London pub wins English Heritage award

A 1930s art deco pub in London, which was saved from redevelopment by four local residents, was last night named among the winners of an English Heritage competition for preserving local heritage.

The Ivy House pub in Southwark was named a winner in the English Heritage Angel Awards, which were founded by Andrew Lloyd Webber and are run by English Hertiage.

The Ivy House became the first co-operative owned pub in the capital when it was saved from redevelopment by four local residents who bought it earlier this year.

The Ivy House Community Pub Group successfully applied to Southwark Council to have the building listed as the first “asset of community value” in the country using the community right to bid provisions in the Localism Act 2011.

The pub is now Grade-II listed as having “an unusually high level of surviving original features and fittings (forming) a largely complete 1930s interior”.

Lloyd Webber said: “Every year the Angel Awards bring more and more outstanding heritage rescue projects to public attention and I am delighted that through the Angel Awards we can properly celebrate the people involved.

“This year’s winners have shown courage, tenacity and perseverance and have saved listed buildings and historic ruins from being lost to posterity. Now these places have a future. They will uplift and enlighten all who come across them and will be cherished by their communities for generations to come.”

Other award winners included Low Slit Mine in Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, Hadlow Tower in Tonbridge, Kent and the Church of St James the Greater, in Ab Kettleby, Leicestershire.