Death takes a holiday: New restaurant planned for Brockley Road

It appears the church that set up shop in St Cyprien's Church on Brockley Road was only a short-term tennant. The owners have made an application to completely redevelop the building as a restaurant, office and residential space.

Reader Bronwyn spotted the following planning submission:

Demolition of existing church hall and ancillary buildings, with retention of facade at St Cyprians Hall Brockley Road SE4 and the construction of a four storey building to provide a restaurant (Use Class A3) and office (Use Class A2) on the ground floor, together with 3 one bedroom and 5 two bedroom self-contained flats and 1 two bedroom self-contained maisonette.

When the building was sold at auction, it seemed that the new owners had secured a good deal and might have deep enough pockets to do something significant. Then the Church moved in. However, this application signals that the original assumptions were correct.

The plans could be transformative for this stretch of Brockley Road, which is currently dominated by funeral homes, raising it from the dead and giving midtown Brockley new life by deathmasking the building - keeping the historic facade but ripping out its rotting guts. The building is in terrible condition, requiring a major overhaul before it can be used properly.

The historic front will be retained but will have a new four-storey backdrop. The development is on a corner site, meaning that Braxfield Road will also be significantly altered by the addition of a four storey residential block with an effective Grim Reaper colour-scheme thanks to the anthracite zinc cladding and dark blue brickwork. A roof garden will also be created for residents.