Historic 19th century pub to become restaurant

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to replace a historic 19th century pub in Greenwich with a new restaurant have been approved by the council. 

Hardy’s Free House in East Greenwich is scheduled to close next month to make way for a new restaurant on the site.

The plans were approved by Greenwich council at a planning committee meeting on Tuesday. The project, from MAF Real Estate, will see the building receiving an additional floor extension to allow the space above the pub to function as an aparthotel. 

The pub, in Trafalgar Road, dates back to the 1800s and currently includes eight hotel rooms on its first floor, which council officers claimed had not been in use for about 10 years.

Vincenzo Stampone, director of MAF Real Estate, said at the meeting: “We bought the building in 2021, but until January 31 it will be run by the ex-owner because they still have the lease as we were waiting for the application to do the works.”

Mr Stampone said the restaurant and aparthotel would operate under new management which the developer had already employed for a similar project in Chelsea. 

The applicant was asked to respond to concerns raised by neighbours of the pub, who had submitted 28 objections to the plans.

Sarah Hope, speaking on behalf of the neighbouring building’s residents’ association, said the homes in her building would be directly affected by the new development. She felt the new rooms above the pub would have a “serious overbearing impact” on the neighbouring flats.

Ms Hope said at the meeting: “We do not have a problem with the upgrade of the existing eight rooms that are there. We purely have a problem with the upward extension of the mansard roof. We are fully in favour of rejuvenating the area.”

Claudia Stephens of Urbanist Architecture, who worked alongside MAF Real Estate on the project, said the mansard roof was intentionally included in the design of the extension to make the structure appear less overbearing. She added that the angles of the walls in the extension also made it difficult for residents to overlook others.

Ms Stephens added: “This very historical building has fallen into bad condition, we don’t want to see it become unused in a way that these rooms have been sitting vacant.”

Pictured top: Hardy’s Free House, in Trafalgar Road, East Greenwich (Picture: Google Earth)