The Case is Altered should not be renamed.

Open - and looks great! Some photos...

Just been into the Case to take a look – Wow! What a great transformation! No loss of character, just a much, much better use of the space that they had in the whole building.

What was the ‘cellar’ – behind the fireplace and also where the men’s toilet was is now opened up into a good sized seating and eating area, there is a large kitchen where you can see food being prepared (in a good way!)  like a trendy pizzeria etc -  the back of house area behind the original bar has been opened up to create a corridor through to the new area and to provide access to new toilets.

The old barn is still much the same but been redecorated and tidied up and looks really nice and welcoming.  

I can’t speak highly enough, personally, of the changes. Really very nice – much lighter and airier without losing the ‘olde worlde’ charm. More seating - and outsise servery for nice days like today. 

There seems to be a good selection of beers (as a Guinness drinker primarily I am not the best placed person to give an opinion but a bunch of blokes in beards there today seemed to approve!)  

If you are around today and have the time, pop down while all the entertainment is going on – a falconer has a selection of birds of prey and owls, there’s a magician and balloon artist, face painter and I think more entertainment to come later.  

I’ve attached some photos up for those interested – including the menus for food and the drinks selections.  

All in all – a wait worth waiting for the transformation of a local landmark and great to say that: “The Case is Altered, but it’s all for the good!” Congratulations to Mosaic Pubs & Dining on a job well done!

That's me done on this, I think. Thanks again for everyone's support to retaining the name. Now we can enjoy the pub! 

Greg

PS I'm the one on the right in the last picture with Adam, the landlord and Michelle, Mosaic's Operations Manager. 

The Case is Altered Reopening Launch Party!

Here is the news we've all been hoping for! The Case Is Altered will be reopening THIS SATURDAY - June 24th with a Launch Party from noon onwards! It's a family day - falconry display, children's entertainer, face painting, music and £3 Real Ales! 

I'm sure all of you who live locally still - or able to visit the area again - are really interested to see how things have been renovated - I know I am! 

Thank you all one last time for all your support to ensuring that the heritage of the Case's name is preserved - now we need to show Mosaic Inns that we all appreciate their rapid change of mind once we brough the issue to their attention, by paying visits to the pub and proving how imprtant it is to our local community and to its many global fans! 

Hope to perhaps meet some of you personally on Saturday! 

Cheers! 

Greg

Re-Opening Date for the Case is Altered

Dear all

I've just been informed that due to unforeseen additional planning and renovation rquirments that the Grand Re-Opening of The Case Is Altered will now be on Saturday 24th June. This is hoped to be a firm date now - and further details of the activites for the Opening Weekend will be advised nearer the time. 

If you haven't already done so - please add my email address gntanner@gmail.com to your 'white list' or put it into your address book, so that you will not find the information going to your spam folder - since I will email everyone directly (Blind CC of course). I've had reports that some people don't receive notification of these announcements via the Petition website, so presumably some are already in Junk. Of course if you are one of them, you probably won't receive this, either! Hence I will email directly in due course. :-) 

Thanks again for your supprt and interest in 'The Case'. I'm sure we are all looking forward to seeing the new interior!

Best Regards

Greg

Radio Four at 12:15pm today 'You & Yours'

Just a reminder that the battle for the Case is Altered name retention is featured on Radio Four’s ‘You & Yours’ programme from 12:15pm today. 

It will probably be available on iPlayer some time after the broadcast goes out. Hope it's a good representation - I was intereviewed for about 8-9 minutes, but I'm sure that it will be edited down to a lot less. There's a contribution from the COO of Mosaic Pub & Dining also, I believe. 

The Case is Unaltered! Petition Closing - and we are on BBC Radio Four!

If you don’t know already, then I am pleased to tell you that the battle to retain the name of The Case Is Altered has been won! 

Mosaic Pub and Dining, the owners of the pub, who are engaged in a complex renovation of the Grade II Listed building, have listened to the strength of feeling in the community and from further afield - about the traditions and history behind the pub’s name and will relaunch ‘The Case Is Altered’ without alteration to its beloved title!

'The Case' will reopen, barring any unforeseen issues, on the last Bank Holiday Weekend in May

Saturday 27th May will be a day of entertainment for young and old in the gardens - and the unveiling of the new look interior. 

Mosaic has assured me that Hillingdon's Planning Officers have diligently ensured that the renovations are very much in keeping with the architectural heritage - and Mosaic has happily complied to deal with some of the challenges while improving the viability of the pub long term.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say - so please try to come and show your support to the pub, to Mosaic and to the community at the re-launch and see how things have changed and (hopefully) improved to guarantee a great future for 'The Case'. Or should I say, 'OUR CASE'!

Activities have been arranged to make the reopening day special – more details nearer the date, so watch out for further news that I'll pass on when confirmed.

THANK YOU to everyone who has added their support, their comments, their reminiscences to the petition – and to those who contributed their ideas about the origins of the pub’s name to help reinforce its importance. It’s nice to know that the public can still bring about change by civilised protest and discussion!  

In fairness to Mosaic, their Chief Operating Officer was swift to realise while the petition was still in the low hundreds that they were making an error (it was to become 'The Barn Owl' apparently). Their normal approach to taking over a pub is to 'have a completely fresh start' but in this instance they hadn't appreciated the historic nature of the pub's heritage. And their desire is to have a pub that continues to be a part of the community and to reflect the values that the community holds dear. When I spoke to their COO of our concerns he was very conciliatory - it's a shame that they didn't do a little investigation into the origins of the name earlier, but hey, all's well that ends well. My impression is that they will do a good job of making the pub an even more enjoyable place to drink, eat and meet. 

With the petition today standing at 1254 signatures (including some added just today) I think it is time to close it. This record of support will, thanks to the internet, be here for a long, long time - so if there is ever a need to show potential new owners the wisdom of leaving well alone in future, then this will be a good reference point! 

I have been asked to summarise the various notions about the origin of the name - and I'll do that shortly in a separate announcement. It's likely that we may never know for certain, but I think the most likely is an interesting and nostalgic one that has its roots way back in the County of Middlesex. Watch out for the next message in a day or two. 

If anyone has any questions or wants more information - then I'd be happy to try to assist. You can email me at gntanner@gmail.com 

I look forward to seeing many of you 'down the Case' - both at the reopening and beyond - and much as I appreciate the many offers I've received, please don't all ply me with drinks at once - I need to pace myself... 

Power to the People! :-) I'm proud of all our efforts and our achievement together. Thank you all once again for your hearfelt support. Well done!

Oh - I almost forgot - BBC Radio Four's Consumer Affairs programme 'You and Yours' heard of our petition and will be covering our campaign this Friday at 12:15pm 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ksckb 

Hopefully it will also be on iPlayer Radio sometime later if you miss it. 

All the best!

Greg

It's official - 'The Case is Altered' will NOT be renamed!

Dear Friends of 'The Case'

I am DELIGHTED to inform you that our efforts have had the desired outcome! I had a great conversation with Peter McDonald, CEO of Mosaic Pub & Dining (who are the actual new commercial operators of the pub) this morning who explained that their usual habit is to change the name of pubs that they are trying to ‘re-launch’ that have perhaps had a less than good image and need a break from the past, but that having become aware of our petition, understood the background and historic nature of the name – and seen the passionate concern of the local population to preserve a much loved name - that he was easily persuaded of the folly of making a change.  

In fact – Peter told me that he had made that decision independently when the petition reached 200! I wish I’d known that before losing a weekend in preparing ‘to do battle’ on your behalf, :-) but still, the fact that the petition has now sailed well past 1100 signatures and is climbing all the time is further endorsement of the strength of feeling both locally and from sometime visitors from all over the world. Which may be useful if ever there is another change of ownership in the future.  

So I’ll leave the petition open for a while to see where we finally end up – but we have used the power of the local people to preserve something that has significant community heritage and history, is a landmark, an iconic and unusual name, a place that is loved and holds nostalgic memories for many people.  

I would like to use this opportunity to warmly thank Peter McDonald for his reaction and support on your behalf – it was, as we suspected, that the company had no awareness of the importance of the name to the community and its global fans. 

I hope that we will all show our appreciation by enthusiastically supporting the re-opening of ‘The Case’ – Mosaic have had to invest significantly in the renovations and their work to ensure that a many centuries old building is done sympathetically and sustains this Grade II listed building, while improving the interior and facilitating greater service levels will add to the quality of our local community and amenity.  

Mr. McDonald will keep me informed of the opening dates and details of the relaunch of ‘The Case is Altered’ which I’ll pass on to you in due course.  

For now – THANK YOU TO ALL CONCERNED – the signees of the petition - particularly those who’ve provided historic background and day to day encouragement - to Mosaic Pub and Dining and to the various local associations who have passed on the details of the petition to their membership, too. I’d also like to thank Clive Room for his personal support to the preparation of our case (no pun intended) to Mosaic.  

I’d like to say I’d buy all 1,123 (so far) signees a drink at ‘The Case’ sometime, but I do need to fund my future retirement! However I’ll happily toast you all at the opening of the altered, but still ‘Case is Altered’!  

Well done everyone! 

Greg

Over 1,000 Signatures in five days!

What a great number to hand in tomorrow! We passed 1,000 late last night and have moved up to 1,063 so far today - Please don't stop gathering support and more signatures -we may need to have a second bite at the owners if they are at first resistant.

I'm preparing everything to take to Sovereign (City) Pubs on Monday. I hope to be able to speak with the MD if possible rather than just leave the petition and support documents. I'm pleased with the good support comments from almost half of the signees - they help draw attention to why we all feel like we do - some are history and heritage reasons, some nostalgic, some relating to the landmark and iconic significance, some to the futility of changing the name when they will continue to call it 'The Case'... and I've written the covering letter in a supporting tone - that they want a successful business and we want a better pub that retains the local history, heritage and name. So we all would do better to work for a Win-Win outcome. 

If they give us what we want, we'll be only too pleased to continue to put money over the counter and sustain their business. I have pointed out that this group is their Number One target list for making the new pub a success. Especially the vast majority who live either locally or are within the catchment area for frequent use. Surely they won't want us outside protesting or drinking and socialising elsewhere, will they, rather than inside admiring their changes and toasting their willingness to be community minded and responsible heritage bearers? I am sure the Directors are good businessmen who will appreciate a business-like and collaborative approach. 

Wish me luck! I'll report back. Thank you all again - It's a privilege to represent such community and heritage loving people!   

Greg

Last Push!

Thank you again for everyone's support - as of this minute we are at 788 signatures. Special thanks to anyone who has passed on the petition detaisl to other loacal associations. Nearly 200 per day this week. We can make a difference!

Can I ask for one last effort - I want to deliver the petition on Monday (I'll leave it open longer to gather as many as we can in case we need more support) as I have to travel abroad on business. Time is critical here, the owners will not want to do all their promotion and then be swayed by our opinion. 

If we all got just one more neighbour, family member, friend, colleague, former local resident to sign we'd be over 1500 signatures! But even to get to 1,000 would be fantastic - so please do what you can today or at the weekend to spread the word and urge them to sign! 

The Case Shall Not Be Altered! 

Greg

570 and counting!

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has added their names to the petition - as of this morning we have 570 signatures! The majority from the local area, naturally, but from as far away as Scotland and Northern Ireland in the UK and internationally from New Zealand, Australia, Norway, France, Italy and the USA.  Former locals and sometime visitors who remember the name fondly. 

It would be wonderful to drive this quickly to 1,000 signatures - a nice and compelling round number to deliver to City Inns - time is of the essence here before it becomes too late and costly for the company to change it's brnading back to 'The Case'.

If everyone who has already signed can just get ONE MORE PERSON to sign it in the next 24-48 hours I can then deliver it to City Inns on Monday before I travel to Germany on business.  

The sentiment and strength of feeling amongst so many people about 'our Case' is clear! In keeping with the origins of the pub's name - the 57th Regiment of Foot - we are the 'Diehards' for the cause! Keep spreading the word!

Thank you again!

Greg

Great Response - Thank you! But don't stop the effort!

Many thanks for your support - in a remarkably short period of time the petition has gathered almost 400 signatures - I wasn't wrong in believing that there would be great reaction to the news that this iconic pub would lose its name and with it the accumulated heritage and historic relevance for the community and for the pubs many worldwide fans.  

I've received several emails about the history of the name – we may never know for certain, such is the passing of time, but two that might give a clue, beginning with the one that I personally like – courtesy of Tony Morgan –

“The name is inexorably tied to the 57th Regiment of Foot - The West Middlesex Regiment and the Peninsular War (1808-14) that paid a significant part in the eventual fall of Napolean. There were four 'Case is Altered' inns in the area, at Eastcote, Wealdstone, Old Redding and Willesden. The previous pub sign in Eastcote reflected this. Redcoats outside a Spanish/Portuguese Casa de Saltar.

"They spent two years reforming on the border after being devastated at the centre of the line at the battle of Albuera. It led to their dying Colonel urging them forward shouting "Die hard, Middlesex" leading to their nickname 'The Diehards'.

“Men were drafted at the time from a county area, either taking the 'King's Shilling' or avoiding hanging or deportation for crimes committed by volunteering. If they survived seven years they got a bounty and presumably returned to their roots.

Maybe the near-cockney mind somehow associated a nearby Casa de Saltar (house of dancing, or perhaps of other dalliances with ladies…) - near where they were possibly based, reforming after Albuhera - with the fact their ‘case had been altered’.”

Another suggestion that it originates from the one in Old Redding being on a hill, named ‘Casa Altera – the High House in Spanish. however I don't find this interpretation in any Spanish dictionary - but 'Alterar' means to alter, so 'Altered House' might be the case (no pun intended) that chainging the original use of the building to a pub meant 'The Casa (House) is Altered'

Responses have come from as far as New Zealand and Australia and the USA – remarkable how fast the news travelled and how much support we’ve had!

Please keep the movement going – tell anyone you can that the petition is on line and let’s see how many we could get to support the cause. If you are members of any local associations residents associations, clubs, gyms, interest groups, please use your networks to spread the word. We can make a difference together!

Greg Tanner

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