Dear Londoners — Happy Monday! We hope you feel well-rested after your weekend. This week, Peter's off on holiday, so it's Hannah and Andrew manning the fort, prowling eagle-eyed round the ramparts in case we spot any powerful figures who need to be held to account (as always, let us know if you have any information on that front).
In today's blockbuster briefing, we have the strange saga of the Lord Brooke, a den of iniquity and lawlessness that's now been embroiled in a row over a very different form of rule breaking: a hidden, illicit Buddhist temple. More of that below, plus the results are in on Ealing's beaver experiment, a controversy over picture day at Hackney council and farewell to one of the capital's best-loved pub landlords. Read on to find out.
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The former “drug haven” that became an illicit, undercover temple
When the Lord Brooke pub in Walthamstow shut down in 2014, it was a relief for many locals. During a police raid, officers arrested multiple dealers and found evidence of cocaine residue all over the pub, including on the bar, as well as empty baggies of cannabis. To add to that, it turns out there were groups of illegal migrants being housed upstairs. All in all, the pub had no oversight from bosses and was a “drug haven” that needed to be shut down. It closed, seemingly permanently, that year.
Which is what makes what happens next so bizarre. That year, the Confucius and Tao Association (CTA) bought the Lord Brooke with a view to converting it into a temple where they could preach and promote the teachings of Buddhism, Confucius and the Great Tao. The only problem was when they put in a planning application to convert the place, it was rejected: the council believed the pub was a community asset that needed protection. Not only could they not alter the building physically, but the space couldn’t be used for anything other than pulling pints. That was seemingly that.
Except that the CTA, according to newly filed council documents uncovered by the Waltham Forest Echo, have been using the abandoned pub as a temple for the last decade plus. But because of the council ruling, the whole thing was done secretly.
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