{"id":1085444,"date":"2026-07-12T23:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1085444\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T23:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T23:27:14","slug":"pub-reopens-weeks-after-shock-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1085444\/","title":{"rendered":"Pub reopens weeks after shock closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brendan The Navigator pub in Highgate [John Hartley]<\/strong><\/p>\n

AN Irish pub has re-opened under new management, just a month after its closure shocked regulars.<\/p>\n

The Brendan the Navigator in Archway closed in June with its former tenants saying they had been \u201csqueezed out\u201d. The pub\u2019s management had said it would close permanently, citing a dispute with the building\u2019s landlord regarding repairs and \u201clong outstanding issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

The freeholders AJR Leisure, has claimed there had been \u201cbreaches\u201d of the lease and that it had tried to support its tenants.<\/p>\n

The two parties have given contrasting opinions A large banner appeared outside the property late last month, saying \u201copening July 6\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response, a social media account run by the former operators, said: \u201cWe are well aware that someone has announced that the pub is reopening on Monday. \u201cOn the basis of ongoing legal advice, we can only say, for now, that we are not reopening on Monday. To avoid anyone getting the wrong impression, we wish to be very clear that it is not us who are proposing to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pub did reopen with the same name on July 6 under new operators, the Conexus Pub Group.<\/p>\n

Olivia Isbitt, who works for Conexus and is also the daughter of the group\u2019s owner, said her family had no part in the abrupt departure of the previous publicans. \u201cWe were approached by the landlord when the pub was already shut,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She explained another of her properties had the same landlord, adding: \u201cSo when the opportunity arose to come and take over this pub, we jumped at it. \u201cThis pub is under my name. I will pop in every week to meet with management\u2026 I just want to put a great team in place and hope that people are happy with that. This isn\u2019t a site we\u2019re trying to come in and make change\u2026 I walked into a closed pub. It hurts personally seeing a pub shut so we all worked to get it open as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Isbitt said she is committed to retaining the Navigator\u2019s Irish legacy, adding: \u201cMy family are Irish, we want everyone to know that we\u2019re focused on bringing the community back into the pub. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to continue the traditional Irish dance and music. As well as listening to our patrons about what they wish to see, on both sides of the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quiz will continue and run every other Monday, as well as live music every other Saturday. We\u2019re also introducing the Irish spice bag, an Irish fast food favourite, as well as a roast menu when the kitchen reopens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Isbitt insisted this was not a corporate take over, despite her family owning more than 30 different pubs. She said:\u2008\u201cWe will continue to run it as a community pub \u2013 all our pubs are run independently, every pub has a different team and we have very close relationships with our managers.\u201d<\/p>\n

AJR\u2008Leisure, the freeholder, said in a statement:\u2008\u201dWe are pleased that an experienced independent operator has now taken over the premises under a new lease. \u201cTheir focus is to preserve the pub\u2019s long-standing tradition, support the local community, and ensure it continues to thrive as a welcoming venue for local residents for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brendan The Navigator pub in Highgate [John Hartley] AN Irish pub has re-opened under new management, just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1085445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,51,393,4884,113459,257,18394,18395,16,15],"class_list":["post-1085444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-business","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-highgate","tag-london","tag-the-camden-new-journal","tag-the-islington-tribune","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116909601474264542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1085445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}