From my reading of the comments/reviews page of this pub on the Beer in the Evening site, I believe this has been on the cards for some months. A pity, because I really liked the pub. I gather the building is due for demolition.
Permalink Reply by matt on October 20, 2010 at 14:49
Indeed, from the Beer in the Evening link you refer to, it appears this has been known about for some time. One commentator mentions the owner has a pub in Cambridge. Much quieter out there.
The pub was bought by C&S builders a couple of years ago and has planning permission to put up a 3 or 4 storey block of flats on the site and what used to be the calendar factory behind it. Although we put up a fight against it, permission was granted leaving the area without a valued neighbourhood amenity.
Permalink Reply by matt on October 20, 2010 at 20:49
Thanks for the info Leane. That's what I like about sites like HOL; mysteries are resolved fairly quickly! Never been to the Oakdale but know several people who enjoyed the occasional visit for their ales.
Hi. I'm the one who posted that tweet, using a friend's account.
The builders have until April 2011 to start development, so we knew it would be closing soon.
You can read all about it here : Planning Application. Although the only part that really matters now is the Appeal_Decision.pdf right at the bottom.
I've also sent an email to Individual Pubs which owns the Oakdale, asking when exactly it's shutting down.
If I find out anything new, I'll post it here and maybe on my friend's twitter.
I've stood outside here with a lemonade and a bag of crisps on quite a few occasions.. (in the 1960s)..
There's a brook that runs under Hermitage Road here and the culverting was upgraded in the sixties.. turning under where there was a gap in the houses (formerly a lake) now a small block of flats..
@Tony Slightly OT I know. I also only found out that there was a lake and brook from old maps. I presume the land was unstable for building when the terraced houses were erected.
When I first got to know the area in the early 60s there also used to be two or three? of the same style terraced houses to the north of the gap (corner of Templeton Road).
'The Gap' had been used during WW2 as an emergency water storage area and the whole site was like a concrete box.(Does any of the concrete wall still remain?) - It wasn't used in the early 60s and the small block of flats was completed in 1968.