Arthur Stirling and Simon Read at the Compton Arms

FORMER regulars of a 200-year-old watering hole – once described by George Orwell as one of his favourites – returned this week to support it ahead of a licensing review.

The Compton Arms landlord has said the pub could close if he is forced to comply with a set of conditions demanded by neighbours, who have warned of unacceptable noise in recent years.

Arthur Stirling, 84, went to the pub to show solidarity after learning about the licence review in online posts.

He said: “We saw people complaining and wanting to get it closed and I just wanted to see it again, maybe for the last time.

“A place like this needs support – so many pubs are closing. I can’t imagine any rowdy behaviour here. I should hope these people would want to use the pub and make it a part of their life.”

Mr Stirling recalled an era when pubs were “very much the centre of everyone’s social life”.

Simon Read, 62, recalled going to the pub in Compton Avenue every Christmas when he was a kid. He said: “We used to come here every Christmas Day and you really got a sense of the local community.

“Lots of people will know the Compton Arms because it’s like a village pub. I came down today to possibly see it before it goes and also add my support.”

Last week Time Out named the Compton Arms as the best pub in England and Wales.

But some neighbours do not feel the same way.

One resident, in documents submitted to the licensing review, said: “We value the benefits a responsibly-run pub brings to the wider neighbourhood and borough and do not want to lose it. We do, however, want peaceful coexistence and the ability to enjoy our homes in safety and peacefully.”

Responding to public criticism after the pub’s owners posted a plea for support on Facebook, one neighbour said: “They think we’re trying to close the pub. So I think I can understand why people will go, ‘Oh, it makes me mad these NIMBYs’, because that’s how it’s been framed.”

The 53-year-old business manager and his wife, a former teaching assistant at Canonbury Primary School, argued that it had become a destination for a younger crowd and that five pub managers had come and gone since he moved into the area 20 years ago.

The residents are calling for the installation of “acoustic lobbies” to reduce noise escaping and air conditioning so windows and doors do not need to be open.

Under the conditions requested by the applicants, the pub would still be allowed to have football fans congregating outside on the pavement as well as Morris dancers, who come to the pub on May Day.

However, in a statement posted on Instagram, the pub’s owners said: “Should this minority of four succeed in their requests, this famous, historic pub will no longer be financially viable for us, or any other responsible operator. It’s that serious.

“A minority get used to the quiet [during Covid] then decide the pub that’s been there since the 1800s, that is an asset of community value, is now a nuisance… it makes me want to cry.”

An Islington Council statement said: “A review process of the licence for Compton Arms has been invoked by residents, and the case will be heard by an Islington Council licensing sub-committee. As the case is under review, the council is unable to comment any further at this stage.”

The review will take place on September 17.