RebuildTheGreyhound - pub to be rebuilt by April 2015?

[Parker1970]

As of midday today, they are taking some of the scaffolding down. You can really see more of the building now. Will post a picture later when more of it is gone.

[Sydenham]

With regards to pubs and cars: let's remember that pubs are about more than alcohol. I note all the conversations about babies and being family friendly - in many cases alcohol not involved. Coffee, ginger beer and pop accompany meals and are involved in social engagement.

I see no reason why a pub shouldn't encourage attendance through provision of parking facilities - in fact wasn't that their earliest function - to provide succour for travellers.

Drink driving is not something we should allow / tolerate. Limit should be zero but not all visitors to pubs drink.

[stuart]

The Dolphin, The Pavillion, The Alfred are pubs mostly used by local people who have mostly walked there. Being able to have a few and not having to worry about driving home is an important part of their USP. Two of these have no parking at all and only the Golden Lion has a proper car park - and their popularity doesn't clearly depend on it.

Whereas the Dulwich Wood House is a destination pub. You go there to dine, use the gardens have somewhere for the kids to play or whatever. It would die if you couldn't park close and you usually can - though residents of Crescent Wood Road may not be terribly enthusiastic about that.

I would have thought The Greyhound, as a pub, would be a 'walk-to' pub. Its excellent location for public transport and its immediate catchment area v competition is probably he best of any Sydenham pub. It can thrive without a car park. However if it became a Zizzi or similar the tables(!) are turned. The catchment area has to be bigger, the grouping and age profiles would make arriving by car the preferred option by many. The result would look like serious issues for the surrounding streets or a failed enterprise which does no one any good.

Which is why I hope it will be a pub targeted at the local population.

Stuart

[_HB]

Are some of these parking comments not rather missing the point? Regardless of what you think about someone demanding free parking right outside their destination, with potentially a handful of new retail outlets plus a pub plus the flats there is going to be a large additional demand for car parking and vehicle loading/unloading. That is going to place a huge amount of pressure on an already horribly congested part of town. Have Lewisham thought about this? What are their plans for mitigating this once the works are completed/units occupied? Or will the negative externalities of all this behaviour fall on the locals to suffer as usual?

[Parker1970]

LOOK MUM! NO SCAFFOLDING!!!

[Sydenham]

_HB - I think you've answered your own post. It will fall on locals and I doubt whether increased traffic and parking and deliveries as a result of the pub and shops will have been properly assessed into provision of facilities. However there has always been a pub there (ok with car park) and its a high street area so anyone moving there will have been expected to factor the "business" inherent in such a location in their decision making.

Is there really going to be an increase over what would have been there if the development hadn't happened?

[_HB]

Is there really going to be an increase over what would have been there if the development hadn't happened?

Surely it stands to reason? Without the development there would not have been four (?) additional businesses and a dozen flats.

parking and deliveries as a result of the pub and shops will have been properly assessed into provision of facilities

What are the requirements here? What sort of impact assessment do developers or tenants need to make? Maybe biscuitman can answer that?

[ALIB]

Lee, I'm fine cheers, thanks for asking. Rural areas have their own problems, such as how do you rescue a cow that has fallen into the local river ?

I'm sure the Purelake and Lewisham have done their homework regarding traffic, and I don't wish to raise concerns which may be unfounded.
But,..you can't uninvent the car. Some residents of the new units will want/need a car. These residents may also have occasional visitors who travel by car. You'll also need service/delivery vehicle access for the retail units.

And if Waitrose/Sainsburys (for example) took a retail unit there, it may mean some of the employees will travel by car.
Does anyone go shopping for groceries, and think,.."I'll get some bread, cheese and milk, because that's all I carry". Or perhaps they would be more likely to think "I'll get everything I need in one hit, so I don't have to shop again for a few days"
Therefore, some passing shoppers may chose to drive (dependant on the types of shops and goods they sell). This would particularly true if there were retailers of bulky items on the site. Remember retailers are a business and want to shift as much stock as possible

Like I said, I'm just pointing out that there may be some initial parking issues with the site, but these can be assessed and resolved (if needed) once everything is up and running. I'll be keen to see how it pans out

I'm sure the greyhound will get plenty of footfall from train and bus commuters in the evening, without the need for patrons to drive.

I just need to sort my cow in a river problem.

[Eagle]

Surely a smallish store behind the Greyhound will attract people coming home from the Station ( no car ) , people who live in the new luxury apartments ( no car )., people walking by.

[mosy]

It is indeed almost thrilling to see the Greyhound now, scaffolding removed. It will be more thrilling once the hoardings are taken down of course, but, hey, progress that surely brings a smile/grin and a "Yay!

[biscuitman1978]

It is indeed almost thrilling to see the Greyhound now, scaffolding removed. It will be more thrilling once the hoardings are taken down of course, but, hey, progress that surely brings a smile/grin and a "Yay!

Indeed! And I'm pleased to see that a digger arrived on site today, if only because it suggests a willingness to get on with things.

But what I'm really keen to see now is the removal of the unauthorised floor (which sits across the upper floor windows)...

[Eagle]

Must admit looked around the building yesterday and have to admit impressive.

Let us hope soon finished and occupied by a lovely home brew pub.

[mosy]

Just something I noticed is that the Greyhound bricks are only a slightly different colour from the flats behind (but just enough not to be the same). Hopefully the G's bricks will age so it regains its historic heritage "look" rather than as some sort of last minute gatehouse add-on to the flats.

In other words, I'm glad the bricks aren't the same even though at the moment (unweathered) only slightly different from a casual glance.

[biscuitman1978]

Just something I noticed is that the Greyhound bricks are only a slightly different colour from the flats behind (but just enough not to be the same). Hopefully the G's bricks will age so it regains its historic heritage "look" rather than as some sort of last minute gatehouse add-on to the flats.

In other words, I'm glad the bricks aren't the same even though at the moment (unweathered) only slightly different from a casual glance.

The bricks used to build the pub are all reclaimed, mainly (if not entirely) from the demolished building. They are, therefore, already weathered, albeit they may now be a bit cleaner than they were.

Some parts of the building ARE new, such as the lintels above the windows. Hopefully they will weather in due course to create the desired 'aged' effect!

[FromCtoShiningC]

The colour may be similar, but the look and feel of the bricks is far superior. And as they'll be imperial measurements, will look differently enough to the naked eye (from the building behind). Thanks goodness there has been no attempt to paint them (like they were in the past I believe from memory).

I agree with others posting - an impressive sight at this stage. Roll on the next few months!

[biscuitman1978]

Current planning application - paragraph 6.1.10

A decision is pending on a planning application for the construction of (a) an extension (a conservatory) to the western side of the building and (b) the formation of external stairs at the rear down to the basement

Officers have requested further information about the detailing of the proposed conservatory. A decision on the planning application is due in November.

The additional information is now available to view at http://planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online-applications/

You'll need to enter 'DC/15/92039' (without quotation marks) in the search box, then click on 'Documents' and then click on the document dated 14 October 2015.

[Parker1970]

Almost all of the hoarding has been taken down and replaced with mesh fencing, so you can actually see it all from street level now.

[biscuitman1978]

Officers at Lewisham Council have been told by Purelake that removal of the unauthorised floor (which sits across the first floor window level) is due to begin w/c 9 November. Purelake have advised that Its removal was delayed by an unexpected need to underpin the front wall.

On a separate note, officers at Lewisham Council expect to make a decision on the planning application for a conservatory on the western side of the building and new stairs at the rear (leading down to the basement) in the next couple of weeks.

[mosy]

It seems to be coming along a treat now

I halted work momentarily (the men were going ten to the dozen on Friday) to give a thumbup and a smiley face and received a big grin back, so I guess they're happy to be able to be getting on with it. I wonder if they realise that "their" building will carry on history for hopefully a few more hundred years?

Not on the home straight yet maybe, but steps do seem all to be going forward now.

[biscuitman1978]

I'm out of the country at the moment - does anyone have any pictures? I'd love to see the progress.

I'll try to take a photo over the next few days, but in the meantime the photo at https://twitter.com/macdermott/status/6 ... lang=en-gb will give you an idea.


That said, things have moved on a bit since the photo was taken: most of the area to the front of the pub has been paved, tree grilles have been installed and Victorian-style lampposts are being installed.

Do keep an eye on https://twitter.com/TheGreyhoundSyd for updates and photos.

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Admin: I put the image in online img tags for you!