I BRING TIDINGS OF JOY: THERE IS HOPE FOR THE ALBERT!
Back in 2014, the Albert Pub, Princess Road, closed its doors. The pub had been bought and it was feared that those doors were closed forever.
The upper storeys were refurbished and sold off as very nice flats, leaving the pub empty and forlorn. Locals never expected the pub to open again.
However, Primrose Hill’s Mitzman Architects have been commissioned to refurbish the pub and to design a house to sit in part of the garden, and this is excellent news.
Firstly, the garden. Mitzmans are well known for their thoughtful and considerate design process. Mindful of the need to maintain as much garden space as possible, they are redesigning the conservatory and placing the house so that only around 20% of the pub garden is lost; not only that, but the house will have a garden roof, therefore ensuring that the area of ecology remains the same.
Furthermore, the pub conservatory is to be replaced by a garden room of the same size as before but with a better design, so there will be much more usable space and will complement the refreshed pub interiors. By moving the kitchen and services downstairs into the currently unusable basement, much more space will be freed up on the ground floor. The pub will offer quality food and the atmosphere will be fresh, modern and welcoming. The lovely exteriors will of course be retained.
In an ideal world, it may have been preferable to keep the garden intact and not build the house, but the costs of refurbishing and reopening the pub cannot be covered otherwise. Architects Richard Mitzman and Socrates Militiadou were clear that if the pub is to be restored to use, the house was needed as a catalyst. “Better to have a pub with slightly less garden than no pub at all,” pointed out Socrates.
More details, pictures and plans to follow, but for now, the Primrose Hill community can be reassured that, as long as planning permission is successful, it’s going to get its pub back.