There has been a hole in the centre of Herne Hill since August 2013, when a water main flooded Half Moon Lane closing most of the businesses. All eventually reopened (although some subsequently closed again, defeated by the insurance process), except what’s arguably the most important one.
The Half Moon is a glorious gargantuan neo-Gothic late Victorian Grade II-listed pub that should be Herne Hill’s crown jewel. Instead, it’s been allowed to fester for more than two years, to the lasting shame of landlords Dulwich Estate.
This is a fine London pub, which opened in 1896 – a pub has been on the site since the 17th-century – and has featured in graphic novels by Alan Moore, hosted gigs by U2 and Frank Sinatra, comedy shows by Eddie Izzard, and whose former drinkers include Dylan Thomas, who took the name of Under Milk Wood from the nearby Milkwood Road. Now, it’s dead, boarded up, dilapidated and rotting from within.
So how has this come to pass?
Locally, rumour and counter-rumour have swirled about its fate. The chief sticking point is that there are several floors above the pub – these once contained boxing a gym where I spent an exhausting three minutes being chased round the ring by a former middleweight champion – that represent a huge financial opportunity.
Attempts to convert them into residential flats went nowhere, and it’s said that Dulwich Estate, who look after the interests of the wealthy nearby private schools as well as a couple of other pubs, wish to turn it into some kind of boutique hotel as they are doing with the Crown and Greyhound in Dulwich Village.
This would almost certainly spell the end of live music at the large function room attached to the pub. This 200-capacity room has a surprisingly rich history as a London venue, as I discovered when talking to Peter Blair, who is leading the Save The Half Moon campaign with the Herne Hill Forum.
Last month, fed up of the secrecy, silence and endless rumours, Blair submitted to Southwark papers that would see the Half Moon listed as an Asset of Community Value that focus on its history as a music venue. He believes that the pub will eventually reopen – the listed status means that Dulwich Estate can’t really do anything else with the handsome ground floor bars – but that the live music component needs to be understood, celebrated and protected.
The closure of London’s live venues has reached such epidemic proportions that even the mayor wants to do something about it, Blair notes. “To have one of south London’s few independent live music venues shut in this way is terrible,” he says. “It’s the flagship of Herne Hill and it just sits there empty on the corner.”
Campaigners have been exploring the pub’s history and have discovered it was a crucible for London’s live blues scenes in the ’70s. It hosted sessions featured an array of musical talent from the most popular bands of the era including members of the Jeff Beck Band, Rory Gallagher band, Thin Lizzy, and 7th Wave. An account of its history can be seen in this film.
It remained a music venue for the next four decades. In 1980, U2 played an early gig. In the 90s, the house PA was owned by Alabama 3 and gigs included Big Joe Turner and Geno Washington. More recently it hosted Devon Allman from The Allman Brothers and guitarist Albert Lee.
“It’s been a live music venue since the ’60s and we can’t lose that live music function,” says Blair. “It has such a great history and was a great venue. Everybody I’ve spoken to says it was such a special place to play. This is a local community pub but it’s also much more than that.”
Damn straight: Leslie Nielsen even filmed a commercial in there.
If the campaigners win their bid to get the pub listed as an Asset Of Community Value, it will mean Dulwich Estate will have to consult the Herne Hill Forum over their plans, finally bringing them out into the open.
“Out understanding at this point is that they wish to use the function room as a restaurant,” says Blair. “We want them to explain their plans in full, and to ensure live music is a key component of the new pub, whenever it opens. If it is converted as a hotel, how will that affect the music venue? We have no intention of making it unviable but we want to know what it will be when it opens.”
The campaigners have no interest in purchasing the venue, which would cost a fortune. But they have been in discussion with the nearby Ivy House, who used Asset of Community Value status to purchase their local pub from developers.
There’s also the question of when it reopens. While Dulwich Estate is said to be in negotiations with several pub chains – “everybody you speak to has a different name” – it’s unlikely to open in the next 12 months. Since it closed, no restoration has taken place at all and it’s said the pub, which was at the very centre of the flood and thus under water for some time, is in very poor condition.
It seems astonishing that a listed venue can be left to rot by a landlord that is supposed to have local interests at heart, especially when one presumes there is insurance money on hand to fix the damage. It’s a sad state of affairs for what should be a south London landmark.
To keep up to date with the campaign, see the Facebook group.
Peter Watts is a journalist who has been writing about London for over 20 years, and a former editor of Time Out’s Big Smoke section. He tweets as @peter_watts.
This article originally appeared on his blog, The Great Wen, and appears here with his permission.
