COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A pub licensee says his attempt to bring a flavour of television royalty to Leamington has been thrown back in his face - and now he wants to close his business.



Shortly after taking over the previously derelict Pig and Fiddle pub in High Street two years ago, Michael Drake decided to change its name to the Queen Victoria and re-paint it so it resembled the famous pub of the same name in the BBC soap EastEnders.

But last week, more than a year after the changes were made, Warwick District Council told him he would need to change the name of the establishment. Although this order was then retracted, Mr Drake was ordered to re-paint it - and threatened with a £20,000 fine unless he reduced noise volumes at the pub on Friday and Saturday nights.

Then on Wednesday this week, the former KoKo’s manager was told he would need to remove the image of Queen Victoria from the swinging board outside the pub.

He said: “We wanted to get away from the image of an old Irish bar and thought Queen Victoria was appropriate because of the royal status of Leamington and the fact that there is a statue of Queen Victoria in the Parade.

“We spoke to the BBC who happily gave us the paint codes for the red and gold colours of the Queen Victoria pub in Eastenders and painted our pub not long after changing the name.

“Why have these things suddenly become an issue now? I pay out of my own pocket to have a doorman on Friday and Saturday nights to keep the noise down when people go outside for a cigarette. We have never had any complaints apart from on the first weekend after opening, when a door was left open by mistake.

“The council is definitely picking on us. This is relentless targeting.”

He added: “This pub is probably one of the smartest-looking buildings in the street. But I am planning to close it now. All we are getting is grief. It will be closed an boarded up once again.”

A council spokeswoman said: “The Queen Victoria pub is a Grade II listed building within the town’s conservation area. The district council’s planning enforcement team is currently investigating alleged unauthorised changes to the building and is in contact with the licensee in that respect.”

A pub has fought back after it was ordered to take down its royal flags during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.



Shocked licensee Michael Drake received a letter from Warwick District Council, telling him to remove the Royal Standard from outside his premises before the celebrations began.

But the Queen Victoria pub in High Street, Leamington, has stood its ground and refused.

He said: “We put the flags up to celebrate the Jubilee weekend but the council said displaying the Royal Standard flags was ‘unlawful advertising’.

“Every lamp post in London had the Royal Standard on it at the weekend.”

Mr Drake says he only hung the flags during the week leading up to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and questioned why other pubs were allowed to fly the Irish flag while his patriotic gesture was appreciated by customers and Warwick and Leamington MP Chris White, but not officials.

He said: “We have had American tourists, we had five people from Australia yesterday who were having their photo taken outside the pub because it was the Jubilee.”

It is not the first time Mr Drake has clashed with the council. More than a year after changing its name from the Pig and Fiddle and repainting it, he was ordered to return the Grade II listed pub to its earlier state.

Even after he persuaded officials to let him change the pub’s name - it was listed while part of a chain - they are still ordering him to use a colour from a ‘heritage’ palette.

Almost every day brings a new letter from officials - about a satellite dish somebody else put up, outside lights that have always been a feature, and a ‘beer garden’ sign.

Mr Drake contrasts his pub’s appearance now with 16 months it spent derelict, boarded up and used by drug addicts, and says he is deciding whether to board it up again and move away.

He said: “I turned it into a thriving business. I’ve made it look right. I even named it right and all I’m doing is getting kicked in the teeth.”

He added: “If they force me to change the property, I will close it. They are being totally unreasonable.”

A Warwick District Council spokeswoman said: “The Queen Victoria is a Grade II listed building within Leamington’s conservation area. The district council’s planning enforcement team is currently investigating alleged unauthorised changes to the building and is in contact with the licensee in that respect.”

Under the Town and Country Planning Act it is an offence to display flags other than those of countries and counties, the Commonwealth, the European Union, the United Nations or those of saints without consent. The Royal Standard is flown at Royal palaces or residences when the Queen is present. It may be flown on any building during a visit by the Queen, if the owner requests.

‘Too much too late’ - landlord wins battle but Old Town pub stays closed

THE vindication of a Leamington licensee in his battle to keep his red-painted and flag-adorned pub in its current condition is 
somewhat bittersweet.

Mick Drake, who ran the Queen Victoria pub in High Street, won a long-running battle against Warwick District Council when the council’s planning committee last week voted in favour of allowing him to retain the pub’s name, colour and signage.

But the father-of-two had already closed the pub - which had been boarded up for two years before he took it over - due to the frustration of the situation.

This left both himself and his wife Sarah, who worked at the pub’s bar, as well as another six employees, out of work.

Speaking after the meeting, which was held at Leamington town hall last Tuesday, Mr Drake said: “It’s too much too late as the business is now closed.

“I have spent £27,000 on doing work on the Queen Vic. Everything I have saved for, I have lost.”

The council had taken Mr Drake to court over changes he had made to the pub - a Grade II listed building which sits in Leamington’s conservation area - including repainting it in the same shade of red as the Queen Vic on the BBC series EastEnders and putting up a satellite dish, ‘beer garden’ sign and flags to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

In recent weeks, he had also been forced by the council’s environmental health officers to stop a live band from performing to mark the pub’s first anniversary as the Queen Victoria.

In a last ditch attempt to save the business this week, Mr Drake put in an offer to buy the pub from its owner Enterprise Inns - but he was unsuccessful.

He said: “Everyone keeps knocking on the door to ask why we’re closed. The whole of South Town is devastated. It’s such a shame.

“The only good thing about it is that when people walk past it, it will look the way I left it.”

Speaking at the planning committee meeting, Cllr Felicity Bunker said: “People who work in listed buildings should ask first before they do anything to the property. The building looks a bit garish and the banners shouldn’t be allowed.”

The committee voted to allow everything to remain as it is apart from the satellite dish. The pub meanwhile is now closed.