Landlords of old Rosslyn Arms and Café Hampstead premises looking to reopen pub on historic site – under new management

The stripped-out interiors of Cafe Hampstead. Picture: Supplied (Image: Archant)

This comes almost a year after a “notice of peaceable re-entry” revealed the landlords of the site – at 48 Rosslyn Hill – had prematurely ended a lease agreement with its former tenants,

The historic building, home to Tel Aviv-style restaurant Café Hampstead until it shut in July 2019, opened as a pub in 1869.

Workers were seen stripping out the old restaurants fittings last week.

READ MORE: Cafe Hampstead: Troubled Rosslyn HIll restaurant shuts abruptly due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’Landlords Ei Group Ltd have confirmed to the Ham&High that they are in have had “significant interest” in the venue – and that it wanted to once more see a thriving pub in the premises.

Rosslyn Arms Hampstead (Image: � Nigel Sutton email pictures@nigelsuttonphotography.com)

A spokesperson for Ei Publican Partnerships said: “We can confirm that Café Hampstead is currently closed but we have had significant interest in the site and plan to reopen in the very near future with a new publican.

“We would like to reassure customers that we are committed to ensuring that this site remains an attractive and thriving pub at the heart of the local community.”

When the pub was shut, the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum included it in attempts to list 12 pubs in Hampstead as Assets of Community Value – but this was never achieved.

ACV protection has not served to keep other pubs running either, the Old White Bear in New End to name just one remains shut, while the Magdala in South Hill Park has yet to reopen despite a would-be landlord successfully getting a licence. Dick Morgan told this newspaper in January the reopening was “bogged down in legals”.

Alex Nicoll vice-chair of the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum welcomed the news, saying: “The forum would be very supportive of the return of a pub. Too many pubs in Hampstead have been lost, and several are in abbeyance.”

After a short spell as a bar called Bar Room Bar, the pub shut it doors in 2012 and it took until 2018 for it to reopen as an eatery. But its new incarnation was mired in allegations revealed by the Ham&High demonstrating non-payment of staff and creditors, and in July last year it ceased trading – with an abrupt notice on the front door and sign suggesting landlords Ei Ltd had retaken possession of the property.