Petition to stop 19th century Charlton pub turning into a Tesco reaches 1,200 signatures

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

More than 1,200 Greenwich residents have signed a petition to stop a disused 19th century pub being converted into a Tesco.

Greenwich council has received a petition from Charlton residents to restore the White Swan pub in The Village.

The petition, which has received 1,267 signatures, looks to prevent the disused pub being converted into flats.

It said residents were “appalled” at the dereliction and disrepair the pub had fallen into, with the businesses reportedly being closed since March 2020.

Labour councillor Jo van den Broek, representing the Charlton Village and Riverside ward, presented the petition to Greenwich council at a meeting on Wednesday.

Cllr van den Broek said at the meeting: “Specifically, we’re asking planning enforcement to take action to ensure that the owners of the White Swan restore the property’s first-floor function rooms, which were destroyed by their workmen without planning permission.”

The authority received plans earlier this year from Mendoza to change the pub into a set of seven flats with a shop on its ground floor. Planning documents from Jenkins Law said that Tesco viewed the pub in December last year and sent a proposal for the space shortly afterwards.

The plans said: “We consider that it is unrealistic for the property to continue as a drinking establishment evidenced by the previous tenants’ failure to operate viably despite apparent community support and the extremely poor level of interest throughout the marketing campaign.”

The application also claimed the cost of restoring the pub would be at least £125,000, according to property specialists Davis Coffer Lyons. The project would see an extension going into the beer garden and an extra storey being added to the Victorian pub.

The plans are currently being appealed, with a previous application last year to convert the first-floor function rooms of the pub into two flats being refused by the authority.

The White Swan was locally listed by Greenwich council – can offer protection from demolition for buildings important to the area – in July this year, with council documents claiming the building was reconstructed in 1889 when it was used as a hotel. The building’s attic was also reportedly damaged after being bombed during World War Two.

Tesco and Jenkins Law were approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.

Pictured top: The White Swan, as seen in The Village, Charlton (Picture: Google Earth)