The Black Bull to Reopen After Seven Year Absence

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Councillors grant licence despite residents' concerns

The Black Bull statue in front of the pub was mentioned in a Dickens novel. Picture: Google Streetview

September 11, 2025

A Hammersmith pub is to reopen after being shut for years despite dozens of nearby residents trying to stop it happening.

The Black Bull, off King Street, has been closed since 2018 with its licence also surrendered by its previous owner.

The site was bought by Gregorian Hotel Trading Limited in 2023. The company also owns the land on which sits the neighbouring Premier Inn and is the landlord for flats located above the pub.

Gregorian Hotel Trading Limited had initially applied to Hammersmith and Fulham Council requesting to play music until midnight Monday to Saturday and 11.30pm on Sundays, to serve alcohol until 1am or 11.30pm Sundays, and for the premises to close to the public half an hour later.

The original submission drew objections from the Met Police, the council’s Noise and Public Safety teams and 33 residents.

Following communications with the police, the applicant agreed to a number of changes to its schedule including shaving an hour off of its closing time and the timings for the sale of alcohol Monday to Saturday.

A series of further conditions were also agreed such as taking measures to ensure customers are asked to leave the premises quietly and for high definition CCTV to be installed. As such the Met withdrew its objection, with the council’s representations following suit after further engagements with the applicant.

All 33 residents however retained their objections ahead of Tuesday night’s (9 September) Licensing Sub-Committee meeting. Many of their concerns revolved around the potential impacts on noise and nuisance and the feared threat to passing schoolchildren.

One person wrote, “What seems to be proposed is a late night bar, suitable perhaps for the West End, and not one which fits in a now-residential area. The sense of the application is that it is not going to be anything like The Carpenters Arms nearby which is a quiet and restrained public house in keeping with the area.

“Is it conceivable that there won’t be people spilling onto Vencourt Place during opening hours so that they can smoke or vape? I believe that question answers itself.”

Many of the same concerns were raised by residents speaking at the meeting. At least some of those who attended live in Ravilious House, which is spitting distance from the pub.

Freddie Toye told members the area is “one of the most densely populated young academic areas in the United Kingdom”, with a number of schools very close by. He said, “It doesn’t take much imagination to consider how reinstating a drinking establishment in close proximity to these schools enables ease of access to children for those adults so minded under the influence of alcohol.”

Another resident, Michael Harley, described the pub as a “nightmare” the last time it was open, adding it was “insane” the current application was being considered.

“To allow a pub to open up in that venue, you almost could not imagine a worse venue to do it,” he said. “It literally is right smack in the middle of five schools where kids are walking home regularly on their own. It just simply is not an appropriate place.”

Kalliopi Florides, answering a question from Cllr Jose Afonso on the impacts of the pub on residents, said, “Just getting changed as a woman feels vulnerable. I’ll always have to make sure my curtains are closed. Children can be viewed. You lose that ability.”

The applicant’s counsel, Piers Warne, said Bashar Gregorian, a Director at Gregorian Hotel Trading Limited who was present at the meeting, takes the residents’ concerns “seriously”.

He added, however, that Mr Gregorian, due to also owning the Premier Inn land plus the flats above the pub, has a vested interest in it being run as a reputable establishment.

“This was a pub, had been a pub for a very long time, and Mr Gregorian is looking to return it to a pub,” he said.

Mr Gregorian later spoke to say he has rejected 14 applications from potential tenants due to them not being appropriate for the premises.

The residents, however, were unwavering. William Aylward said, “The area has changed since the pub was initially established and I think we have to recognise that. We can call it a mixed-use area as much as we want but go there, stand there, walk the streets and you will see that it is overwhelmingly residential.”

Committee members agreed to approve the application in part, allowing for the sale of alcohol until 11pm seven days a week, with the opening hours to run until 11.30pm. Further conditions were also agreed to mitigate noise, training of staff and other issues, with full details to be sent to interested parties “forthwith”.

The pub is named after the Black Bull statue outside—originally part of the old Black Bull coaching inn in Holborn, mentioned in Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit. That statue was relocated to Hammersmith in the early 20th century and now stands somewhat orphaned in the forecourt of the former pub.

Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter

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