The company bought the pub, then called Ariadne’s Nectar Bar, in 2023, with renovation work currently ongoing.
Last year, neighbours were left infuriated after a huge sign reading “Allsopp’s” appeared on the side of the building, with some claiming the owners were imposing the TV presenter’s name on the area.
But it later transpired Allsopp’s great-great-grandfather owned a beer brand of the same name, which is now being revived by her cousin Jamie and is expected to be sold at the pub.
Now, documents submitted to local planning authority, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, show that Wentworth Andersen hopes to reinstate the original lightwell that once lay on the pavement outside the Victorian pub.
To do so, they would use conservation-grade black grilles painted in black gloss.
Two similar lightwells still exist in the pub, one of which has been paved over, but the plan to reintroduce another has angered neighbours.
In an 800-word letter of objection, one resident said the feature was “baffling and frankly retrograde”.
“Community spaces are precious, and their return is usually cause for celebration,” she said. “However, any enthusiasm I felt has been thoroughly eclipsed by the baffling and frankly retrograde decision to reintroduce a design feature that belongs firmly in the past – if not in the bin.”
She said that, as the mother of a young daughter, she wanted to be able to stroll “through her neighbourhood without fearing a low-angle photo shoot”.
“And now I find myself wondering whether this grille is intended as some sort of open-air museum piece on how not to design public infrastructure.”
She added that as upskirting has been a criminal offence since 2019, she thought “designing public spaces that actively enable it were behind us” and the plan “seems to forget the last decade ever happened”.
“What’s next – a request to reinstall the pillory outside the tube station for ‘character’? Should I be grateful the application doesn’t include a ladder and subscription viewing service?
“In short: I would rather not have to explain to my daughter why, in her own neighbourhood, she must avoid a certain patch of pavement lest she inadvertently become the star of someone’s grainy underground film.”
She asked if the council would be “installing signs advising women to tread lightly” and that “nothing says ‘welcome in for a pint’ like an open viewing grid underfoot”.
“The fact it was concreted over more than two decades ago speaks volumes. Someone, somewhere, clearly saw it for what it was: a liability, not a legacy.”
She added: “Add a few drinks, a gathering crowd, and a conveniently placed grille with a view, and suddenly we’re no longer talking about a quaint restoration, but a voyeur’s deluxe box seat.”
‘This is development by stealth’
Following complaints earlier this year about building materials being left on the pavement, others said they worried the pub owners were attempting to usher basement flats in through the back door.
“This lightwell application might seem minor, even quaint, on the surface. But let’s not be naïve,” one said.
“It’s the opening move in a much larger game...This is development by stealth, and it’s precisely the kind of piecemeal planning strategy that the courts have already warned against.”
Another said the developer wanted to reinstall a lightwell that had not been used for decades, when the pub had not been open for several years and the upper floors had already been “carved up” into flats.
“This is not lawful development; it’s a transparent attempt to sidestep proper planning scrutiny,” they said. “Reopening a public house serves the community. Reopening a lightwell serves the developer.”
Others complained that for nearly two years the site had “languished in a state of perpetual renovation, with precious little sign of progress – let alone completion”.
“And yet, behind this protracted facade of activity, a rather more insidious agenda appears to be unfolding,” one resident said.
The row comes as Wentworth Andersen recently withdrew its latest application relating to the refurbishment of the pub, a day before the council was due to make a decision about it.
The company wanted to replace the cellar cooling and kitchen extract systems, and alter a rear flue.
It is not known whether it will submit another application at a later date.
Allsopp, 53, and Andersen have been a couple for more than two decades and they have two teenage sons.
Wentworth Andersen was contacted for comment.
