The popular Exmouth Arms pub

ONE of Islington’s most popular pubs has been put up for sale – but its management say regulars shouldn’t worry.

The Exmouth Arms in Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell, was built in 1887 and has been listed with an asking price of £4.75 million by property specialists AG&G. Fans of the pub who saw stories about the potential sale contacted the Tribune and asked us to investigate ­– and the response from the team from behind the bar was that last orders would not be any time soon.

Details of a let contract lasting another 30 years means it is likely to remain a pub whoever buys the building. The pub itself has a three-year lease protecting against anyone turning it into a coffee shop or an estate agency.

Lucy Firth, the assistant manager, told the Tribune: “It is having enough success that I can say it will probably get the lease for another 15 years when it expires in 3 years time.”

Fans watching the Euros at the bar last month

The pub had been ‘modernised’ in the early 2000s to display a black, contemporary front that in some ways betrayed the building’s ornate Victorian design.

Following renovations in 2011, the pub reverted to antiquity and recovered its traditional green tiling front.

In recent years, in the face of present-day trends for contemporary revamps, residents and other Exmouth Arms loyalists petitioned for the interior and exterior of the pub to maintain its unique features ­­– including diamond stained glass windows.

Ms Firth said the “huge regular community here adds to the community feel” of the pub which also features local breweries on tap.”

She added: “I think for us [staff], we all live local, we all studied and have grown up here, and the majority of us used to come here regularly before we worked here. It has also allowed us to stay in the community a bit more.’

The pub, which in the early 20th century was once class segregated with an entrance in Spatfield Street assigned to working-class boozers and the Exmouth Market entrance for upper-class frolickers.

It also has a rooftop area which is currently closed to the public but is being considered under the current management, Urban Pubs and Bars, for renovation and use.