Once were Tea Dancers

An application has been made to convert the empty Brockley Cross Tea Factory retail units into a two-bedroom flat.

The space has variously functioned as a gallery space, a life drawing studio, estate agent and an implausibly elaborate Tea Dance-themed childcare centre (in the days when Brockley entrepreneurs thought business plans were dangerously capitalist and the Council could still afford to subsisidise things). But mostly it's just lain empty.

These kinds of moves are usually made prematurely by landlords who haven't seriously tried to fill the units, but this site is particularly challenging and even with peppercorn rents, it has been a problem to fill. A smaller unit in the building was recently converted to residential use. This is one we can let die.

Thanks to Ed for the tip-off.