Author: Darryl Chamberlain

White Swan: We’re committed to reopening Charlton Village pub, freeholder says

Darryl Chamberlain
The pub has been stripped of furniture and fittings

The property company that owns the White Swan pub in Charlton Village says it is committed to reopening the venue, which closed suddenly on Monday four years after being taken over by the landlord of the Pelton Arms in Greenwich.

Mendoza Limited, which bought the building in 2015, said it only learned about the pub’s closure yesterday. “The tenant was no longer responding to my clients’ agents’ requests for rental payments,” Hussein Aziz, of Glasshouse Management, representing Mendoza, told The Charlton Champion.

The company has put in several applications to develop land at the rear of the pub’s beer garden, the latest of which has yet to be determined by Greenwich Council. But the company insists it is committed to finding a new tenant to run both the pub and the beer garden.

“Mendoza is now going to commence the marketing of the premises as a public house in the name of retaining a pub at this address – all being well a more food-led public house, which is more suited to the area,” Aziz said.

“It will go about refurbishing and securing the premises first. To reconfirm for you and your readers – my client would like to rent the pub and the beer garden and find the correct tenants to make this into a lasting hub for the area.”

News of the pub’s closure was greeted with widespread dismay yesterday. It had become a favourite for Charlton Athletic fans, and the news came on top of the unravelling of the club’s recent takeover by East Street Investments.

The Charlton Athletic Museum confirmed last night that Addicks memorabilia that it had loaned to the Swan was safe after the pub’s fixtures and furniture had been stripped.

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Charlton’s White Swan pub closes down four years after rescue

Darryl Chamberlain
Last orders: The White Swan on Tuesday lunchtime

The White Swan pub has closed down suddenly, four-and-a-half years after it was taken over by the owner of Greenwich’s Pelton Arms.

One of two pubs in Charlton Village, the Swan’s future was threatened in 2015 after a property developer, Mendoza, bought the building from Punch Taverns for £900,000.

But landlord Geoff Keen took the closed pub on and re-opened it as a sister venue to the Pelton Arms, bringing live music, beer festivals and quiz nights to the once down-at-heel boozer.

What’s on? Not a lot now

However, the pub was closed on Monday and Tuesday night’s quiz has also been/ was also cancelled. The Charlton Champion understands the business has long struggled with the high rents charged by Mendoza, which has put in several planning applications to develop land behind the pub’s beer garden.

The pub had advertised a full programme of gigs and events for this month and next, but the bar had been stripped of much of its furniture on Tuesday afternoon. Nobody was answering the phone at the Swan, but the Pelton Arms confirmed its sister pub had closed down.

The stage area had also had furniture removed

While the Swan had become a well-regarded local pub – it regularly featured in the Deserter.co.uk World Cup of Pubs contest and staged events for the Charlton & Woolwich Free Film Festival – it had struggled to attract loyal custom away from gigs, quiz nights and Charlton match days, with its food and ale varying in quality over the years. However, it had been thought to have improved in recent months.

It offered Charlton season-ticket holders a discount on beer and had become a post-match favourite, while it also provided a home for Addicks memorabilia from the Charlton Athletic Museum. Today’s news will come as a further blow to Addicks fans on top of the club’s new management imploding last night amid a public row.

The news will also deepen fears for the future of Charlton Village, with the Swan adding to a lengthening list of closed-down businesses in an increasing tatty parade. There is no formal plan to turn around the village’s fortunes. The pub had been made an asset of community value after an application by The Charlton Society, but that designation has been allowed to lapse.

A closed-down pub will also make Mendoza’s redevelopment plans for the rear of the pub more viable. Its most recent planning application, to build a house behind the beer garden, featured plans to drive an access road through the side of the beer garden. Unlike its other applications, council officers have not thrown this one out and the plans are still awaiting a decision.

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Slow down: 20mph speed limit on way for Charlton Village

Darryl Chamberlain
Charlton Village has been blighted by speeding drivers for decades

Charlton Village is to get a 20 mph speed restriction under a new road safety scheme from Greenwich Council.

The Village has been blighted by speeding traffic for many years, with one driver recently managing to take out part of one of the raised flower beds.

Now there will be a 20mph restriction between the Springfield Estate and the junction with Fairfield Grove. Speed limits on the stretches of road towards Woolwich and Blackheath will remain unchanged – including the stretch of Hillreach where three teenagers died in a collision with an out-of-service bus in 2008.

A driver’s handiwork in The Village

Speed tables will also be constructed in Charlton Road, The Village and Charlton Church Lane, while there will be parking restrictions at the junctions of Victoria Way and Eastcombe Avenue with Charlton Road.

“Continuous footways” will be introduced along Charlton Road in an attempt to nudge people into driving more considerately in and out of Invicta Road, Sherington Road, Wyndcliff Road, Couthurst Road, Hassendean Road, Bramhope Lane, Mascalls Road, Cherry Orchard and Victoria Way.

Other south London boroughs, including Lewisham and Southwark, have introduced blanket 20mph zones across their areas, using these as a basis to target particular areas where speeding traffic is a problem, but Greenwich has been reluctant to follow suit in this approach.

No details have been placed online, but further details can be obtained from Greenwich Council’s traffic team at traffic.team[at]royalgreenwich.gov.uk quoting reference 02-20-CRC. Objections can be sent to the same address by 18 March.

A speed table will be placed here on Charlton Road

The 20mph traffic restriction was touched upon in a wide-ranging discussion about transport and infrastructure in the Charlton area held by a council scrutiny panel last month, which you can watch below. It is chaired by Charlton councillor Gary Parker and features his ward colleague Linda Perks, as well as the senior council officer in charge of transport, Graham Nash, who also presented a report to the panel.

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Maryon Wilson animal keeper’s house could become council home

Darryl Chamberlain
The house is awaiting a decision on its future

A house which used to be used by Maryon Wilson Park’s animal keeper is lying empty while Greenwich Council works out if it can use it as council housing, The Charlton Champion can reveal.

The house at 20 Thorntree Road, next to Maryon Park, used to be the home of the stocksman at Maryon Wilson animal park and was managed by the council’s parks department. When he retired, the parks department employed a property guardian company to put a short-term tenant in there.

However, the council has now taken on the site with an eye to turning it into council housing after the short-term tenant was evicted for rent arrears. The current animal keeper now lives some miles away from the park.

The property has been subjected to flytipping while its future is being decided. A legal agreement signed in 1922 – when the Maryon-Wilson family gave the land to the old London County Council – could get in the way.

The house is next to Maryon Park

An council spokesperson told The Charlton Champion: The situation with the covenant is currently unclear as the two paragraphs in the title deed appear to contradict one another with regards to restrictions on developing the land.

“We therefore need to refer back to the original 1922 deed of covenant to establish what was agreed; our legal team are working on this.”

She added: “A decision is expected in the coming weeks, depending on what is discovered with regards to the covenant.

“It is being discussed whether a feasibility study will be carried out to determine if the capital expenditure required to bring the property up to the Greenwich Homes Standard could incorporate measures that will make the house very-low or, even, zero carbon.”

The council recently launched its biggest home-building programme since the 1980s, and is aiming for its new homes to use as little energy as possible. A small number of new homes were recently unveiled off Harvey Gardens.

Last week, councillors approved cost-cutting plans that would mean other members of parks staff feeding Maryon Wilson Park’s animals at evenings and weekends. Gates to parks will also now be left unlocked at night to save money.

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No trains through Charlton for next two weekends: 7-8 and 14-15 March

Darryl Chamberlain
A train, seen on a weekday

There will be no trains through Charlton for the next two weekends as Network Rail is closing the line between Deptford and Plumstead for engineering works.

Despite the major closure, there has been little publicity about the works, which will affect fans this Saturday heading to Charlton Athletic’s match against Middlesborough – a team that traditionally brings a strong away following.

Two buses per hour will run between Lewisham and Plumstead, instead of the eight-train Saturday service and six-train Sunday timetable.

The Charlton Champion has asked Network Rail why the line is being closed and we’ll update this story when it responds. Update Wednesday: A Network Rail spokesperson would only say that the closure was “part of the Kent and South East London upgrade programme”. (see further update below)

There will be normal Jubilee line services to North Greenwich on the first weekend when the line through Greenwich is closed; however, on 14 and 15 March it will be closed between Waterloo and Stanmore, which is likely to mean a less-frequent service on the rest of the line. Docklands Light Railway services are also disrupted on 14 and 15 March, with no trains to Bank.

Disruption will also occur on Sunday 22 March, with no trains from Charlton before 9.15am and no Thameslink trains at all scheduled to run through the station.

The closures will cap a month of weekend service reductions on the line, with Thameslink services being reduced last Sunday despite The Big Half half-marathon taking place in Greenwich.

However, Charlton passengers will escape most of the disruption at Easter, when all lines through Hither Green will be closed as part of a major signalling project.

Friday update: Network Rail belatedly sent us an update yesterday to say the works will “lay nearly a kilometre of new track, sleepers and ballast on the line”.

“The work will allow the removal of speed restrictions which have been put in place because of worn out track, helping to speed up trains, reduce delay and give passengers smoother, more reliable journeys. Closing the line during the weekend means that the work can be done safely, in less time.”

“Fiona Taylor, Route Director, Kent. Network Rail said:

“‘While infrastructure faults are down by 30 per cent on this part of the network, we know that even a minor incident in this incredibly congested area will have a major impact on the train service. That’s why our upgrade work is so important to ensuring trains run reliably.

“‘We know it’s inconvenient for passengers when we close the railway and would like to thank them for their patience while we do this important work. Most of the network is open as usual but please check your journey before travelling.'”

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Charlton House trust wins grant to continue work on summer house

Darryl Chamberlain
Charlton House’s summer house at the subject of a restoration project

Good news from the Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust, the charity that runs Charlton House…

Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust is delighted to announce a £47k funding grant from Historic England, for works to the 17th century summer house on Charlton House grounds and estate.

Charlton House, built between 1607 and 1612, is considered to be the best surviving example of a Jacobean Manor House in London. Built in the 1630s, twenty years after the main house and following the new classical austerity of Palladianism, the Summerhouse has long been held to be designed by Inigo Jones. At a time when the Newton family were residing in the main house, the Summerhouse’s purpose is presumed to have been that of a prospect house, for use during the summer months for dining and enjoying fantastic views over Greenwich and the City of London.

In 1936 the building was dramatically altered to accommodate public toilets, and this particular use continued into the 1990s. During WW2, a German V2 rocket landed next to the main house causing significant damage and, repair work was undertaken by the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich in the 1940s when much of the structure was replaced with London Stock Brick.

During 2017 and 2018, thanks to generous grants from the World Monuments Fund and a donation from the Friends of Charlton House, the trust carried out works to remove the majority of the 1946 repairs, without damaging the original fabric of the building. This work was carried out by students from London South East College under the direction of architect Charlie MacKeith.

This generous grant from Historic England will allow for essential investigations, development work and repair to take place, which will form part of a much larger restoration project. The vision of Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust is to restore the building to its original condition and put the building back into use, allowing public access and enjoyment.

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Join Greenwich Dance at Charlton House this winter and spring

Darryl Chamberlain
Greenwich Dance are visitors to New Charlton Community Centre this spring

Greenwich Dance’s MELANIE PRECIOUS outlines what it’s up to at Charlton House and elsewhere over the coming months…

This term Greenwich Dance have added a host of new classes to their weekly timetable to brighten up the winter months … and there’s now truly something for everyone!

Adults have the choice of contemporary (general level and improvers), lindy hop (beginners and improvers), African fusion, yoga and jazz classes at Charlton House. Priced keenly at between £7-£8 a class the classes take place every Wednesday during term time.

If you are in your late fifties and sixties and think the time for dancing is done then you would also be mistaken. Greenwich Dance run a dedicated class at Charlton House every Friday designed for over-55s. Led by artist Maria Ghoumrassi the Friday class is a gentle exploration of creative movement and a perfect opportunity to meet new, likeminded people. For those who would like to take their love of dance that bit further they can also stay on for a further hour and be part of the Dancing to the Music of Time performance company or attend one of the Tea Dance and Workshop combos programmed for spring.

Greenwich Dance also have a number of activities happening around the half term. There is a fun filled Family Day planned for 19 February for parents and babies, 3-5 years, 5-7 years and 8 – 12 years plus an intergenerational workshop for everyone including grandma and grandad!

In addition Tea Dances are back, led by Equality Dance’s Peter Meager. Some of you may know him as he holds classes at nearby New Charlton Community Centre and his approach is one that throws gender stereotypes out of the window. He will be encouraging leaders to follow and vice versa to create an afternoon tea dance welcoming to all. If you are new to tea dances come along for the workshop first: and don’t forget you have tea and cake included in the price of your ticket!

Greenwich Dance will also be out on the road this spring, touring to five community centres around the borough. Called Up My Street Showtime!, the event invites the audience to eat and drink whilst enjoying a line-up of professional artists, the Greenwich Dance youth and over-55s’ performance companies and local community groups. Showtime! will be coming to New Charlton Community Centre on 27 March and will be at Clockhouse Community Centre on the Woolwich Dockyard estate on 28 March with two shows, a matinee and an evening performance. Priced at only a few pounds and including the choreographer of the NHS section of the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Temujin Gill, ZoieLogic Dance Theatre and Mathieu Geffre’s love duet for two men (which some of you may have seen at our wine tasting event last November) it’d be wise to book your tickets soon to avoid disappointment!

Greenwich Dance are also looking for volunteers to be ‘Dancing Friends’ at these performances – their role will be to make sure anyone arriving alone at Showtime! is made to feel welcome. We know that loneliness is a huge issue for people of all ages, and these events have been designed as a way for communities to socialise, meet new people and have fun…right up your street!

To find out more about all of the above and to book go to greenwichdance.org.uk or email chenube[at]greenwichdance.org.uk.

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