The Crescent Public House

This public house has been around since 1860. It has been a popular haunt of students and real ale enthusiasts for years. Local mythology has it that Marx and Engels supped here after spending their days doing research at Chethams Library - work that would lead to the Communist Manifesto. Sounds a bit too Citizen Smith to me.

Three weeks ago the pub suddenly closed. Press speculation is that the Chinese investors who bought it some while back might sit on it and let it fall into disrepair so that it can be replaced with something more profitable. New apartment development is arriving on the Crescent, so there are bound to be pressures, especially this close to the University.

The building is Grade II listed. Listing means that owners need permission to do things. But it places no requirement on owners to keep their buildings in good repair, which I think is a major fault of the UK system - especially when local authorities are facing massive budget pressures and do not have the wherewithal to readily step in.

We will have to see what happens next. The one thing I would do is ...... repaint the building, and get rid of that horrible green paint !