Going over old ground - The Hound that is Grey

[simon]

At least a couple of people interested in a demo, then. I'll come up with some proposed dates; probably next month. That will give JD time to respond to Dick's excellent letter.

[Nigel]

DickP
Excellent letter - I am going to send it to Purelake and Mr Dowd and then forward that to Purelake's partners as listed on their website .
Extremely useful to have something we can ping off to anyone who might listen - that way we can cause maximum annoyance to Purelake and maybe get them to clean up their mess.
I like the cut of your jib sir!
A very good morning
Nigel

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[coll]

Is it over the top to suggest that we buy or rent a domain? Something like http://www.purelakedidthis.com, create a website with a front page that has all the information including pictures of what state the pub was left in and anything else of relevance to the story and the mess they've left behind. It could be easily put on any forum in any area that purelake is trying to get development projects up and running. some of the placards can have the address written on them.

[Rachael]

Is it over the top to suggest that we buy or rent a domain? Something like http://www.purelakedidthis.com, create a website with a front page that has all the information including pictures of what state the pub was left in and anything else of relevance to the story and the mess they've left behind. It could be easily put on any forum in any area that purelake is trying to get development projects up and running. some of the placards can have the address written on them.

Easier probably to make a Facebook page. If it is set to be publicly accessible it will be viewable by anybody, not just FB users. Or make a blog, making sure to put all the right tags on it to attract hits on google searches.

[parklife]

Excellent idea Rachael and also excellent letter Dickp

Also, what about writing to the housing association that ownes the flats to make our views known
As a responsible social landlord they may not wish to employ a contractor that upsets the local community so much in future projects and it is real eyesore for their tennants

[mosy]

I don't know whose fault it all is, but as the building apparently doesn't seem big enough to be of interest as a potential going concern, why not pull it down, make the mosaic wall freestanding to include words "The site of The Greyhound, which blah blah". Or pull it down and go back to Lee Newham's suggestion ages ago of identifying Sydenham with the green dragon and commission a statue of that. It seems to me that even if finished at great cost to perfection and TPTB's satisfaction, the building itself could still be boarded up or security "grilled" if no-one wants to make a go of it and that would be the worst advert on entry to the high street imaginable. Well, except leaving it as it is for many months longer which is already the worst advert imaginable. Hmm.

[Eagle]

Mosy
You are unfortunately correct. I do think too small for most pub operators to be interested.

Lets be realistic it looks very strange among the modern buildings and will always do so.

Why not cut our losses and pull it down.

Hopefully Purelake would not charge to do that.

[Mr_Sheen]

Let's hope Purelake are reading this eh? "Well, when we pulled it down we were only doing what the locals wanted'.

[G-Man]

That's absolutely ridiculous Eagle!!!

We cannot lose another pub in the local area or a landmark building. We also can't be seen a defeatist community who will let purelake get away with this!!!!

I think it would work as a pub, pubs don't have to be big and they are allowing for a kitchen area. But, if if not, if the place did good beers and a very basic bar menu it would do fine. There is a pub in Camberwell for instance that does an amazing selection of beer and allows punters to buy takeaways, they are doing very well. I also know there are rumours of some interested parties.

G-Man

[hairybuddha]

I'm afraid to say I'm with Eagle on this one. We have enough pubs as it is. Pull the thing down and let's have a nice bit of public space.

[leenewham]

I totally agree with G-man.

But also thanks to Mosy for the nice comments…there may be a green dragon appearing around Sydenham at some point. Keep your eyes peeled, prizes for spotting him/her*.

*very small prizes.

[Mr_Sheen]

I'm afraid to say I'm with Eagle on this one. We have enough pubs as it is. Pull the thing down and let's have a nice bit of public space.

Yeah, and give out the message that developers can do what the hell they like and Lewisham council will cave in?
As for having enough pubs, 26 pubs are closing countrywide every week and the rate's increasing.

[Eagle]

Mr Sheen and others. We are just being realistic. I reckon if we insist Purelake finish the task may be finished in 2015 if we are lucky.

I do not think the old Greyhound building mixes at all well with the new buildings. The POW would call it a monsterous carbuncle.

Has anybody consulted the new owners of the flats.

To those who insist that the pub is not too small to be a going concern I suggest they put their money where there mouth is and but the building and run a profitable pub.

[Mr_Sheen]

Great, so a new cheap and shoddy looking development doesn't look good next to a building that's been perfectly in balance with the surroundings for over a century so... pull the old one down. You should get a job in the Chinese planning department.

What have the owners of the flats got to do with it? They bought knowing full well there was going to be a pub on their doorstep.

As for your last comment, don't be ridiculous... "if you don't like it here why don't you go and live in Russia", "if you're so unhappy with the government why don't you run for prime minister", etc.

[Eagle]

Mr Sheen

Ideally we would pull the flats down and leave the pub up as you would like , but in reality do you think this is really going to happen.

You must move in the real world. The flats are here to stay. No one wants to buy the Greyhound and run as a pub.
The devoloper will use every trick possible to delay finishing the project , if indeed they ever do.

I am right with 1. Hope wrong on 2 and 3, but doubt it.

Get real.

[hairybuddha]

Yeah, and give out the message that developers can do what the hell they like and Lewisham council will cave in?
As for having enough pubs, 26 pubs are closing countrywide every week and the rate's increasing.

Although Eagle and I agree on the end result, I think we are coming at it from different angles. I agree that Purelake seem to have behaved appallingly. But I don't really care what signal allowing the demolition would give and actually I don't think that Purelake or any other developer will take a blind bit of notice regardless. This forum is a way of expressing the opinion of the community. This is my opinion and I'm sure there are plenty of people who would agree with me. I just want the building site gone. And I'm quite happy for there to be no pub in it's place.

If you want to go boozing in Sydenham. Within a two mile radius there are, off the top of my head, The Woodman, The Windmill, the one opposite The Windmill, The Railway (?), The Dolphin, The Golden Lion, The Alfred, and the one on Bell Green. There are another half a dozen on the Penge side and the same again around Forest Hill. Quite enough I reckon.

[Eagle]

Yes HB

The pub u elude to opposite the windmill is The Fox and Hounds. Also Bricklayers Arms and Talma in that area.

The Railway is for some strange reason called The Pavillion. Seems they are trading on the closeness to the old home of W.G. in Lorry Park Rd.

[Mr_Sheen]

If you want to go boozing in Sydenham. Within a two mile radius there are, off the top of my head, The Woodman, The Windmill, the one opposite The Windmill, The Railway (?), The Dolphin, The Golden Lion, The Alfred, and the one on Bell Green. There are another half a dozen on the Penge side and the same again around Forest Hill. Quite enough I reckon.

Well your idea of 'quite enough' isn't mine. You must have hated it before the wholesale closures started.

(Woodman closed 3 years ago btw)

[Eagle]

Mr Sheen

None of us wish to see decent pubs closing , or pubs that could become decent.

There have been too many closures especially rural pubs .

Do not forget many pubs have opened in buildings that were not pubs before. Think of The Capitol . Moon and Stars and The Windmill , Sylvan Post etc etc etc.

Pubs which serve decent real ale , no or little music , few if any machines , deserve to survive.

Others do not.

Over the years called occasionally in The G. Usually ended up wondering why. If they served ale usually crap. Too many loutish people.

[mosy]

To me, The Greyhound is no longer a landmark in the eyes of many, meaning both residents and through traffic, other than as a building site. If I'm not mistaken, it closed as a pub six, yes six, years ago almost to the day and the glacially slow progress seems still to be going nowhere. A costly ongoing war of attrition between planners and owner/builder can be in no-one's interest. In my opinion, it's not a wise move to promote a design intending to have hidey-hole alleyways on two sides either.

I presume The Greyhound dates to Victorian times (Edit: 1873 I find); if so it's hardly a Domesday Book watering hole or centuries-old coach stopping point. Also, the only relevance of a greyhound I can think of is the racing erstwhile at the Catford Stadium - and that's irrelevant to "leafy Sydenham".

So pull it down and plant a tree there. Or finish it in, what, another six years? Then realise it was a mistake and pull it down

"They" can flip a coin to decide if they like, but doing nothing or delaying decisions won't change what is being decided upon. I'm with Nike (sports brand): Just do it!