KFC coming to Charlton? Asda’s new owner plans new drive-through as McDonald’s rebuilds

Darryl Chamberlain
KFC site
The drive-through would be here – next to McDonald’s, which is currently being rebuilt

Asda’s new owner is hoping to build a new drive-through restaurant – likely to be a KFC – in a corner of the supermarket’s car park, potentially adding to traffic in Charlton’s retail parks.

The planning application from EG Group comes as the next-door McDonald’s is demolished so it can be rebuilt to allow more capacity for cars.

EG Group, owned by Blackburn-born brothers Mohsin and Zubba Issa, bought a majority stake in Asda in December 2020.

The application to Greenwich Council does not name the restaurant – or even include its signage – but EG is the largest KFC franchisee in western Europe.

EG has submitted a number of similar applications for Asda sites around the country, with KFC recently revealing plans to “relocate” its Greenwich branch as a drive-through.

While EG also owns the Leon chain, which has also started to open its own drive-throughs, the applications for those sites have been significantly different.

The one-storey restaurant will have “vegan offerings, which has won an award from PETA”, and promises “no artificial flavours or trans fats”. There will also be facilities to serve fast-food delivery drivers.

Last year an Asda “click and collect” hub was built in the car park and this application shrinks the number of parking spaces further – and will prompt fears of even more traffic congestion on the unpleasant Bugsby’s Way dual carriageway.

The proposed restaurant would be next door to McDonald’s, which has this month demolished its drive-through so it can build a new one. The company says its old premises suffered from subsidence.

Last year McDonald’s was given permission for a two-storey building, with more space for staff, and bigger facilities so it could serve 15 drivers rather than 11.

While drive-throughs would appear to conflict somewhat with Greenwich Council’s claims to be addressing the climate emergency, these are not written into either local or national planning policies, which govern applications such as this.

You can read full details and comment on EG Group’s plans on the Greenwich Council planning website.

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Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 2-0 Fleetwood Town

kevinnolan

Kevin Nolan's Valley View

It wasn’t the most entertaining of matches, but the Addicks notched up an important win yesterday, as KEVIN NOLAN reports.

Charlton’s vital win over improving Fleetwood Town helped to ease their lingering fears they might be sucked into a late season relegation battle. Second-half goals from Mason Burstow and Albie Morgan were enough to see off the Cod Army, who paid the price for failing to turn their early superiority into an interval lead.

The win, however unevenly it was achieved, was gratefully savoured but a bumper crowd needed no reminding that both scorers were products of the club’s impressive academy system.

Fans enjoy little more than to watch youngsters make it through the various age levels on their way to the first team, and serenaded Burstow, then Morgan, as “one of our own”.

Mason, not 19 until August, tapped into the euphoric mood by turning his 82nd-minute replacement by Conor Washington into an innocently improvised lap of honour; Albie, 22 next week, went quietly berserk after crowning an impressive contribution with an all-too-rare goal in time added on by Billy Bunter-shaped referee Brett Huxtable.

(Billy Bunter? Ask your grandad. Or your grandma, who might get you up to speed about Bessie Bunter, Billy’s sister.)

In the accepted way of things, meanwhile, you’ll find the names of Charlton’s goalscorers at the head of this report. And rightly so. Goals are how games of football are decided.

But there’s more to it than that. There’s the exhausting but ultimately decisive battle to control midfield, the engine room where small battles are won and lost which inexorably influence the outcome.

And at the heart of Charlton’s midfield on Saturday, as he has been since Johnnie Jackson reinstalled him following Nigel Adkins’ departure, was the indefatigable George Dobson.

Hardly a veteran himself at 24, Dobson ploughed through a prodigious workload, which included momentum-changing interceptions, razor-sharp tackles and conscientious tracking.

Most of his unglamorous graft was followed by the appropriate choice of pass to turn defence into attack. Hunch-shouldered, urgent and hardly the most elegant player on the pitch, Dobson had a horse of a game, which won’t have escaped the all-seeing eye of his manager.

Back to the whirlwind start made by Stephen Crainey’s in-form Fishermen’s Friends. As early as the first minute, setpiece expert Danny Andrew sent an ideally placed free kick harmlessly over the bar, Paddy Lane clipped the woodwork with an deceptively drifting cross, then Lane cut inside Aki Famewo but fired tamely into Craig McGillivray’s hands.

The Addicks briefly raised the siege with Diallang Jaiyesimi sending Sean Clare through to sting Alex Cairns’ palms at his near post. Their respite was short-lived as Andrew used a short corner to pick out an onrushing Tom Clarke beyond the far post, but the centre-back headed inches too high.

With the pressure mounting, another free kick conceded just outside the penalty area saw Andrew improve on his earlier effort by shaving the bar. But under the towering influence of Ryan Inniss, the Addicks stayed in the game and significantly came closest to scoring before the break. A subdued Chuks Aneke fashioned a shooting chance for Elliot Lee, which was blocked back to Lee, whose second effort was brilliantly saved by a full-length Cairns.

There was no way of knowing it at the time but the visitors had already blown their best chance of a useful result. Within eight minutes of the restart, they fell behind to Burstow’s second league goal and fifth of a hugely promising career. Jay Matete’s foul on Corey Blackett-Taylor near the left touchline set up Morgan to launch a free kick, which was returned from the far post by Inniss and nodded past Cairns by Burstow.

The kid’s bashful, foot-scuffing departure past the North Stand some 30 minutes later was saluted by his doting fans. The Leaving of Liverpool was only slightly more emotional.

Before Morgan applied the coup-de-grace, Lane came within a whisker of spoiling the party when he failed – by exactly that whisker – to toe-end Shayden Morris’ teasing cross past McGillivray. Morgan responded by quickstepping nimbly through a tiring defence but inexplicably missed a yawning target.

It hardly mattered because less than a minute later, Albie finished clinically from the penalty spot after Zak Jules could only turn Alex Gilbey’s cross from the right into his path.

Great work from Gilbey, by the way. His 20-minute cameo might have earned him a place in the starting line-up at Hartlepool on Tuesday evening, if he’s lucky!

Charlton: McGillivray, Clare, Inniss, Famewo, Dobson, Lee (Gilbey 69), Morgan, Jaiyesimi, Blackett-Taylor (Purrington 86), Burstow (Washington 82), Aneke. Not used: Henderson, Pearce, Leko, Watson. Booked: Dobson, Aneke.

Fleetwood: Cairns, Andrew, Jules, Clarke, Harrison, Camps, Matete, Batty (Pilkington 75), Lane, Johnston (Nsiala 81), Hayes (Morris 62). Not used: Donaghy, Johnson, Biggins, Boyle. Booked: Matete.

Referee: Brett Huxtable. Att: 21,811 (192 visiting).

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Fairview New Homes tries again to add convenience store to Victoria Way development

Darryl Chamberlain
40 Victoria Way
The Bowen Drive development in its marketing pomp: The proposed store would be on the ground floor

The developer behind 330 new homes on Victoria Way is trying again to add a convenience store to the development – months after its first attempt was refused.

Fairview New Homes controversially won permission for the development on the old Thorn Lighting site in January 2018, and the first residents moved into Bowen Drive nearly two years ago.

Last summer it applied to Greenwich Council for permission to cut three floors of planned office space down to two, and to change the ground floor of the development’s northeasternmost building – the one nearest to the terraced houses on Victoria Way – to a convenience store.

But council planners refused the application. While there were 22 objections – on grounds ranging from traffic, pollution and noise to “concern that the development would bring non-residents into the estate” – planners blocked the scheme because Fairview had not provided adequate proof that it had marketed the office space within the development to potential occupiers.

Now Fairview is back with a new application. It said it had struggled to sell the office space and that there is “limited demand for office accommodation across [Greenwich] borough and the limited demand which did arise was focused outside of Charlton and primarily within the borough’s town centres” and the st.

Fairview added that its office space was also competing with The Gateway, the Greenwich Enterprise Board building opposite in Troughton Road, which is also “suffering continued vacancies”. (GEB’s website says there are no vacancies there.)

The developer says a convenience store would generate 14 jobs, compared with 18 for the office space.

As with the previous application, the convenience store operator is not named. The Co-op and Sainsbury’s have taken spaces in new developments in the area in recent years – a new Co-op opened in Greenwich Millennium Village late last year.

Residents can comment on the proposal and see more details on the Greenwich Council website.

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Mamma Mia! comes to Charlton Assembly Rooms in March – tickets on sale now

The Charlton Champion1 Comment
Mamma Mia! promo image
You might want to brush up on the film version before seeing the show…

Last year we told you about the new Charlton Village Theatre’s forthcoming production of the Abba musical Mamma Mia! Now the tickets are on sale – and there’s one last chance to join the cast too. GWEN ZAMMIT, the show’s producer, explains all…

We would love you to join Charlton Village Theatre at one of our four performances of Mamma Mia!, which is being held at The Assembly Rooms, The Village, Charlton SE7 on Friday 4 March at 7.45pm, Saturday 5 March at 4pm and 7.45pm and Sunday 6 March at 6pm.

Everyone is welcome! Tickets cost £15 for an adult or £5 for a child, which can be ordered in advance on 020 8856 7373 or you can take your luck by turning up on the day – but there is a good chance we may be sold out.

Mamma Mia! is a spectacular musical written by Catherine Johnson with music and lyrics by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus. Our Charlton show is produced by Gwen Zammit, BEM, and the musical director is Richard O’Shea. The cast members are members of our community and have aimed for a professional standard.

We are still looking for dancers, singers and chorus members – the next rehearsal you can turn up for is Friday 21 January at 8pm in The Assembly Rooms.

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‘Affordable’ housing slashed as Charlton Riverside developer tries to please councillors

Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment
Aitch render
Despite the bus, this is the view from Westmoor Street

Local people waiting for housing could lose out after a developer submitted a new plan for homes on the Charlton Riverside, just a few months after Greenwich councillors threw out their first scheme.

Last year, Aitch Group’s plans for 188 homes on land between Eastmoor Street and Westmoor Street, close to the Thames Barrier, along with shops, workspace and a new green space were thrown out by Labour and Conservative councillors who objected to its height. It comprised two blocks of five to nine storeys.

The Coopers Yard development would have included 40 homes for London Affordable Rent – available to people on Greenwich borough’s 23,000-strong housing waiting list – and 10 for shared ownership, making a total of 30 per cent “affordable” housing.

Aitch render
Aitch says its scheme mostly conforms with the masterplan

Aitch has now appealed against that decision, but has now returned with a new application to build 149 homes in blocks of up to eight storeys as well as retail and business space.

In the new scheme, just 11 homes would be for affordable rent, and four for shared ownership with the new application – making just 11 per cent “affordable” housing.

Aitch render
A view of the new proposals, looking towards Woolwich Road

Local lobby groups, including the Charlton Society and the Charlton Central Residents Association, were enraged by the original plans for buildings of up to nine storeys, believing this broke the terms of a masterplan they were closely involved in writing.

However, they are unlikely to be won over by the new plan, which is just one storey shorter.

Eastmoor Street
Eastmoor Street as it is now. The flats would overlook Barrier Gardens on the right

A four-year-old masterplan for the Charlton Riverside – which both Greenwich Council and City Hall have long earmarked for thousands of new homes – suggests a maximum height of ten storeys for buildings, with guidelines of three to five storeys in that particular area.

The situation is complicated by the Environment Agency objecting to ground-floor housing close to the Thames Barrier because of the risk of flooding – an objection which calls parts of the masterplan into question.

Similar concerns also led to a second scheme on a site next door, from the housing association Optivo, also being rejected, with councillors voting down 67 affordable-rent flats. Optivo has also launched an appeal.

Eastmoor Street
This site could be transformed if Aitch gets its way

Apart from the lower heights and lack of “affordable” housing, the revised Aitch scheme is largely the same as the one rejected last year, with a “green link” to Barrier Gardens between the two blocks of housing, and an eight-storey tower on the corner of Mirfield Street and Westmoor Street.

The entire area is currently industrial land at present. With the exception of a single flat behind the derelict Victoria pub, no proposals for the Charlton Riverside have been approved since the masterplan was approved in 2018. Plans for a second flat are awaiting a decision.

Read full details about the proposal: Design and access statement and planning statement

More details and comment: Greenwich Council planning website

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Time to wassail away again in East Greenwich Pleasaunce this Sunday

The Charlton Champion
The Morris dancers are returning to East Greenwich Pleasaunce again

After a break because of the pandemic, East Greenwich Pleasaunce’s New Year Wassail is back this Sunday. RICH SYLVESTER explains more…

As with all local parks, East Greenwich Pleasaunce has been a place to escape to during the pandemic. Beneath the veteran trees on this site a new orchard of plums, apples and pear trees was planted in 2012. Volunteers can join – Planting in the Pleasaunce – or Pip! to care for these trees.

Pip! also organises an annual wassail. This old English tradition – connected to Twelth Night – is to celebrate and bless the trees with cider in the hopes of a good harvest in the coming year.

The event is from 1-2.30pm on Sunday 16th January. The Greenwich Morris Men will provide some lively dancing, there will be wassail songs from Morrigan and Halstow Community Choir and some cracking tunes from Penny Gunstone and the band Clanjamfry.

Plus cider and a range of food and drink from the Pleasaunce Cafe. You are encouraged to bring drums, instruments, pots and pans!

See more at the Pip! Wassail Facebook page.

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Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 0-1 Norwich City

kevinnolan

Kevin Nolan's Valley View
The Addicks hosted a Premier League side at home for the first time in 15 years, but couldn’t quite finish off top-tier strugglers Norwich City. KEVIN NOLAN was in the press box.

A single flash of Premier League quality, with only 11 minutes remaining in this FA Cup third round tie, sent Norwich City into Round Four and left Charlton free to concentrate on reaching Wembley via the EFL Trophy.

An away tie at Hartlepool on a Wednesday evening in January lacks obvious appeal but it is, no doubt you agree, better than nothing.

It was Teemo Pukki, summoned from the bench at half-time to replace Greek teenager Christos Tzolis, who supplied that extra something which settled an evenly fought clash which Charlton could – indeed should – have at least drawn.

Sprinting on to a shrewdly weighted through ball from Kenny McLean, he was too quick for a toiling Jason Pearce and, resisting the temptation to shoot, squared unselfishly for fellow substitute Milot Rashica to tap in the winner.

Although a constant menace, Pukki hadn’t exactly terrorised the Addicks but proved to be the difference which separated sides of almost identical merit.

If Jonathan Leko had made more of a similar chance from four yards, created for him just past the half hour by Elliot Lee, an honourable draw would have meant extra-time and potentially penalties.

But Leko snatched at the opportunity, spooned it horribly over the bar and reminded home fans that while Dean Smith could call on the likes of Pukki and Rashica, Johnnie Jackson was cruelly deprived of both Conor Washington and Jayden Stockley. His striker-less selection’s inability to score was hardly difficult to predict.

Not that Jackson’s otherwise strong side were easy marks for their soon-to-be Championship opponents. An early, bone-crunching challenge by Ryan Inniss on marauding Turkish defender Ozan Kabak signalled an intent that was easy to read.

To his credit, Kazan neither crumpled nor complained and battle was joined. Until the interval, Charlton enjoyed an edge and with better finishing and, it must be said, the occasional intervention of luck, might have retired for refreshment in the lead.

Lee was a restless bundle of energy and when set up by the equally hardworking Alex Gilbey, curled narrowly wide. After Leko missed the best chance of all, Gilbey chanced his arm from distance to produce an unorthodox but effective save from Tim Krul, who somehow shovelled his 25-yarder up and over the bar.

The visitors were always in contention but Charlton opened the second period still marginally on top. Receiving from George Dobson, Lee closed in from the flank but was foiled by Krul’s astutely outstretched right foot. The Canaries’ vastly experienced Dutch stopper was proving that it’s not how, but whether, you keep ’em out that matters. He’s been doing it long enough.

The introduction of Pukki was, meanwhile, greeted with mild apprehension among home fans. The simultaneous introduction of 25-year-old Kosovan Rashica caused no similar disquiet but Smith was royally served by both his half-time substitutions.

In response to Krul’s eccentric heroics, meanwhile, Stephen Henderson did his bit to keep the Addicks in the tie. His saves from McLean’s crisp drive and Max Aaron’s low effort, which was sneaking inside his left hand post, were at least expected of him.

At the other end, however, he wrongfooted everyone by charging upfield to take a last chance free kick to the left of City’s penalty area. Waving aside objections, including those voiced by regular setpiece specialist Lee, his delivery was surprisingly delicate and well judged. Leaping high at the far post, Pearce nodded back across goal and Ben Purrington’s six-yard header rebounded off the bar.

(We apologise if readers, at this point, detect any bad language lurking between the lines of this report. It’s entirely uncalled for but, honestly, you had to be there. And, be fair, it was enough to make a saint swear. We are unable to guarantee it won’t happen again.)

Charlton: Henderson; Clare, Pearce, Inniss (Gunter 70); Jaiyesimi (Blackett-Taylor 71), Gilbey (Kirk 87), Dobson, Lee, Purrington; Leko, Burstow (Davison 70). Not used: MacGillivray, Matthews, Souaré, Morgan, Watson. Booked: Inniss, Purrington, Dobson, Gilbey. Booked: Inniss, Purrington, Dobson, Gilbey.

Norwich City: Krul; Byram (Aarons 71), Hanley, Kabak, Giannoulis (Williams 46); Lees-Melou, Sørensen, McLean; Dowell (Rashica 46), Sargent (Idah 85), Tzolis (Pukki 46). Not used: Gunn, Gibson, Gibbs, Płacheta. Booked: Hanley, Pukki, Sørensen.

Referee: Joshua Smith

Attendance: 13,825 (2,260 visiting)

Read more from Kevin in this month’s Voice of the Valley – to buy or subscribe, go to votvonline.com

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