Leyton • News

Pub hoping to reopen despite landlord changing locks

20 October, 2022 12:00 am
2 Min Read

The pub hopes to fight the seizure and reopen “as soon as possible”
By Victoria Munro

Leyton Technical (credit: James Cracknell)
Leyton Technical (credit: James Cracknell)

A Leyton pub is hoping to win back their lease and reopen “as soon as possible” after the landlord changed the locks.

On 10th October, a legal notice appeared on the doors of Leyton Technical in the High Road, announcing landlord LBC Leyton Ltd had ended the lease and seized the property.

The pub was leased through Pubola Ltd to the chain Antic London, which runs the Red Lion in Leytonstone and ran the now-closed Mirth, Marvel and Maud in Walthamstow’s EMD cinema. 

The Leyton Technical website shows a letter from Pubola director Anthony Thomas to the landlord stating the company plans to fight the forfeiture using the Commercial Rent Coronavirus Act 2022.

This act was introduced to help settle rent arrears from the Covid pandemic, when the letter notes the pub was “unable to trade or… permitted to trade only with significant restrictions”.

A statement on the website from Antic adds: “We are temporarily closed due to matters currently out of our control. We hope to reopen as soon as possible.”

LBC Leyton Ltd is a subsidiary of Leytonstone-based developer Lee Valley Estates, which also owns Blackhorse Mews in Walthamstow.

The pub is not the only local business to be hit with a forfeiture notice in recent months, with Walthamstow cafe St J’s also having its locks abruptly changed in August.

While neither St J’s nor the landlord have responded to requests for comment, a letter from a customer stuck on the door in September says their departure has left “a big hole in St James’s Street”.

The writer, Linda, adds: “As a regular customer, I was gutted to see the closure of this fabulous place. Walthamstow will not be the same without you.

“It is such a shame that such a welcoming and vibrant business cannot find a way forward. I don’t know the reasons why you have closed, but I hope beyond hope that somehow you have the ability to open.”

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