Brendan the Navigator in Highgate Hill  [John Hartley @loveforsalelondon]

A POPULAR Irish pub is looking for new premises after being “squeezed out” from its location in Archway.

Owners of Brendan the Navigator announced this week that the pub was “closed with immediate effect”.

They wrote online: “Despite looking very promising as late as last night, our landlord has seen fit to take the premises from us suddenly rather than negotiate a solution to long outstanding issues with the developers next door and the repairs of damage to the pub from his flats upstairs. We are squeezed out as a result.”

Kate Calvert, co-founder and chair of the Better Archway Forum, said it was a “terrible thing” that Brendan the Navigator was getting “the rug pulled from under it”.

She told the Tribune: “It went through zillions of changes of ownership, and this was the first time it had worked in years, and it really did work. I know people from their 20s to their 80s who went to that pub and enjoyed it.”

Ms Calvert added: “It’s an incredibly hard thing to pull off. It’s so expensive and it’s not a fantastic location in terms of getting to it, and even so people went to it. You can see all the pubs one by one are being damaged and removed.”

Traditional Irish music helped to pull in the punters at the pub [John Hartley @loveforsalelondon]

Meanwhile, Holloway-based “pubfluencer” Jimmy McIntosh, who posts videos under the handle “London Dead Pubs”, said it was “an absolute travesty” that the local was closing down.

“The pub was always a beacon of hospitality on that arduous slog of a hill up to Highgate, and will be sorely missed for its food, warmth, music, and pints.”

Mr McIntosh added: “While I don’t know the complete and exact reasons for closure, the council’s decision to grant permission in 2022 for a block of flats virtually on top of the pub can’t have helped, and it’s a shame the building’s landlord decided to shut the pub rather than sort out the damage he’d caused to the pub downstairs.

“Last time the pub shut [as The Old Crown] it was derelict for at least three years – the same can’t be allowed to happen again and I hope that new operators take over the premises with haste.”

The Brendan the Navigator team are now searching for a new location to set up shop, where regulars can continue to enjoy the frequent live music and perfectly-pulled pints.

“We are sincerely grateful to our lovely staff, friends and customers, to all the musicians, singers, dancers and furry friends whom we were privileged to service and to the community of Highgate and Archway”, the closing statement read.

Councillor James Potts, the Town Hall’s planning chief and a long-time pub enthusiast, told the Tribune that he was “very concerned” about the “sudden closure” of the pub.

“I have already reached out to them to see what has happened and how the council can help, and I stand ready to help get Brendan the Navigator back in business as soon as possible,” he said.

Cllr Potts added: “I have successfully campaigner to get The Mother Red Cap down the road reopened, and I will fight to save this pub too.”

The pub is not the first to close down in the area in recent times. Last November the owner of independent gastro-pub St John’s Tavern, in Junction Road, cited rising costs and the location among reasons why he was forced to shut up shop after 27 years.

Nic Sharpe told the Tribune at the time: “No one goes to Archway because, let’s face it, Archway is a bit rough. You’ve got Crouch End, Highbury, Canonbury – people will always choose those spots over Archway.”

The freeholders were approached for comment.