The former function room and store room at The Magdala was converted into a residence without planning permission in 2024.
A retrospective application was made by owner and businessman Ori Kalif for the first floor two-bed flat above the South Hill Park pub.
It is due before Camden Council planners in the coming weeks – and 68 residents and amenity groups have objected, saying the application threatens the future of the landmark pub and spells the loss of a vital community meeting space.
Famous as the site of the 1955 murder by Ruth Ellis of her lover David Blakely, The Magdala has had a chequered recent past following a move in 2013 to turn it into flats.
The plans were resisted and it was sold in 2014 by Punch Taverns to Mr Kalif – along with The Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale.
He successfully applied to create two flats out of former staff accommodation on the second and third floor.
But in 2015 he was ordered by Westminster Council to rebuild the 1920s Carlton Tavern brick by brick after demolishing it without planning permission.
The Magdala, which boasts a 1930s interior, lay empty from 2016 to 2021 when Richard Morgan took over as a tenant landlord.
He has written to Camden planners saying he wouldn’t use the upstairs function room because it would increase staff, heating and business rate costs which “could put the viability of the pub into jeopardy”.
But objectors include Lib Dem councillor Linda Chung, The South End Green Association, the north London branch of CAMRA and the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum who say that losing the first floor space would undermine the pub’s designation as an Asset of Community Value and threaten its long term viability as a community facility.
The Heath and Hampstead Society pointed out it was the second application to change the first floor meeting room into a flat with the 2019 application withdrawn.
It added that when the second and third floors were turned into flats, planning permission required the owner to keep the first floor as a meeting room – and build a new staircase giving access from the pub.
“That new stair was not built – which has prevented public access to the meeting room. It is not known why action was not taken to enforce the completion of the required and approved staircase.
“The briefing note for the 2014 application states that the pub and the meeting room are acknowledged as an essential community facility that should be retained.
“The local community made constant use of the meeting room and its use is still urgently needed.”
Multiple objectors wrote to say The Magdala’s function room had brought the community together over the years for funerals, birthday parties, comedy nights, talks and neighbourhood meetings.
The Friends of The Magdala said it was previously a “hive of activity” while another called the pub “our local community gem”.
One wrote: “The use of the function room at The Magdala as a social hub hosting a variety of local events has been sorely missed since the upstairs space has been put out of action.”
Others felt granting the application would “set a terrible precedent for developers to go ahead and apply for permission retrospectively”.
One wrote: “Despite a previous refusal of permission the applicant has gone ahead in breach of planning laws to convert the space to a dwelling.”
While another called it: “An outrageous retrospective attempt to seek sanction for removing a community asset used over many years for a variety of functions.
“An enforcement order is required to stop the owner of the first floor function room from benefiting from a development that did not have planning permission.”
Joe Henry, the agent acting for Mr Calif on the planning application said it would not be appropriate to comment while the planning process was ongoing.
