Co-op plot to co-opt St Cyp crypt

An application has been made by the Co-Op to convert the restaurant space created by the St Cyprians Hall redevelopment (294-296 Brockley Road, Midtown) into retail space, so that it can open another small supermarket. The submission is for:

The change of use of part of the ground floor of the former St Cyprians Hall, Brockley Road to facilitate the creation of a Class A1 (retail) unit. The proposed food store will be operated as a ‘local’ convenience store by The Co- Operative Group Food Ltd. 

The store will take the form of a new format ‘ fresh ’ store, providing a good retail offer of fresh produce, including fruit/vegetables, fre sh meals, salads and breads as well as household essentials. 

The creation of the food store and subdivision of the ground floor would marginally reduce the Class A2 ‘office’ from 33.0sqm (approved under planning permission DC/15/92982) to 19.5 sqm. 

And the loss of this restaurant space is justified on the basis that:

The applicants have carefully analysed the local area and catchment before choosing the application site as a suitable location for a new convenience store. Whilst it is acknowledged there are a small amount of convenience stores already located within this catchment area, The Co -Operative Group Food Ltd. have no presence within this immediate area and therefore th e development proposal will provide additional choice to the local area and competition. 

So that's the plan. In an area saturated with small supermarkets and without a single large restaurant space to boast about, the Co-Op wants to open a second store on Brockley Road, before it's even fixed its Crofton Park branch, which is by some margin the most useless high-street supermarket in the area.That would bring the tally of Brockley Co-Ops to three - the arguments about choice and competition are laughable. 

The developer has not only produced a brooding, forlorn residential block, they are now trying to kill the one good thing this site had going for it, before restaurateurs have even been given the chance to make a success of it.

The Council should reject this unscrupulous rubbish out of hand and tell the offshore owners to deliver on their promise to bring some nightlife to this sepulchral stretch. This building has been abused for years. Now do it properly.

With thanks to Thomas.