Old Friends
Yup - they are demolishing it.I shed no tears for it when it closed - the just-shy-of-outright-offensive slogans outside (who can forget England - Love it or Leave) the regulars who used to hang around outside with an intimidating air about them, and the ever-more shabby feel the place had - but I'm not convinced the actual building deserved to die.
I always harboured hopes that someone would make a go of it when the New Heart for East Greenwich happened (I had my hopes pinned on Meantime doing a Union Two - well - a Phantom can dream...) but presumably the Hatcliffe charity which owns it just got fed up with paying people to live in it rather than let it turn into a crack den. They don't need planning consent to demolish - it's an old building but it's not listed. I understand there aren't any plans to build anything in its stead.
As I understand it (and I'm sure I'll be told if I've got this wrong...) there are two local Hatcliffe charities - the Hatcliffe and Misses Smith, which owns the almshouses in Tuskar Street (most of the trustees are council and local church nominees) and the estate charity which owns the Old Friends, most of the shops in that parade and houses in Woodlands Park Road. The trustees of the second charity are people from the Greenwich and Lewisham churches, and there's no one from the council on the board. Once a year it gives money to a charity in Greenwich and two charities in Lewisham. Maybe it will give the charities the money it saves from paying Camelot to house-sit for them instead.
The Old Friends wasn't the most beautiful building on earth but what we will have there now is a lump of dead land - to go with the dead hospital site, the dead shops and the dead DHSS building (I think it was still the DHSS when it was open) with just a couple of tedious equipment hire stores to break the gloom.
As I understand it (and I'm sure I'll be told if I've got this wrong...) there are two local Hatcliffe charities - the Hatcliffe and Misses Smith, which owns the almshouses in Tuskar Street (most of the trustees are council and local church nominees) and the estate charity which owns the Old Friends, most of the shops in that parade and houses in Woodlands Park Road. The trustees of the second charity are people from the Greenwich and Lewisham churches, and there's no one from the council on the board. Once a year it gives money to a charity in Greenwich and two charities in Lewisham. Maybe it will give the charities the money it saves from paying Camelot to house-sit for them instead.
The Old Friends wasn't the most beautiful building on earth but what we will have there now is a lump of dead land - to go with the dead hospital site, the dead shops and the dead DHSS building (I think it was still the DHSS when it was open) with just a couple of tedious equipment hire stores to break the gloom.
East Greenwich is looking pretty sad these days. Almost makes me yearn for the halcyon days of Roger Romantic crooning his songs of lurve of a Saturday night. Almost.
The Old Friends in happier times - when the buffets were free and Gallic picnic tables roamed the streets of East Greenwich ...
Labels: News
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
17:45
8 Comments:
Good- it was a major eyesore. I kept looking at it and wondering how it could possibly be revitalised by something classy and niche like the Meantime Brewery.
If I'm not mistaken, the building you are referring to as "the dead DHSS building" was a former Greenwich Social Services office (if its is the one opposite 'The Old Friends'). I'm not sure if the council have disposed of it yet- Chris Roberts recently wrote that LBG are waiting for an upturn in the property market before they unload unwanted slices of their portfolio.
What?! Government not getting rid of an asset at the bottom of the market? How refreshing.
I think its a shame the pub is going , it could have been turned into something useful. Also a friend of mine is living there so I guess he has to order a moving van ....again
I once saw a message on that blackboard outside the Old Friends that read..'England, love it or leave'. I thought at the time that demolition would be a suitable outcome.
Quelle surprise - the "Heart of East Greenwich" suffered a heart attack, just like grumpy whingebags like me always said it would.
I couldn't make it all the way through the special letter we received last week from Chris Roberts - in the couple of paragraphs I managed, it seemed to say "We ran out of money".
But there's nothing so expensive as empty buildings, while simultaneously there are apparently still many people looking for a place to live.
I am pleased that the Old Friends will be demolished - it really is an eyesore.
As for the New Heart for East Greenwich - I recieved the Home and Communities leaflet stating that "The current financial market situation has made the delivery of the scheme more challenging and we are working with First Base to resolve these issues."
Please email and lobby:
philippa.bloomfield@hca.GSX.GOV.UK
Robert.Clarke@firstbase.com
Ciaran.Quigley@firstbase.com
to see if we can get an answer as to what is going on with the site.
I also believe it is crazy that the council are trying to time the property market... if there's an empty building they should get on and sell it at market price, so that someone can make a go of it, rather than trying to play DIY "Property Ladder".
I'm not sorry the pub's gone, but demolishing the building seems a bit much. The chances of whatever replaces it (after how many years of waste-ground) having any merit as a building at all seem depressingly slim.
From last April the Government recently started charging 100% business rates on empty buildings. It was a Free House, so the owner is probably demolishing it to avoid paying the rates...
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