Cllr Dave Poyser as Islington mayor

A FORMER TV man who went on to become one of Islington’s most successful mayors is leaving politics after a decade at the Town Hall.

Councillor Dave Poyser – a “tegestolo­gist” who collects and owns 2,000 beer mats – was first elected to the Hillrise ward in 2014.

A proud socialist, he said: “I really believe in, and I’ve always believed in, making the world fairer and better. And you know, all those stats, Islington is the fourth worst for child poverty – it’s a very, very poor borough. We all live here out of choice: I could go and live in a middle-class enclave but I want to live in a diverse community, and I want to make it better.”

He is particularly proud of the legacy at the Holloway Prison site. Of 1,000 new homes built on the 10-acre site, he said half would be “affordable rents” – although he accepts it wasn’t a perfect deal.

A much-lauded women’s building “would have been nice” but it wasn’t possible, he said. Instead, they got one floor. “That would have cost a lot of houses and that would have cost a lot of economic viability.”

He is also proud of the environmental gains made on his watch including Islington being one of the first councils to decarbonise its pension funds. And he said he enjoyed working in a council dominated by women.

“The fact that it’s a majority female group means that we behave differently,” he said.

“Women don’t want all this BOO, BOO, BOO, BOO, BOO sh*t. And it feels different. Actually, everything’s very, very polite.”

But that doesn’t mean he achieved everything he set out to do: one area that still bugs him is the Archway Victorian hospital which has been sitting empty for a decade. In fact, Peabody bought the site in the same year he was elected, and 10 years later it is no closer to being social housing. “That is my biggest regret,” he says.

Any changes he’d make to politics, if someone gave him a magic wand?

“You could get rid of the House of Commons and just have loads of councillors and do everything online,” he suggested. “We’re not thinking big enough.”

Cllr Poyser became Islington’s mayor in 2018, launching his mayor’s charity alongside the Turner Prize-winning artist Sir Grayson Perry.

“Grayson Perry raised loads of money for the mayor’s charity,” said Cllr Poyser. “That was just fantastic, because he was lovely.”

Having come to Islington in 1979 from Nottingham as a City University journalism student, he worked for decades as a producer with the BBC. He describes Islington as his “adopted” borough after settling in Fieldway Crescent, Holloway, with his wife, TV producer Emma Barker.

“It’s so lovely being so part of the community,” he says of his work at the Town Hall, although he admits trudging off to an obscure meeting in his ward on a cold night did sometimes feel less than rewarding. His other interests include being a podcaster and he is the vice-chair of the Institute of Tour Guides. Clients from a tour guide website described his tours as “on another level” and “the best tour guide in 10 years”.
Fellow councillor Jenny Kay described him as “a committed and hardworking advocate for Hillrise residents”.

“I will miss your ability to make me laugh even in the dark times and the post-planning committee sessions in the pub,” she added.

Councillor Paul Convery said: “Dave was one of the most effective councillors I’ve known. He’s been universally liked by constituents and in the Town Hall, a really sociable councillor with a level head and a thoroughly sensible political outlook.

“I never saw him even get cross and there’s plenty of Town Hall stuff that can be infuriating.”