A property development company could be forced to rebuild a 165-year-old East End pub “brick by brick” after it was accused of demolishing it without permission.
Trustee Properties Ltd obtained permission last year to develop five flats at The Carlton, a “historically important” two-storey pub in Bethnal Green that survived the Blitz .
Tower Hamlets council approved plans to demolish the first floor of the building and add a three-storey extension and basement, but stipulated that the ground floor should be retained.
The pub, which closed in May, is one of the few buildings in the area to have survived wartime bombing raids. It has now been reduced to rubble.
As part of its application, Trustee Properties had vowed to “substantially retain and remodel” the ground floor, including expanding its kitchen.
Tower Hamlets mayor John Biggs accused the developers of “gross abuse” of planning rules and said an investigation would take place.
He said: “The planning system means we rely on developers being honest …if we have to, we will force them to rebuild it brick by brick.” In documents submitted earlier this year, the developer said it wanted to bulldoze the entire building because it had “deteriorated beyond repair”. But officials said there was no evidence for this.
The pub is not listed but is next to the Carlton conservation area and listed railway arches. The council said there would be an “adverse impact” on them if the development caused the loss of all the pub’s “original historical fabric”.
Jon Bolton of Trustee Properties claimed the front wall had collapsed and had been a “safety hazard”. He said he would rebuild the pub.
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“We want to keep it as a pub, just a better one with a restaurant and where the walls aren’t going to cave in.” Tower Hamlets demanded that work stop at the site and then it received another application — to rebuild just the timber front of the building.
The agent, Rivington Street Studio Architects, declined to comment.
Campaigner Kevin Homewood, 73, said: “It’s been my local for 50 years. It was a bit of a gangsters’ pub in the Sixties but sorted itself out and was a real community place. It’s a proper bit of East End history.”
