone having a look at this and thinking: ‘That definitely has to go’? Let alone [in] a Grade II-listed building.
“And decide to drop Bull from the name?”
Dodds described the changes imposed on the old pub as “Criminal”.
As other local CAMRA members have highlighted, Laine has a poor track record when it comes to maintaining tradition and heritage. They cite The Ram in Wandsworth, another former Youngs pub, and the way in which Laine have completely obliterated the Victorian/Edwardian stone frontage.
Cultural vandalism: how Wandsworth’s Ram used to look, with its Victorian frontage
Of the Croydon pub changes, Dodds said: “What goes on in the mind of the board room that presides over this kind of gratuitous assault on tradition, sense of place, pride in our built environment, culture, and planning law? Who the fuck do they think they are? They’re not responsible custodians of British pubs. They’re vandals.
“The pubco needs legal action and enforcement.”
The Dog and Bull, formerly owned by Youngs, changed hands at the end of March, bought by Punch Pubs and shifted into what they call their “Laine portfolio”. The first thing they did was to close the doors and start a refurbishment, mostly of the beer garden area.
The beer garden is also being renamed. Laine are calling it “The Wilderness”, trying to claim some bogus connection to artist Tracey Emin.
Dead end Laine: and how The Ram looks today, in the new owners’ colours
According to their website, Laine’s The Dog wants to stage DJ-led music sessions in the beer garden until 2am on Saturday mornings, and until 3am on Sunday mornings. Sources at Croydon Council suggest that there has been no application to amend the pub’s licence to those opening hours.
The £125,000 refurbishment – a relatively modest budget for pub restoration works, especially one that has taken more than a month – is being focused on the garden area, which served the pub’s business so well as lockdown restrictions were lifted. The beer garden has for a decade or more offered food, heated booths and televised sport.
Laine’s refurb, which is running late, should be completed next week, with a “soft launch” now planned for next Friday, May 9.
It is reckoned that there has been a pub on the site since 1276, when the medieval market was known as Butcher’s Row, and the inn was called The Bell. There is some suggestion that the site might have been used for bull baiting, and the tavern’s yard as a stock holding pen.
The Dog and Bull has had other names down the centuries, including The Bull and The Black Bull. But the current building, praised by architecture historian Nikolaus Pevsner as “especially handsome” is thought to have been known as The Dog and Bull since it was built in the early 18th Century.
Listed status: how The Dog and Bull appears on the Historic England website. The listing means that changes to the buiding are supposed to be strictly controlled
Laine had promised to give “everything a fresh sparkle while lovingly preserving all the quirks and charm that make this place a true Croydon gem”.
The Dog and Bull had stained glass windows of a dog and a bull, though one of these now appears to be missing.
The Croydon and Sutton branch of CAMRA has expressed concern over the renaming of the pub, which they said is “an unnecessary change to a historic pub name”.
They had also expressed hopes that “existing glassworks will remain intact, as no planning permission has been sought for changes to this Grade II-listed building”.
So, clearly, Croydon and Sutton CAMRA are unhappy with the latest changes to the pub’s frontage.
Inside Croydon understands that Historic England, who maintain the register of listed buildings, and The Victorian Society have both been alerted to Laine’s alterations to The Dog and Bull.
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