CUSTOMERS seeking cheap bitters, all-day coffee refills and bargain breakfasts in Angel will soon have to travel further afield – after it was announced an affordable pub is set to close its doors.

The Angel in Islington High Street is one of 32 cheap and cheerful branches of JD Wetherspoon put up for sale this week.

Among the disappointed users of the pub is a health organisation based in Islington, whose manager argues its closure will have a “knock-on emotional and social effect”.

Lawrence Curtis, who runs social enterprise Healthy Minds Healthy Bods, said he often uses the venue as his “office”.

“It’s free coffee refills all day – you can buy coffee and stay there for six to eight hours,” he said. “For people like me who use it to get out of the flat and still work on my project without spending loads of money, it’s a huge thing.

Lawrence Curtis

“When money is tight, it’s a place you can go – you don’t have to drink. It’s cheap and you can sit down and it makes such a difference to mental health,” he said.

“It will affect people who need community – I think people who can afford to go to nice coffee shops maybe don’t need that community as much as poorer people.

“It’s about getting people out, especially after the pandemic.”

Mr Curtis is concerned about the regulars. He said: “You go in there and see the same people. For some of them, that is their life, it’s where they go to meet their friends.”

Meanwhile, guitarist Andy Socratous, 65, said he was “upset” to hear the pub was being sold on, adding: “I’ve done a lot of meetings there, I’ve even met fans from abroad there. What I like about it is you can go in there and it’s not expensive. The regulars are always in there, and pensioners and people without money.”

Andy Socratous

He said: “The youngsters come in the evenings. It’s a meeting place, I bump into people I’ve not seen for years in there, people I’ve not seen since before Covid, and we have a chat.”

Mr Socratous said he even bumped into a former band member from his teenage years in The Angel once.

“You can’t beat it – it’s a big place,” he said.

The leasehold of the pub is already on sale on the Savills website, with current yearly rent for the building listed as £189,000.

The White Swan, another JD Wetherspoon pub near Highbury & Islington tube station, has not been affected by the closures.

The company said it had made the decision to shut some pubs because it was concerned that it could lose £30million in rising wages and repairs to its buildings.