Preserve The Maypole in Chigwell it's a cherished heritage building

The Maypole in Chigwell has significant heritage value as a place frequented by author Charles Dickens who also used a combination of the Kings Head Inn and Maypole Pub to form the characterised Maypole Inn (probably referencing the Kings Head Inn), in his book Barnaby Rudge.

Furthermore, the use of the car park for an 1800's horse-drawn-carriage, long bus service is of historical note, made more relevant in our current times by many who remember later use of the car park by London Transport buses until 1994.

Besides if you look at the leaded windows of the pub which were displayed yesterday, after the ugly wooden boards that have covered this impressive feature of the iconic building, were removed. You will note with some satisfaction that they are still intact and as radiant as ever. I had applied for Historic England to seek listed building status of the Maypole Pub which was rejected, as they felt the historic significance through the unproven link to Dickens was not strong enough. I have since provided evidence of the horse-drawn coach service and London Transport Bus use, a picture taken from Barnaby Rudge mentioning Chigwell Row and an image of the leaded windows. I can think of no other location in Chigwell Row that has such distinctive windows - barring All Saint's Church of course. The leaded windows seem to have piqued Historic England's interest along with the other data and I hope this will change their focus. Even if these details make credible a listing of the building, we may still have to await a planning application submission, before action is taken.

Knocking down such an iconic building is not necessary, new residential units could be created within the confines of the existing building, which could be brought to life with a new lick of paint and some wood treatment.