Noise complaints could call time on Orwell’s perfect pub
A LONDON pub that inspired George Orwell is under threat after neighbours complained about noisy customers.
Islington council is conducting a licence review of the Compton Arms after neighbours complained it was a public nuisance and a danger to health.
The pub has been tucked away on an Islington backstreet for centuries, and was a favourite haunt of Orwell. In 1946, he used it as inspiration for an essay about the perfect pub, which he called the Moon Under Water.
In the Moon Under Water, he wrote, it “was always quiet enough to talk” and “drunks and rowdies never seem to find their way there”.
However, residents living near the Compton Arms would struggle to draw the comparison. They accuse the owners of poor management and say rubbish outside poses a danger to health.
Nick Stephens, the owner of the pub, wrote on Facebook: “We find ourselves in an unpleasant situation. Our pub, inspiration for Orwell’s perfect pub, is being taken to licence review by four households … our other neighbours have the opposite view.
“I can’t begin to tell you how infuriating and frustrating these allegations are. Our managers have gone to extreme lengths and worked their socks off to run the pub considerately (and exceptionally) – in spite of some more than challenging behaviour from some of the four complainants.”
He said other pubs had similar problems because residents had got used to low noise levels during lockdowns. “A minority get used to the quiet then decide the pub that’s been there since the 1800s is now a nuisance. It makes me want to cry.
“Should this minority of four succeed in their requests, this famous, historic pub will no longer be financially viable for us, or any other responsible operator. It’s that serious.”