Hole in the Wall pub boarded up

Hole in the Wall, Sutton Lane North; Peter Apostoli

Rent rises blamed on pub closing down

The Hole in the Wall pub on Sutton Lane North in Chiswick has been shut and boarded up. A van from security company vpsgroup drew up and did the work on Friday (13 June).

Paul Durham, the pub’s last manager, told The Chiswick Calendar he and his wife Seda had handed back the keys on Thursday. They took over the pub in August 2024 and ran it as a family gastro pub after the previous managers left in May of that year.

They blamed rent rises making continuing to run the pub untenable.

The pub was part of the Stonegate group which operates over four and a half thousand pubs across the UK, including the Mitchell & Butlers, Slug and Lettuce and Walkabout brands. In 2020 they purchased the Ei Group for £1.27bn, making it the largest pub company in the UK.

But the freehold is apparently owned by Lockhart Global Ltd. which is registered in the British Virgin Islands with a correspondence address in Jersey.

Photographs Cameron Kerr

“I was contacted by agents representing Lockhart several times”, Paul told The Chiswick Calendar.

“My understanding was Stonegate wanted to enter a CVA with them or return the keys. We had already discussed with Stonegate that the pub could not survive on the rent rises we were facing and returned the property to them on Thursday.

“My belief is that Stonegate will not trade the pub again and that Lockhart global ltd will lease the pub privately”.

Prior to taking over the Hole in the Wall Paul and Seda ran a successful pub in Southgate, north London.

The Chiswick Calendar has contacted Stonegate to try and confirm their intentions for the building’s future.

Photograph Cameron Kerr

“A sad day for Chiswick”

The pub has changed hands several times in recent years. Mark and Aneta Barratt ran it as the Queen’s Head until May 2024. Before that it was The Smokehouse and before that, the Hole in the Wall. Records show there has been a pub on the site since 1722.

The current building was designed in 2025 by pub architect Nowell Parr, who also designed the Old Pack horse on Chiswick High Road and a number of pubs across west London.

Mark Barratt told The Chiswick Calendar:

“Over the years we ran the Queens Head with a very loyal following, hosting many local social events including weddings and corporate events, it was supported by many from within the local community.

“The success was seen by many and this led Stonegate to believe that they could take over the lease when our term finished to run it as a managed site, they then at the last moment realised that it was not going to be that simple and asked us to remain but we had already made plans to move on and lost faith and a great amount of money with them, so with a heavy heart we left.

“It is such a shame for the locals and the community to have lost this great pub because Stonegate assumed that it would be easy to take over from a team that had built up a solid local pub  with a solid reputation that is not on the main high road, they got it wrong and now the consequences are there for all to see”.

Local resident Peter Apostoli echoed his comment, saying:

“It’s a sad day for Chiswick. After a pub standing on the sight of Sutton Lane North W4 since the 1800’s.

“A pub where famous celebrities frequented as the likes of Tommy Cooper with his celebrity friends. A very sad day for Chiswick and the community”.

He sent us this photograph of the street with the pub in from 1887, when it was the Hole in the Wall.

Hole in the Wall 1887