The Guardian reported last week that students from Kingston School of Architecture, Landscape and Interior Design have launched a bid to secure UNESCO World Heritage status for the London pub.
This will require them to justify their case to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for London Pubs as a whole and, presumably, to distinguish them from pubs in general across the UK.
Kingston School of Architecture is focussing on world heritage as the theme for this academic year, and 435 students have examined no fewer than 87 London pubs in order to understand not only their physical characteristics and generic qualities as a ‘type’, but also their place in meeting the needs of their local communities.
The result: a 350 page submission that has to make the case for world heritage status. Such status is given to sites that demonstrate such qualities as ‘exhibiting an important interchange of human values’ and ‘representing a masterpiece of creative genius’.
A challenging but worthy cause? There will certainly be many Londoners who, faced with the closure of local pubs, welcome anything that can be done to assist their survival.
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