Hoxton pub that survived the Blitz is saved from demolition

A Victorian pub earmarked for demolition to make way for an £18.9 million museum extension has been saved, and the architects behind the plans have been dropped.

Sir David Chipperfield’s design for the Geffrye Museum extension in Hoxton had included demolishing the disused Marquis of Lansdowne pub, which survived the Blitz.

More than 2,000 people signed a petition calling for the pub to be saved, and branding the plans “vandalism”.

David Chipperfield Architects won an international competition in 2010 to propose a plan for the museum extension that would include new galleries, a library and a restaurant within several historical buildings at the site. But Hackney councillors rejected the proposals in May against the advice of town hall planning officers.

The museum director David Dewing said at the time he was “bitterly disappointed”. But now the museum has dropped David Chipperfield and is recruiting new architects, saying any future plans would have to include the retention of the pub.