Save the Hammersmith Ram – From Discount Store Back to Community Space
The Issue
Save the Hammersmith Ram – From Discount Store Back to Community Space
A former Hammersmith pub deserves a future that brings people together.
The Hammersmith Ram, at 81 King Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9HW, was once a place where people gathered, socialised and connected.
Today, the former pub is occupied by a discount store.
Where there was once a welcoming pub frontage and a space for people to meet, the building now presents a very different picture: discount retail signage and merchandise displayed outside a former community gathering place.
This is about more than the appearance of one building. It’s about what happens when London loses the spaces that once brought neighbourhoods together.
We want to see the Hammersmith Ram given a new chapter — one that restores its role as a place for community, culture and connection.
Our proposal: The Sober Bar London CIC
The Sober Bar London CIC wants to explore transforming the Hammersmith Ram into a vibrant, alcohol-free café, bar, cultural venue and community hub.
Our vision puts LGBTQ+ people and allies at its heart, while welcoming the wider Hammersmith community, including people in recovery, sober and sober-curious Londoners, people of all faiths and backgrounds, and anyone looking for meaningful connection without alcohol.
Imagine the Hammersmith Ram brought back to life with:
Live music, comedy, drag, spoken word and cultural events.
Alcohol-free drinks, a welcoming café and evening social spaces.
LGBTQ+ community gatherings and inclusive celebrations.
Creative workshops, community activities and opportunities to reduce loneliness.
Recovery-focused peer connection and wellbeing activities.
Volunteering, hospitality training and pathways towards employment.
We don’t want to lose the spirit of the pub. We want to give it a new purpose.
This isn’t a campaign against discount shopping or the people who use these stores. It’s a campaign for the future of a building that has the potential to offer something valuable to the whole community.
Why Hammersmith needs this
London needs places where people can gather without feeling pressured to drink or spend large amounts of money.
For LGBTQ+ people, allies and those navigating recovery, finding welcoming alcohol-free spaces can be particularly important.
A community-led venue at the Hammersmith Ram could offer an alternative to traditional nightlife while celebrating the building’s history as a social meeting place.
It could bring activity, creativity and community connection back to this part of King Street.
What we’re asking for
We are calling on Hammersmith & Fulham Council, the Mayor of London, the building’s owners and local stakeholders to work together to:
Explore how the Hammersmith Ram’s heritage and community significance can be protected.
Consider a meanwhile-use agreement that could allow The Sober Bar London CIC to bring the building into community use while funding and long-term plans are developed.
Support a feasibility discussion about transforming the former pub into an alcohol-free LGBTQ+ inclusive cultural and community hub.
Help identify regeneration funding, partnerships and opportunities for community-led use.
Give local residents and community organisations a meaningful voice in the building’s future.
We recognise that any change of use would require the cooperation of the property owner and any necessary permissions. This petition is about opening that conversation and demonstrating public support.
A campaign rooted in lived experience
The Sober Bar London CIC was founded by Foyez Jitu, a British-born Bangladeshi gay Muslim, whose experiences of estrangement, homelessness, addiction and the loneliness of sobriety inspired a mission to create the kind of welcoming space he once needed.
That personal experience has grown into a wider vision: to transform former pubs into places where people can recover, connect, learn and thrive.
Help us bring the Hammersmith Ram back to life
We are asking for the chance to explore a community future for this building — not simply accept that its former social role is gone forever.
By signing this petition, you’re supporting a conversation about preserving the Hammersmith Ram’s community purpose and creating a welcoming, alcohol-free space for LGBTQ+ people, allies and everyone who wants to belong.
Sign and share this petition. Help us turn a former pub into a place for people again.
The Sober Bar London CIC
More Than a Sober Bar.
Recover · Connect · Learn · Thrive.
43
The Issue
Save the Hammersmith Ram – From Discount Store Back to Community Space
A former Hammersmith pub deserves a future that brings people together.
The Hammersmith Ram, at 81 King Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9HW, was once a place where people gathered, socialised and connected.
Today, the former pub is occupied by a discount store.
Where there was once a welcoming pub frontage and a space for people to meet, the building now presents a very different picture: discount retail signage and merchandise displayed outside a former community gathering place.
This is about more than the appearance of one building. It’s about what happens when London loses the spaces that once brought neighbourhoods together.
We want to see the Hammersmith Ram given a new chapter — one that restores its role as a place for community, culture and connection.
Our proposal: The Sober Bar London CIC
The Sober Bar London CIC wants to explore transforming the Hammersmith Ram into a vibrant, alcohol-free café, bar, cultural venue and community hub.
Our vision puts LGBTQ+ people and allies at its heart, while welcoming the wider Hammersmith community, including people in recovery, sober and sober-curious Londoners, people of all faiths and backgrounds, and anyone looking for meaningful connection without alcohol.
Imagine the Hammersmith Ram brought back to life with:
Live music, comedy, drag, spoken word and cultural events.
Alcohol-free drinks, a welcoming café and evening social spaces.
LGBTQ+ community gatherings and inclusive celebrations.
Creative workshops, community activities and opportunities to reduce loneliness.
Recovery-focused peer connection and wellbeing activities.
Volunteering, hospitality training and pathways towards employment.
We don’t want to lose the spirit of the pub. We want to give it a new purpose.
This isn’t a campaign against discount shopping or the people who use these stores. It’s a campaign for the future of a building that has the potential to offer something valuable to the whole community.
Why Hammersmith needs this
London needs places where people can gather without feeling pressured to drink or spend large amounts of money.
For LGBTQ+ people, allies and those navigating recovery, finding welcoming alcohol-free spaces can be particularly important.
A community-led venue at the Hammersmith Ram could offer an alternative to traditional nightlife while celebrating the building’s history as a social meeting place.
It could bring activity, creativity and community connection back to this part of King Street.
What we’re asking for
We are calling on Hammersmith & Fulham Council, the Mayor of London, the building’s owners and local stakeholders to work together to:
Explore how the Hammersmith Ram’s heritage and community significance can be protected.
Consider a meanwhile-use agreement that could allow The Sober Bar London CIC to bring the building into community use while funding and long-term plans are developed.
Support a feasibility discussion about transforming the former pub into an alcohol-free LGBTQ+ inclusive cultural and community hub.
Help identify regeneration funding, partnerships and opportunities for community-led use.
Give local residents and community organisations a meaningful voice in the building’s future.
We recognise that any change of use would require the cooperation of the property owner and any necessary permissions. This petition is about opening that conversation and demonstrating public support.
A campaign rooted in lived experience
The Sober Bar London CIC was founded by Foyez Jitu, a British-born Bangladeshi gay Muslim, whose experiences of estrangement, homelessness, addiction and the loneliness of sobriety inspired a mission to create the kind of welcoming space he once needed.
That personal experience has grown into a wider vision: to transform former pubs into places where people can recover, connect, learn and thrive.
Help us bring the Hammersmith Ram back to life
We are asking for the chance to explore a community future for this building — not simply accept that its former social role is gone forever.
By signing this petition, you’re supporting a conversation about preserving the Hammersmith Ram’s community purpose and creating a welcoming, alcohol-free space for LGBTQ+ people, allies and everyone who wants to belong.
Sign and share this petition. Help us turn a former pub into a place for people again.
The Sober Bar London CIC
More Than a Sober Bar.
Recover · Connect · Learn · Thrive.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 18 October 2026