- 28 November 2024
- Posted by: Cllr Sean Fitzsimons
- Category: Councillors, Glamorgan Pub, Planning, Public House
Oppose the Demolition of the Glamorgan Public House and the building of an 8-storey residential block of flats.
Support the Campaign to restore the Glamorgan as a thriving community Public House.
The Save the Glamorgan campaign members passed a resolution opposing the demolition at its AGM on 23 October 2024 at Croydon Town Hall.
We oppose the demolition of the Glamorgan Public House, a vital community access for over 150 years. We remind ourselves that the owner of the Glamorgan closed his door to the community seven years ago. He has just applied to Croydon Council for permission to demolish the Pub. He relies on the fact that the Pub has fallen into a dilapidated state, without mentioning that, as the owner, he failed to safely secure the premises over the seven years he has owned the building. He must take responsibility for repairing it, not use the neglect as an opportunity to demolish it.
We also oppose the owner’s application to build an eight-storey block of flats on the site. This will overshadow Ark Oval School, which is opposite the eastern elevation. It will be over twice the height of Georgian Court, opposite the southern elevation. It will completely overshadow the adjacent terrace of 2-storey houses on Cross Road.
This application contains a vague outline which purports to provide a pub on the ground floor. We doubt whether this vague outline would lead to the provision of a pub which would be economically viable, and fear that it is merely a hollow proposal, doomed to fail and concluding with the developer seizing the opportunity to install ground floor apartments rather than a pub.
In response to a Council question tabled by Councillor Sean Fitzsimons at the Council meeting on 14 December 2022, Mayor Perry “agreed to support the reopening of the Glamorgan pub”. We call upon the Mayor to put his words into action and support our Campaign to protect local pubs from rapacious developers.
We call upon planning officers and members of the Planning Committee to uphold the Council’s policy as set out in its local plan to save pubs and, therefore, refuse the applications to demolish the current Pub and to build an eight-storey block on the site.
Comment from Ron Appleby, the Chair of the Save the Glamorgan Campaign:
“The owner of the Glamorgan has tolerated the presence of squatters in his Pub for seven years. He has idly allowed the Pub’s fabric to crumble. And now he has the nerve to use his neglect as his pretext for demolishing the Pub.
There has been a pub on this site continuously for nearly 200 years. When the current owner closed its doors, it was a popular community pub with a good restaurant. It is in an increasingly densely populated area of East Croydon, where successive councils have failed to invest social capital. The area cannot afford to lose another popular community facility in favour of more high-rise apartments.”
History of the Glamorgan since 2016
The owner of the Glamorgan House makes no secret that he wants to replace this 150-year-old Public House with a residential block of flats. He closed this thriving Public House when he bought it in 2016 and tried to demolish it immediately. Local Councillors and the Save the Glamorgan Campaign persuaded Croydon Council to stop this happening. Since then, the owner allowed squatters in the building, who gradually destroyed many of the original fittings and, more recently, have been a source of anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in the area.
19/05926/FUI In 2019, the owner applied to demolish the Public House and replace it with a ten-storey block of flats with a tiny replacement bar on the ground floor. This application was withdrawn after the Mayor of London and Croydon Council indicated that the application wasn’t planning policy compliant.
In 2023, the owner submitted a second planning application, 23/04106/FUL, which is still live and has yet to go to the planning committee. The owner still wants to build an eight-storey block of flats with an inadequate-sized public bar on the ground floor. The Save the Glamorgan and Local Councillors, Sean Fitzsimons and Patricia Hay-Justice, have opposed this application. (Cllr Clive Fraser is a member of the planning committee and is unable by law to comment).
In September 2024, Croydon Council imposed a closure order on the Pub, and the squatters have been removed. The owner’s response is to apply for planning permission 24/03463/FUL on the grounds “to make good the site, the erection of safety hoarding to secure the site and prevent access by the public“. It is a liberty that the person who allowed the destruction of much of the building and caused harm to the local community for failing to secure the site, despite repeated requests from councillors and the community, now seeks to profit from his inaction by getting our local Pub knocked down, which allows him to benefit significantly from building a ten storey block of flats.