A company accused of "ripping the heart out of communities" by closing London pubs - including iconic gay venue The Black Cap - faced a protest outside its headquarters today.
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett took a break from her general election campaign to lead the demonstration outside the offices of Faucet Inn in central London.
Dozens of protesters voiced their anger by raising placards and chanting outside the building in George Street.
Faucet Inn recently sparked uproar when it closed famous Camden Town drag venue The Black Cap, while it has also boarded up The Dartmouth Arms in Dartmouth Park, despite fierce local opposition.
There are also persistent rumours over the future of the Sir Richard Steele in Belsize Park, after an online advert emerged describing it as a "former" pub, though the venue remains open.
All three Faucet Inn-owned venues are in Camden in north London. Camden councillor Sally Gimson, who represents Dartmouth Park, said: "We feel [the closure of The Dartmouth Arms] has ripped the heart out of our community.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/FaucetInn" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-https://twitter.com/FaucetInn" data-vars-event-id="c23">@FaucetInn</a> hang your heads over <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/pub?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-https://twitter.com/hashtag/pub?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#pub</a> closures. Shocking cultural vandalism <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/natalieben" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-https://twitter.com/natalieben" data-vars-event-id="c23">@natalieben</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PubsMatter?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-https://twitter.com/hashtag/PubsMatter?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#PubsMatter</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/e3zQD8b9Iw" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-http://t.co/e3zQD8b9Iw" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/e3zQD8b9Iw</a>— Protect Pubs (@ProtectPubs) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ProtectPubs/status/594173933957599232" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-https://twitter.com/ProtectPubs/status/594173933957599232" data-vars-event-id="c23">May 1, 2015</a>
"We wanted to go to Faucet Inn themselves because this is a pattern of behaviour. They buy pubs not to run them as pubs, but to asset strip them.
"We will continue to defend these community assets, they need to be run as pubs."
Campaigns have sprung up to save each of the pubs, with actor Neil Stuke, from legal drama Silk, being a prominent supporter on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Help save our pubs from the asset stripping company <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/FaucetInn" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-https://twitter.com/FaucetInn" data-vars-event-id="c23">@FaucetInn</a> by going to their office tom @ 5.30pm 88-90 George St W1U 8PA to demonstrate— Neil Stuke (@NeilStuke) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/NeilStuke/status/593861352726331392" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-54896-https://twitter.com/NeilStuke/status/593861352726331392" data-vars-event-id="c23">April 30, 2015</a>
The protest comes two weeks after a group of drag queens protested outside The Black Cap over its closure.
The Black Cap had been open since the 1960s and recently hosted contestants from hit reality TV show RuPaul's Drag Race.
Faucet Inn could not be reached for comment.
