A TOWN is losing all its pubs and local authorities are powerless to stop the rot, it has been claimed.

According to statistics from the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), Deptford has lost 70 per cent of its pubs in the last decade.

The latest to go is the John Evelyn on Evelyn Street which has been sold off by owner Admiral Taverns to the firm behind Paddy Power bookmakers.

Its closure leaves 10 pubs left in the area - one for every bookmaker if Paddy Power is given the go ahead.

It is a sad end for the Deptford pub, renowned as the place where playwright Christopher Marlowe met his death in 1593 following an argument over a drinks bill.

News Shopper: CLOSED: The Navy Arms - now flats Camra’s pub preservation officer for south east London Neil Pettigrew said: “This can’t all be based on market forces.

“Companies are selling them on without making a proper effort to find tenants to run them as pubs.

“Most of Deptford’s closed pubs could have kept going if only they weren’t callously sold off.”

He added: “The John Evelyn has been a proper community pub for decades. But it seems councils can’t do much about it.”

It is a story echoed across Lewisham and Greenwich as pub owners find they can make more money selling the buildings off for residential or business use.

Admiral Taverns is behind other closures in the area, including The Deptford Arms, which has also been sold to Paddy Power. News Shopper: CLOSED: The Victoria

The company was set up by a consortium of property investors in 2003 and currently has hundreds of its pubs available for sale.

Councillor Liam Curran, who helped successfully campaign to keep Sydenham’s Greyhound pub open, said: ”It’s just gone too far.

“It’s a quick buck for a company to flog them off but it’s damaging our communities.”

Doug Elsley’s battle to keep The John Evelyn going was followed by the BBC in its 2007 Bafta-winning documentary The Tower.

News Shopper: CLOSED: The Globe - now a bookmakers But the 64-year-old was sacked from the pub late last year and could only watch on as it was sold off.

Mr Elsley, the John Evelyn’s landlord for nearly 20 years, says he hwas given no support from Admiral Taverns and now faces potential bankruptcy.

He said: “The area is absolutely devastated by this. It’s completely and utterly destroying the community. There’s nowhere to meet anymore - there’s nothing.

“We’ve lost everything. It’s a disgrace - an absolute scandal.”

The market traders association has urged people to object to the plans, penciled in for a Lewisham Council licensing committee on October 26.