Customers poured into the Old Justice pub yesterday as it celebrated its grand opening six years after it closed.
On Monday, February 13, new owners Will Nikhwai, 28, and Paul McAleer, 34, swung the doors open, ushering in a new era for the Grade-II listed Bermondsey boozer.
“It’s just amazing and a great feeling to have a pub we’ve been working on for four or five months and bring it back to its function,” said Paul.
The pub on Bermondsey Wall East was almost ruined when an off-shore developer submitted plans to turn the building into flats in 2017.
The new owner started tearing up the Tudor-style interior and removing the bar, without listed building consent.
Thankfully, Southwark Council intervened and forced the developer to pay up for the restoration, completed in December.
Will and Paul, who have managed pubs across London, wasted no time in snapping up the venue. “The two of us really enjoy pubs with big local histories,” Will told the News.
The Old Justice has been popular ever since its construction in 1933 and formed the backdrop to Sir Paul McCartney’s ‘No More Lonely Nights’ music video. It was also a filming location for the 1970s TV classic ‘The Sweeney’.
Steve Cornish, 70, from Rotherhithe, who came down to enjoy his first Guinness on the opening day, recalled visiting it as a child.
He remembers a “staunch family pub” where “your parents and grandparents had their own little table”.
“We were overjoyed when we found out Will and Paul were taking over,” he said.
His friend David Fairfield, 62, from Downtown, said: “I’m here to support people who want to go back to basic traditional venues because, once we lose that, we’ve lost everything.”
The new drinks menu includes a house lager at £5, Guinness for £5, and a range of craft beers.
The back room has been restored, fitted with a projector for sport, and there are plans to install a darts room.
Bermondsey’s The Old Justice pub restored after previous owner tore up its Tudor-style fittings
The new publicans hope to host folk music, open-mic nights and serve food from a yet-to-be-built kitchen beneath the pub.
They will have an official launch party in the coming weeks, where they hope to share historical photos of the pub, tracing its story from 1933 to the present day.
“It’s a question of how do you cater to the new generation of Bermondsey and the traits of the more traditional people who have been here their whole lives and were born here?” said Paul.
This Borough pub has now closed after over 200 years of serving the community
Nodding in agreement, Will said: “The aim is to blur that line because… if you’re a good pub there should be no difference between the customers who come here.
“It’s not just a pub, it’s a public house – a place where the public can feel at home.”
Man who built a house in a skip is receiving a warm welcome from his new neighbours in Bermondsey
