Food hall has had its chips as tower block homes are voted through

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

The Elephant & Castle food hall under threat from a proposed 900-home housing development is to be bulldozed to make way for tower blocks up to 44 storeys high.

The controversial Borough Triangle development, which covers an area the size of one and a half football pitches, was narrowly approved by councillors at a Southwark planning meeting yesterday.

A slew of buildings will be bulldozed to make way for the Berkeley Homes scheme, including the 100-year-old locally listed Institute of Optometry and a former papermaking factory that has been home to the Mercato Metropolitano food court for the past nine years.

A replacement food hall is part of the planned development. But until it is finished, most of the 40 traders with stalls in Mercato Metropolitano will have to find alternative arrangements. Up to 12 will be rehoused in a temporary nearby location by Berkeley while the scheme is under construction.

An office block, flexible café or retail space and a new community centre, which is expected to be occupied by a Latin American group, also form part of the plans.

The development is expected to create 1,780sq metres of public space. Buildings that would escape the bulldozer include a locally listed former Baptist church at 82 Borough Road and the façade of next door 83 Borough Road.

Berkeley has set aside a £200,000 business relocation fund to support some of the 423 workers who will be uprooted by the scheme, including the food court traders, and employees of the London School of Musical Theatre, the Institute of Optometry and a vehicle hire firm.

Nina Wessel, a resident who lives near to the development site, said the closure of Mercato Metropolitan would be a huge loss to the local area. She said: “Over the last nine years this market has become the heart of our community.

“It now attracts over 600,000 yearly visitors, provides safe and inclusive spaces and offers activities for children and adults alike. The traders provide jobs, support families and sustain the local economy. This isn’t just a market. It’s a key reason people want to live here.”

But Andrea Ferrario, who runs German Kraft Brewery, a beer stall within the food court, said he supported plans to demolish the existing food hall and create a new one.

He said: “People have between six to 12 month leases at Mercato Metropolitano. That’s not enough to establish your business and to give it the security to continue.”

Dipesh Patel, from Southwark council’s planning team, admitted that there would be ‘major adverse impacts’ because of the loss of daylight to properties on the Scovell estate, which is opposite the Borough Triangle site.

Of the planned 892 flats, 230 will be affordable, and 153 will be social rent. The scheme amounts to 35 per cent affordable housing, in line with the council’s policy.

But just 13 per cent of the new flats will have three bedrooms or more despite the council’s own policy for the area requiring 20 per cent. However, over two-thirds of the 153 social flats will have three beds or more.

Victor Chamberlain, the area’s Liberal Democrat councillor, branded the amount of affordable housing in the development ‘unacceptable’ and said even those would be ‘completely out of range for the vast majority,’ adding: “It is a wasted opportunity on one of the last few major sites in SE1.”

An official from Berkeley Homes said the development would create a ‘thriving, diverse and welcoming neighbourhood with world-class architecture’.

He added that in response to feedback from residents, Berkeley had ‘reduced the height of the tallest two buildings by a net six storeys, added 54 more social rented homes, and tripled the number of four-bed social rent homes’, before submitting the final plans.

Councillors waved through the plans by a vote of four to three. Councillors Kath Whittam, Gavin Edwards, Esme Hicks and Richard Livingstone voted in favour. Councillors Nick Johnson, Darren Merrill and Reginald Popoola voted against. All are from Labour, except Cllr Johnson who represents the Lib Dems.