‘I want everyone to feel involved’: The pub landlord fighting to champion his community
A pub landlord who has opened two successful boozers as well as a new kitchen residency said his fight to create community spaces for all is far from over.
Clement Ogbonnaya, 43, who lives in Bromley, first opened Prince of Peckham in Clayton Road in 2017, followed by the Queen of the South in Tulse Hill, last year.
His latest venture, a kitchen residency in Peckham’s The Greyhound, was launched on Saturday.
The 43-year-old said: “I want to get my hands on as many pubs as I can to create spaces where everyone feels welcome.”
Mr Ogbonnaya grew up in Peckham, attending St Thomas the Apostle, after moving to the UK from Nigeria when he was six years old.
He said: “The Prince of Peckham used to be the Clayton Arms.
“When I was 14 I was coming back from school with my mates and we were doing dares. My dare was to run into the Clayton Arms.
“There was not one person of colour or a single woman in there. That was my first experience with a pub.”
When he did start drinking in central London, whilst working as a promoter for music venues, Mr Ogbonnaya said he loved the historical architecture of pubs but never felt that he “could come back again and again”.
He said: “It was a lot of white middle class men who owned companies going into gentrified areas with gastro pubs.
“For me a pub needs to genuinely be about the community it resides in.”
The result was the Prince of Peckham. Over multiple rooms, it offers pub staples – live football, quiz nights, food from White Men Can’t Jerk – as well as a range of community events including Haitian konpa dance and Chatty Patty Tuesday’s, where a table is reserved for strangers to meet and talk.
Throughout half term children eat for free with a paying adult and even during term-time children only pay £3.50 for a meal.
Mr Ogbonnaya said: “Not everyone has the time or revenue to feed kids after school.
“We’re not gourmet but we offer healthy options for everyone and it creates an after school occasion.”
Whilst Mr Ogbonnaya understands the importance of reflecting the community his pubs are in, he takes issue with the narratives surrounding gentrification.
He said: “Gentrification has become a horrible word. It means to improve an area to middle class standards.
“If you grew up in Peckham you would want change. But you want it done responsibly.”
Prince of Peckham won Pub of the Year at the Be Inclusive Hospitality Awards in 2023, the same year Mr Ogbonnaya opened his second pub, Queen of the South – a love letter to the women in his life.
He said: “It is such a beautiful building. We went with purples for the interior – that used to be one of the most expensive dyes.
“I’m surrounded by a lot of female energy, my wife, my mum, I have two daughters.
“We wanted to represent the woman – the most oppressed people but the bossom of all communities.”
The four-storey venue offers co-working, a karaoke room, and events every night of the week whilst the kitchen plays host to Wraps and Karaoke as well as a classic Sunday roast.
Mr Ogbonnaya said: “Opening was absolute madness.
“We got the premises license in 2020, but then Covid hit which set everything back.”
Mr Ogbonnaya was not alone with his struggles. The Covid-19 pandemic forced pubs, bars and clubs to shut their doors for weeks at a time. Recovery was slow, choked off by successive blows to the hospitality industry with more than 500 pubs closing for good in 2023.
Mr Ogbonnaya said: “We just want to get as many people in as we can. Since we opened it’s been a challenge but I believe in what we do.
“My mantra is – you can’t be all things to all men but you can have fun trying.”
Mr Ogbonnaya hopes his pubs will surpass him, leaving a legacy not only of his journey but of how far ethnic minorities have come.
He said: “These pubs represent the incredible position people of colour are now in.
“We’re not just passengers, we’re driving the vehicles.”
Pictured top: Clement Ogbonnaya founder of Prince of Peckham and Queen of the South (Picture: Clement Ogbonnaya)