Violent Attack at Closing Time
Amber Knight, co-owner of the Charlotte Despard pub in Archway, Islington, was closing up on a chilly February night when her ordinary evening turned into a nightmare. As she tidied the rustic wooden seating and returned colouring crayons to the children's corner, a man she'd seen staring through the windows for twenty minutes burst through the front door.
The man, who introduced himself as the 'King of Archway', demanded a pint despite the pub being closed. When Amber politely declined, explaining they were operating within their licensing hours, he became aggressive. The attack that followed was so vicious that Amber continues to receive therapy for PTSD.
'It felt like he was going to beat me to death,' Amber told Metro. The assailant bit her hard enough to tear her skin, punched her repeatedly around the head, then grabbed a stool - still stained with her blood - and used it to beat her.
Police Response and Investigation Failures
Co-owner Christopher Sparks and a regular customer named Chand eventually managed to intervene, pinning the attacker to a sofa until police arrived. Officers arrested the man within ten minutes of the attack, but what happened next shocked the pub owners even more.
Despite clear CCTV evidence of the assault that Metro has seen but chosen not to publish due to its graphic nature, police claimed there were 'six crucial minutes' missing from the footage. The Metropolitan Police released the attacker without charge, citing 'insufficient evidence'.
'Police were the first ones to handle the footage in the first place,' Christopher told Metro. 'Do they really think in the middle of the attack we had time to go delete some of it?'
Amber reported seeing her attacker on a bus just weeks after his release. 'I think it's terrible the Met champions itself on violence against women and girls, but I was nearly beaten to death by a stranger,' she said.
Licensing Battle and Community Support
Rather than supporting the victims, the Metropolitan Police sought to remove the Charlotte Despard's trading licence, arguing the pub was 'promoting or allowing criminal activity'. They even criticised Christopher for being 'argumentative' during interviews and breaking off conversation to sing karaoke in the empty pub.
Christopher explained: 'I am neurodivergent and find those types of conversations difficult to manage. But I always let the officers know that I am eccentric and to be prepared.'
After running the pub responsibly for 15 years, the co-owners faced their licensing hearing nearly seven months later, prepared for the worst. Completely unexpectedly, around thirty loyal regulars - including doctors, grandmothers and even children - turned up to support them.
'The hearing organisers said they had never seen anything like it before,' Christopher said. What normally takes twenty minutes stretched to over three hours as community members voiced their support.
Mothers held their children while testifying about how safe they felt in the pub. Amber noted: 'We had no hand in organising it, they surprised us all when they began packing out the room.'
The overwhelming community support convinced the licensing committee that closing the pub 'would not be proportionate'. The Charlotte Despard was saved by the very people it serves.
The Metropolitan Police maintained their position in a statement: 'Officers quickly attended the scene and arrested a 43-year-old man... however footage from the scene did not contain a complete timeline of the evening, which meant there was not enough evidence to secure a charge. The case was closed pending further information coming to light.'
