New floating restaurant on Greenwich Peninsula approved

By Lachlan Leeming, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for a new floating restaurant and bar on Greenwich Peninsula will go ahead after receiving approval from council members.

The Arora Group, which owns and operates the Intercontinental Hotel directly behind the site, had applied to council to convert the Ordnance Pier into the new development.

Among the plans for the project are a single-storey restaurant, bar, cafe and toilet, together with a new pontoon and piles, which would also be operated by the group.

A council report seen by councillors said the jetty was currently covered with a variety of common weed species, shrubs and small silver birch trees.

The jetty also has areas of shingle and large pebbles designed to encourage ground-nesting birds.

The pier was formerly owned by the Greater London Authority until its recent purchase by the Arora Group.

Twelve objections had been received regarding the project, including concerns over noise, particularly for residents across the river in Tower Hamlets, as well as potential damage to wildlife and the river.

The applicants’ plan for the single-storey restaurant include a ‘green roof’ consisting of vegetation as well as solar panels to help subsidise energy use.

While the new jetty will act as a river bus stop for the Thames Clipper, it would also be able to provide moorings for a hotel ferry and private motor boats, according to council report.

In approving the application, councillors backed officers’ views the project would provide the “redevelopment of a redundant jetty of limited ecological value” to provide increased passenger transportation on the River Thames.