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Regulars Marcus Walsh, Mari Byrne, Mark Stainforth, Adrian Wyatt, James Treelman and Simon Anderson with The Railway’s manager, Kris Lindale |
Who wants to live in Hendrix’s old haunt?
Fears over future of pub that played host to Led Zepp and The Cream of rock’n’roll
IT is the forgotten stage once loved by the
rock’n’roll royalty of the 1960s and 1970s, a cosy backroom which drew the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Led Zeppelin to a corner of West Hampstead.
But hopes among customers who remember The Railway Hotel’s glory days that it might be restored as a top-notch music venue have taken a blow.
The building’s owners, The Spirit Group – a pub conglomerate which owns 9,000 bars across the country – have unveiled plans to turn the derelict stage at the back of the building in West End Lane into flats.
Regulars are worried a little bit of musical history will be lost in the process.
Legend has it that the upstairs-carpeted function room, known as Klooks Kleek Club, is where the song-writing guitarist of The High Numbers (the band which became The Who), Pete Townshend, first smashed up a guitar mid-performance.
Later, as The Moonlight Club, and then The Starlight Club, the hotel maintained its musical tradition into the 1970s and 1980s, staging concerts by the likes of the Rolling Stones, The Cure and The Jam.
The Spirit Group plans to refurbish the downstairs pub, tack an extension onto the side of the three-storey Grade II-listed building and convert the now derelict upstairs nightclub into 14 flats.
Railway regular David Thompson, 52, remembers the venue during its heyday on the blues circuit and wants the nightclub reinstated.
“The pub is held dear for its musical heritage,” said Mr Thompson. “It’s a piece of rock and roll history.”
Adrian Wyatt, 53, worked as a sound engineer during the late 1970s, when bands would play seven nights a week.
“There were coach-loads of people coming to see gigs here. It was a really buzzing place,” he said.
Loyal customers fear the application could spell a complete new look for the pub below, which is regarded as one of the neighbourhood’s best-loved community pubs and has resisted the temptation to go “gastro”.
Camden’s planning officials have set next Thursday as a deadline for objections.
Mr Thompson added: “For builders, the pub is the office, it’s where you make your contacts, but with the homogenisation and gentrification of our pubs we are made to feel like we don’t belong.”
Architects Parritt Leng, who estimate the project will cost between £3 to 4 million, said more than 500 residents and the emergency services have been asked about the plans and had not objected, but declined to comment further.
A spokeswoman for The Spirit Group said the pub conglomerate take the concerns of residents seriously.
She said: “The space above the Railway in Hampstead has been derelict for a number of years, as has the nightclub which is attached to the back of the pub. The trading space of the pub will not be diminished in any way.
“We aim to improve the Railway, which we hope will continue to be an important part of the local community.”
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