Charlton – Page 17 – The Charlton Champion

White Swan: Plans for beer garden house on hold so councillors can visit pub

September 23, 2020June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Mendoza render of new White Swan home — How Mendoza says the new home would look from Torrance Close, behind the pub: it would largely be hidden from view by a wall

Greenwich councillors deferred a decision whether or not a house should be built at the back of the White Swan pub so they can take a closer look at the site themselves.

Members of the Woolwich and Thamesmead planning committee voted to have a site visit before deciding on the proposal from Mendoza Ltd, the owner of the pub.

Council officers are recommending councillors approve a three-bedroom bungalow on land behind the beer garden – taking a strip off the beer garden to build an access path so council bin lorries can take away its rubbish from the front of the pub.

It is the company’s fourth attempt to build on the land since it bought the freehold from Punch Taverns in March 2015 – past attempts have been refused by the council and a planning inspector. The pub itself has been closed since March, but the company has said it will look for a new tenant.

After a discussion about the removal of trees in the beer garden (from 57 minutes in the video above), Thamesmead Moorings Labour councillor Averil Lekau said she was unfamiliar with the site and would prefer to see it for herself. “Would it not be possible to have a visit to get some clarity on what we’re deciding on?,” she said.

She was supported by Nigel Fletcher, a Conservative councillor for Eltham South, who called it an unusual application. “I know the pub but I don’t think I’ve ever been in the beer garden,” he said. “I’m having quite a bit of difficulty visualising the site and it’s quite a sensitive one; a lot of what we’re being asked to consider are the narrow grounds between this and previously refused schemes.”

There were nine objections, including from the Charlton Society. Planning officers are recommending an acoustic fence is put up to shield the house from the pub’s noise, while a tree in the beer garden should be replaced.

The scheme will return to the committee once councillors have visited the pub to see the location for themselves.

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Summer hours to stay at Charlton Lido as autumn draws in

September 22, 2020September 22, 2020Darryl Chamberlain

Charlton Lido pool — Autumn has arrived at Charlton Lido. Photo © Neil Clasper.

Autumn may be making its presence felt, but for the first time since it reopened with a heated pool, Charlton Lido is to keep its summer hours as the nights draw in and the temperature drops.

The pool timetable will stay the same during October, although will be reviewed as the months go on.

In previous years, the winter hours have seen the pool closed at lunchtimes and on a couple of weekdays, but for now the pool remains open from 6.30am to 8pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm at weekends.

What’s more, we hear that new pool covers are being installed this week so the water should be warmer, particularly in the mornings.

Can I give a big shout-out once again to the wonderfully friendly and helpful staff @charltonlido? Thank you for this little piece of heaven! pic.twitter.com/BSpw2RJiYu

— Jo Warner (@JoWarner01) September 19, 2020

There is still no walk-up entry – you’ll need to book online or via the Better app to swim.

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House at back of White Swan pub all set for council approval

September 15, 2020June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

Plans to build a house at the back of the White Swan pub are to go before a planning committee next Tuesday – with officers recommending councillors approve the scheme.

Mendoza Ltd, the property company that owns the pub, wants to build a three-bedroom bungalow on land behind the beer garden – taking a strip off the beer garden to build an access path so council bin lorries can take away its rubbish from the front of the pub.

White Swan beer garden — The proposed house would sit behind the pub’s beer garden

It is the company’s fourth attempt to build on the land since it bought the freehold from Punch Taverns in March 2015. The pub itself has been closed since March, but the company has said it will look for a new tenant.

The officers say that “the area of pub garden retained would continue to provide usable outdoor space for patrons and would be proportional in size to the pub gardens of surrounding pubs”. They add: “The existing area of pub garden space is not integral to the overall viability of the White Swan because the significant and high quality internal facilities and the nature of the food and drink offering are also key selling points of the pub.”

“The development of part of the pub garden of The White Swan would maintain the viability of the pub and would provide a high quality residential development which would preserve the amenity of neighbour properties as well as the character and appearance of the Charlton Village Conservation Area,” officers conclude.

A first attempt at development, to build two homes, in October 2015, was thrown out by Greenwich Council planners. That decision was upheld by a planning inspector. A second attempt was rejected earlier in 2017. The third attempt, for one three-bedroom house, was rejected by council planners in December 2017 and again by a planning inspector in January. This scheme was submitted a year ago; the closed pub was made an asset of community value in July.

The Woolwich and Thamesmead planning committee meeting begins at 6.30pm on Tuesday 22 September and can be watched on YouTube.

Charlton Bakehouse planning to open up in The Village

September 3, 2020September 3, 2020Darryl Chamberlain

The team behind Charlton Bakehouse, which has been delivering to doorsteps across SE7 and beyond during the pandemic, are hoping to set up shop in a former estate agent in The Village.

A planning application has gone into Greenwich Council to convert the former Samanthajane office by installing an extraction system including an odour control system and silencers. (See the application and comment or search for 20/0517/F)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Charlton Bakehouse (@charltonbakehouse)

With Charlton Village blighted by shop closures and in its possibly its lowest-ever ebb – and with no sign of a plan to revive its fortunes – the proposal is likely to gain a lot of support.

The application actually first went in before the lockdown – but as with other local businesses, word spread about the Bakehouse while people were stuck at home.

It still offers free deliveries on Tuesdays in SE7 and on other days in SE3 and SE10 from charltonbakehouse.com. We recommend the cinnamon buns.

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Water pain: Roadworks to close Charlton Church Lane for a week

August 29, 2020June 19, 2023Darryl Chamberlain

Water main works will close Charlton Church Lane just south of the junction with The Heights for up to a week from Tuesday. Traffic will be “diverted via Charlton Road, Victoria Way and Wellington Gardens and vice versa” (that’s nice of them – Ed) while buses will naturally face more inconvenient diversions. The news has only been published in the back of an hardly-seen freesheet, so we thought you might like to know here.

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St Luke’s Church roof vandalised by metal thieves

August 27, 2020Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

St Luke with Holy Trinity, Charlton — St Luke with Holy Trinity has been targeted by metal thieves

The roof of St Luke’s Church has been vandalised by thieves who stole a small quantity of metal, smashing up parts of the roof and leaving ancient timbers open to the elements.

Recent heavy rain revealed the extent of the damage, with water pouring into the church. Volunteers now face the hard work of patching up the damage, which is believed to run into thousands of pounds.

The damage comes a year after Charlton House’s summer house was targeted by lead thieves – an attack which followed another bout of vandalism a year earlier.

St Luke's Church gutter — Damage to the church’s valley gutter

Churchwarden Rick Newman told The Charlton Champion: “We’re not sure when the theft occurred in the days before it came to notice with the first rain in weeks and water pouring into the church. In ripping out galvanised metal from the central valley gutter and some ancient lead that ran the length of the south gutter, the thieves have broken countless tiles and exposed roof timbers to the elements.

“The lead in the south gutter had been anchored in place by the parapet. In order to steal the lead, several of these parapet blocks were smashed by the thieves. One massive block was toppled into the churchyard, causing further damage.

“Much of the metal was worthless. As scrap, the small quantity of lead would be worth a couple of hundred pounds at most; the cost of repairs will run into many thousands. Remedial work will require extensive and expensive scaffolding to say nothing about the cost of replacing tiles and masonry.

“Meanwhile, part of the churchyard has been cordoned off as a precautionary measure as parapet stones have been loosened. Temporary covering has been put in place as far as possible and we can only hope the weather is kind to us.

St Luke's Church south gutter — The work will cost thousands of pounds to repair

“The work that results from having to put right the extensive damage falls to volunteers. They would far rather be giving their time to things that are about building up and serving community at times of great need, rather than giving time to repairs that should never have been necessary.

“We are hopeful that most of the cost of repairs can be covered by insurance, but that results in ever increasing insurance premiums for all and a community unsettled by the actions of the few who seem to have no regard for others. Whether you regard St Luke’s as part of our local heritage or the house of God, or both, it is an important place for many who feel upset and unsettled by this crime. We pray for those responsible.”

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Pizza developer tries again for takeaway and flat at Charlton’s Victoria pub

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020Darryl Chamberlain1 Comment

Victoria pub plans — The latest plan for the Victoria

Developers have returned with new plans to turn Charlton’s derelict Victoria pub into a pizza takeaway with a three-bedroom flat alongside it.

Proposals to turn the pub, famed for its sloping floor, into a Domino’s Pizza outlet and build four flats behind it were thrown out by Greenwich Council officers last year because the new flats would “appear as an incongruous addition which would fail to preserve the character and appearance of the locally listed host building and Thames Barrier and Bowater Road Conservation Area”.

Previous plans for student flats have also been refused.

Now the Gillingham-based Zaan Group – a Domino’s franchisee – wants to covert the pub into a takeaway and add a smaller extension instead. The pub is locally listed but has been unused for over 20 years, and has been damaged by fires.

“Given the poor structural condition retention of the building requires creative thought and use. This is an isolated building that does not relate to any existing use in the area. Therefore, new uses are required,” a submission from architects Cook Associates says.

“The A5 [takeaway] use will generate little footfall traffic as most orders will be by phone or online, for delivery by scooter and electric bike,” it adds.

“This proposal brings back into use a locally listed building that has fallen into a poor state of repair and which is rapidly becoming an eyesore. This scheme follows previous planning refusal for the site for student units and a larger extension containing more residential units than the single unit now proposed.

“The extension of the commercial ground floor area to A5 creates a viable and sustainable use which ensures that the original frontage and shell is restored and preserved which is the desire of the local authority. The alternative re-development option available to the applicant for this site remains to serve a Section 80 demolition notice on [Greenwich Council] to demolish the existing public house.”

The new plans have emerged as developers take forward schemes for flats on the sites behind – including the Beaumont Beds warehouse – as part of the major Charlton Riverside development scheme.

Members of the public can see the documents and submit comments on the Greenwich Council website.