The Tabard Becomes 'Asset of Community Value'
Bedford Park Society secures extra protect for local pub and theatre
The Bedford Park Society has succeeded in its application to Hounslow Council to list its local pub, the Tabard, in Bath Road, Chiswick, as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) under the 2011 Localism Act.
This means that should any owners wish to sell the Tabard pub and theatre – constructed from a former meeting room inside the pub – or change its use, they must first give local community groups the opportunity to purchase the premises. It also gives added protection to the building, which is already listed Grade II*.
Photo credit: David Budworth
The Tabard was built in 1880 as part of the original Bedford Park estate and designed by famous Victorian architect Richard Norman Shaw. The pub, and the theatre remain at the heart of the world’s first garden suburb.
As well as being a popular local drinking hole the Tabard is often used as a meeting place for local clubs and societies. The Tabard Theatre has a strong local following as well as a London-wide reputation.
The Society’s chairman, Peter Eversden, commented: “The Society is delighted about this listing of the pub as an Asset of Community Value, on behalf of all people living in the area who use the Tabard or visit its excellent theatre productions. We have the opportunity now to intervene if it is proposed for closure or conversion to another use.”
Unlike later garden suburb founders – who tended towards teetotalism – Bedford Park’s founder Jonathan Carr was happy to have a pub at the heart of the community he began creating in 1875. He commissioned Richard Norman Shaw – who acted as estate architect when Bedford Park was first developed – to design an inn on Bath Road attached to what was then a general store.
The Tabard opened in 1880 with a sign featuring a medieval trumpet player painted by local artist Thomas Matthews Rooke. It is decorated with tiles by William de Morgan and Walter Crane, while its walls were once hung with paintings by the Victorian artists who lived in the area.
The pub interior has been subjected to various modernisation schemes, some less damaging than others following intervention by the Society.
November 25, 2013