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By George! Kate and Amy win battle to save stars' music pub
Mark Blunden, Evening Standard03.07.08
An East End music venue is saved today after stars including Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss launched a campaign to protect it.
The singer joined a string of musicians and actors including Sir Ian McKellen in the fight to save the George Tavern in Stepney.
A planning proposal for a block of flats next door that the campaign said would ruin the venue was rejected last night.
The Grade II-listed pub, famed as a live music venue and as a photography location for its rare 360-degree light, had come under threat from plans to demolish an adjoining building and replace it with the five-storey block.
The George's owner Pauline Forster had argued the plans by Swan Housing Association would have cut out the light and killed off live music at the pub.
Ms Forster said live music would be ruined at the venue because the shared wall between the pub and flats would make quiet living for residents impossible.
Tower Hamlets council agreed and criticised the "over dominant" and "out of scale" development, which they said breached planning laws, as it rejected the proposals last night.
Winehouse, 24, welcomed the news today, saying she had treasured memories of the George. Her spokesman said: "Amy is delighted that the George has been saved. It's a place she cares about a great deal and thinks it is good for the community. Amy has a lot of special memories and made a lot of friends there and she's thrilled."
The venue, which dates from the 17th century, has seen the likes of Moss, Winehouse, the Rolling Stones, Justin Timberlake and actor Adrien Brody all photographed there.
The pub is also hugely popular with artists and musicians and has its own theatre, workshops, art galleries and concert hall.
Ms Forster said: " I'm absolutely delighted, but we could not have done it without all the people who supported our campaign, from the celebrities to the artists and of course all our regulars."
But the move has upset some neighbours who criticised celebrity involvement in the campaign. Patricia Bird, 70, said: "The George shouldn't have brought them into it. Amy Winehouse has never lived here and we've been here for 40 years."
George Tavern regular Harry Diamond, 84, said: "It's great the development has been turned down. The two couldn't live side-by-side."
Ms Forster now hopes to put in her own bid for the site earmarked for the flats, a disused nightclub called Stepney's, with Sir Ian and others. They hope to turn it into a community venue.
Swan Housing Association declined to comment on their plans for the site. Spokesman Simon Dunn-Lwin said: "We were led to believe we had an agreement."
