20 August (Part 1) - They wanted the pub to close, now they are not so sure
Over the past 24 hours several people have reported that the Charlotte public house in Crayford
which was put up for sale some time ago is to become some sort of refuge or hostel for sex offenders.
No one has provided any evidence that it might be true.
It would appear that
the story was posted anonymously - never a good sign - on Facebook and was
shared by a large number of people alarmed at the prospect of a Crayford full of
marauding rapists looking for victims. One of my contacts lives very close to
the pub and can occasionally be found inside it and it is all news to him. His
information is that the pub will close at the end of the month and converted to
flats. It’s only what the barman told him but it is also what the
Lucia-Hennis’s (the licensees) are suggesting.
The pub was famously managed by Councillor Geraldene Lucia-Hennis and her
husband but they have always said it was owned by the brewery who will presumably
decide what they would like to do with it. Bexley Council could buy it, they
have been bidding for property recently, but I would doubt an offenders’ hostel
would be looked on favourably in a Tory area.
On
the other hand the Charlotte is not a total stranger to sex related offences. When she
was Mayor, Councillor Sharon Massey used it to host
a charity strip show.
Totally contrary to the terms of the pub’s licence but when has upholding
the law been a concern for the inner circle on Bexley Council?
It’s not impossible that Bexley Council buys the Charlotte but the Facebook and Streetlife
stories appear to be nothing but rumour for which no one has
provided any evidence. It has a single common source; someone so
confident of it that they choose to remain anonymous.