Revealed: the twists and turns in fight to save Crown and Anchor as campaigners ready for Sunday rally
Die-hard supporters of a beloved Adelaide pub will rally this Sunday to keep the 171-year-old venue, a hub for live music – and socialisation alive.
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Former Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor has used her authority as chair of the SA Heritage Council to order the under-threat Crown and Anchor hotel be protected – for now.
On Friday Ms Verschoor directed the 171-year-old Grenfell St watering hole be granted an interim listing on the state’s heritage register.
“What that does is, it provisionally lists it to be protected while the assessment of its heritage significance is able to be carried out … it is a temporary protection,” she said.
It also allows for the community’s views to be formally considered with a three-month public consultation to open from this Monday.
Ms Verschoor, who took over the top role at the independent advisory body after radio personality and self-described “history and heritage nut” Keith Conlon stepped down early last year, said the move wasn’t out of the ordinary.
“It has been used before … I know Keith used it several times and I have been approached to use it on a few occasions in the last year,” she said.
However, she said there needed to be “a level of comfort” the application would meet strict criteria.
“There is a high threshold for state listing … heritage significance has to satisfy at least one, if not more, of the criteria set out,” she said.
“(In this case) it has been deemed there is potential for a listing on the register. It now has to be assessed as a heritage place.”
Singapore-based purpose-built student accommodation developer Wee Hur Holdings Ltd has lodged plans for a multi-storey student accommodation at the site.
While the Victorian-era building has some protection under its local heritage place listing, the proposed “partial demolition and adaptive reuse” of the site has thrown the pub’s business operations into doubt.
As of yesterday, almost 25 000 people had signed an online petition to “Save the Cranker” from being closed down as a gig venue.
Today hundreds of fans of the pub are expected to rally in person at the pub, to lobby for changes to the state’s planning laws to allow for social and cultural values to be considered when approving new developments.
Save the Cranker campaign spokesman Patrick Maher said while his group hadn’t been responsible for the heritage protection application, the temporary listing “buys us some time”.
“The groundswell of community support we have received has been quite lovely … it has been cross-generational … it really is every aspect of the modern Adelaide society that has stepped in with their own little interest in this fight – it is really heartwarming and inspiring,” he said.
“I think everyone loves (the Crown and Anchor) because it is like a second home, it is welcoming to everyone … it is an open place – it creates a vibe where you are encouraged to interact with anyone else that is there.
“The appeal is different for every person; you’ve got the live music, the seats out the front, the pool tables … the restaurant upstairs, Midnight Spaghetti.
“If you look all the way back to Colonel Light’s plan for Adelaide he had pubs on street corners, ‘a light in the dark for the weary traveller’ … that still holds true today at the Crown and Anchor.
“We believe there ought to be a third category, somewhere in the middle (between Local Heritage Place and State Heritage Listing) which protects these places from destruction while permitting them to grow as the community does – Premier (Peter) Malinauskas says he wants Adelaide to grow up, after all.
“The simplest solution is a code amendment which the minister could enact today, if he wanted to.”
Mr Maher paid tribute to the tireless band of campaigners who came together five weeks ago.
“(This weekend) is the five week anniversary of the campaign policy – we have a team of over 60 volunteers organised into two divisions.”
He said today’s rally was “anyone and everyone who has ever supported the Crown and Anchor”, urging them to “turn up and buy a beer, play a game of pool.”
Greens MLC Robert Simms is pushing for sweeping changes to the state’s planning laws.
“While this is a positive development, the threat remains and we need the government to do everything they it can to protect this iconic pub and we also need to see a real overhaul of our heritage laws … the Crown and Anchor has such a proud history and tradition as a live music venue here in Adelaide, we want to make sure that is protected going into the future,” he said.
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Originally published as Revealed: the twists and turns in fight to save Crown and Anchor as campaigners ready for Sunday rally
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