Camden New Journal - News: Goths-only rule goes as pub lightens up

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Camden New Journal - by SARA NEWMAN
Published: 14 February 2008

Pub boss AD Hill: ‘an uber-alternative bar that doesn’t care’

Goths-only rule goes as pub lightens up

DOORMEN at a Camden Town pub have relaxed its “Goths only” rules following a makeover.
The Devonshire Arms, in Hawley Crescent, one of London’s best known alternative pubs, previously turned away drinkers not wearing all-black attire.
A £6,000 refurbishment has seen ghoulish mannequins, dragons and skulls replaced by real ale and new toilets. The pub has been renamed the Hobgoblin-Devonshire Arms.
The changes have left some Goth regulars threatening to boycott the pub. A former patron, who did not wish to be named, said: “I hate the way it has evolved and I am reluctant to return. Since the mannequins and ornaments have gone, and now with cheap and tacky gargoyles on the bar, the place has lost the quirky, gothic charm that the previous managers brought to the place.”
New boss AD Hill, 24, said: “It’s a business first and foremost. Now it doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like – you’re welcome.”
He added: “The Devonshire Arms tried to be the ultimate alternative bar. The Hobgoblin-Devonshire Arms is an über-alternative bar that doesn’t care.”

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