The Angel pub on Roehampton High Street might lose its licence at a hearing this Tuesday (29 April), five days before local elections on 7 May. The meeting is remote with no webcast and no way for residents to watch or attend.
Putney.news asked why the public had been shut out. The council’s Monitoring Officer – its most senior legal officer – replied that the hearing was closed because of “the risk given the profile of this application that comments may be made that could affect political support.”
Staff at the pub told us in person that they had no idea the hearing was being held in secret. A manager declined to comment and said she would object to Putney.news speaking to customers. Several customers were clearly unaware that their local could be permanently shut within days.
What is at stake
The Angel is one of only two pubs serving around 18,000 people in Roehampton. The Metropolitan Police applied in February to revoke its licence, saying it is the pub with the worst crime record in Wandsworth. Their application cites large-scale fights, police officers assaulted, suspected drug dealing and groups using nitrous oxide outside.
Ten residents and organisations wrote in backing the police application. They described five years of violence from neighbouring properties, parents too scared to let children walk to the bus stop, and drug dealing in plain sight on the high street.
But nearly 700 people have signed a petition demanding the pub stays open. Those 700 are also Roehampton voters, and if Labour is seen to back the police and shut their local pub, they could well punish them for it at the polls. As a result, the council – run by Labour – has decided to hold the meeting in secret to avoid a backlash.
The end result is that residents won’t be allowed to see, hear or respond to the arguments made for closing their local, and could well end up voting for the same people that decide to shut it.
Fleur Anderson, the local MP, has put her name to a letter signed by all three Roehampton ward councillors – Graeme Henderson, Matthew Tiller and Jenny Yates. In it, they back the police and ask the committee to impose strong conditions – including getting rid of the current management, and giving the police greater say in how the pub is run – rather than revoke the licence, arguing the pub should stay open if it can be run safely.
The committee may still decide to simply shut the pub – that is what the meeting papers and the police have recommended. Ultimately, the decision will be made by members of the Labour Party because they hold the most votes.
How the hearing was shut
The original hearing was planned for 16 April, with a live webcast. On the day, however, the council posted a notice saying it would not be webcast “in line with restrictions during the pre-election period.”
Putney.news has asked three times for the specific rule or policy behind that decision and has yet to receive it. The Monitoring Officer confirmed it was not a legal restriction. It is a judgment call, made because the council feared public comments could hurt Labour at the polls.
The hearing was postponed and rescheduled for 29 April as a remote meeting. In an effort to keep the public out, the council has decided that the meeting will be held remotely – over the internet – and that it won’t be webcast, making it impossible for anyone to attend.
The problem is that preventing people from following the meeting is illegal. The public has a right to see how decisions are made on their behalf, unless the council gives a very specific legal reason why it needs to hold a meeting in private. No such reason has been given.
Putney.news has asked whether a public link will be posted on the council’s website and whether the council will make any physical location available for the public to attend. We have yet to receive an answer.
Why this matters
Licensing hearings are not political. The councillors sitting on them are supposed to act as judges, weighing evidence, not worrying about votes. Pre-election rules – purdah – restrict councils from using public money to campaign. They do not give councils the right to close public hearings.
Seen through a political lens, however, there is a bigger picture: Labour won all three Roehampton seats in 2022. Both Reform UK and the Conservatives are pushing hard. If closing the pub costs them those seats next week, it could decide who runs the council.
That may be a good reason for the party in power to hold a secret meeting, but it is not the law, and it is not fair to the people of Roehampton who should be able to have say in what happens in their area.
Residents who want to know the fate of their local pub have been told they can watch a recording. Any decisions made should be published the evening before election day.
