The Alma has been a place of relaxation, celebration, commemoration and recreation for more than 150 years. We want Islington to recognise its status as an Asset of Community Value under the Localism Act so that it cannot be sold on for unsympathetic other uses without the community knowing and having the chance to buy it.

Also, ACV registration should be taken into account when planning applications on the building are made and can be grounds for refusal where this would strip the building of its use or result in its demolition.

Pubs are widely recognised in the planning system as making a positive contribution to the residential conservation areas they sit in, both in terms of their visual appeal and the historic function they perform as meeting places for the communities they serve.

This fine building which marks historically the famous Alma campaign in the Crimean War, is about to become a battleground for a community.