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The owners of the Boleyn Tavern have come up with a novel way to ensure the pub’s survival after the club moves to the Olympic Stadium in 2014.
The whole pub is to be demolished and moved brick by brick to a site in the Olympic Village close to the new ground. A spokesman for the pub’s owners told us “it wouldn’t be financially viable for us to keep the pub open after the club moves and, unless we do something, the building would end up being boarded up and left to rot”.
Despite its lack of a decent real ale, the pub is listed in CAMRA guides for its Victorian architecture and interior and it is anticipated that the project will be overseen by pub experts from the beer drinkers’ pressure group to ensure that the authenticity of the pub’s atmosphere is maintained. The CAMRA City and East London Branch secretary told us: “We will be keeping a close eye on the things and we’ll resist any attempts by the owners to update the interior once the move to Stratford is complete. Some of the carpets in there must have been laid down when the pub first opened and as such form a vital part of East London history, so we will be insisting that they stay.”
The down side to the move is that the pub plans to close down at the end of the current season in order that the move can be completed in time for the Olympic opening ceremony in 2012. The pub’s owner told us “we will need to get the pub on to the new site by August 2012 to take advantage of the influx of sports fans, as well as those who like synchronised swimming. Also, given the amount of work required to convert the stadium into a football ground we’d have had trouble booking a low-loader to take the bricks over there if we left it until nearer the time the club moves”. He quipped “Since it takes forever for our customers to get served on matchdays anyway we’re not sure that too many will notice a further two year delay!”
It is thought that plans to undertake a similar project with other matchday watering holes were considered but were ditched over technical considerations. The Black Lion’s outside lavatory was deemed to be “not in keeping” with the proposed new surroundings whilst it was thought that the building housing the Earl of Wakefield wouldn’t survive the removal of the old wallpaper.
The whole pub is to be demolished and moved brick by brick to a site in the Olympic Village close to the new ground. A spokesman for the pub’s owners told us “it wouldn’t be financially viable for us to keep the pub open after the club moves and, unless we do something, the building would end up being boarded up and left to rot”.
Despite its lack of a decent real ale, the pub is listed in CAMRA guides for its Victorian architecture and interior and it is anticipated that the project will be overseen by pub experts from the beer drinkers’ pressure group to ensure that the authenticity of the pub’s atmosphere is maintained. The CAMRA City and East London Branch secretary told us: “We will be keeping a close eye on the things and we’ll resist any attempts by the owners to update the interior once the move to Stratford is complete. Some of the carpets in there must have been laid down when the pub first opened and as such form a vital part of East London history, so we will be insisting that they stay.”
The down side to the move is that the pub plans to close down at the end of the current season in order that the move can be completed in time for the Olympic opening ceremony in 2012. The pub’s owner told us “we will need to get the pub on to the new site by August 2012 to take advantage of the influx of sports fans, as well as those who like synchronised swimming. Also, given the amount of work required to convert the stadium into a football ground we’d have had trouble booking a low-loader to take the bricks over there if we left it until nearer the time the club moves”. He quipped “Since it takes forever for our customers to get served on matchdays anyway we’re not sure that too many will notice a further two year delay!”
It is thought that plans to undertake a similar project with other matchday watering holes were considered but were ditched over technical considerations. The Black Lion’s outside lavatory was deemed to be “not in keeping” with the proposed new surroundings whilst it was thought that the building housing the Earl of Wakefield wouldn’t survive the removal of the old wallpaper.
the 
or the 
either way it wont go to the " Nearly Harry,s New Gaff " 