Council chiefs unimpressed with housing alternative to once-popular Woolwich pub

By Cameron Blackshaw, Local Democracy Reporter

A bid to to demolish a Woolwich pub that closed earlier this year and replace it with seven flats and a commercial unit have been refused.

The Anglesea Arms at 91 Woolwich New Road had served beer to pubgoers since 1850, but it called time for good when it closed in January.

Jayraj Shah applied for planning permission to demolish the 175-year-old pub and replace it with a new development in the same month. His proposal was to build a four-storey block that contained seven flats and a ground-floor commercial unit intended to be “a space for gathering the local community” to mitigate the loss of the pub.

The application received 10 objections from residents. As summarised in planning documents, objectors claimed “the loss of the public house is unacceptable” and that “no attempt had been made” to try and keep it open.

Councillor Sam Littlewood of Woolwich Arsenal ward also called in and objected to the proposal as he wished to see The Anglesea Arms remain as a pub in its current form.

He also believed that a building on the local heritage list within Woolwich Conservation Area should not be demolished and that the new development “would be to the detriment of the Woolwich High Street”.

Greenwich council planning committee members refused the application on April 30 on several grounds, the first being that “insufficient information” was submitted by the applicant to show that the pub was no longer commercially viable and that the loss of the Anglesea – which is considered to be “an important social community asset” – would go against policies in the Royal Greenwich Local Plan.

Planners did not want to see the demolition of a locally listed building either.

Officers did not believe the proposed commercial unit mitigated the loss of the pub and they also took issue with the flats, stating: “It has failed to be demonstrated that the proposed development would allow for seven residential units to be provided on the site of a suitable quality of accommodation.”

They also said that the proposed development “would cause harm to the residential amenity” of neighbours.

Pictured top: The Anglesea Arms (Picture: Kiro Evans)