The Future of The Ladywell Playtower

Four potential bidders for the Ladywell Playtower - including two cinema chains, a cultural consortium and Goldsmiths - have been shortlisted by Lewisham Council, who have launched a public consultation about the future of the iconic building.

The Grade II-listed Playtower has lain dormant for years, but now four exciting concepts have been identified, including:

Goldsmiths

"Goldsmiths propose to locate the University’s established and internationally renowned post‐graduate Art courses solely at the redeveloped Playtower site, in a dedicated and purpose‐built centre for the growing Masters programme on offer.

"Primarily this would see the sensitive restoration of the main pool hall, and the reinstatement of the part‐demolished rear pool over two storeys, to provide three large flexible studio spaces. This model would replicate the under graduate facilities currently provided from the similarly constructed Grade II listed Laurie Grove Baths at the Goldsmiths main campus in New Cross."

Guildmore and Curzon

"Our vision is to reimagine the Ladywell Playtower as a publicly accessible leisure destination for the Borough of Lewisham.

"In response to strong local demand and drawing upon the original concept for the building which saw the First Class Pool Hall seasonally decked over for use as an entertainment venue, we propose to reopen the Playtower as a three screen cinema, complete with freely accessible public events foyer and complementary café, bar and restaurant uses."

Picturehouse

"Our proposal seeks to enhance and preserve it by finding a new use which will enable it to play an active part in the community for many years to come. We propose to refurbish the main building and to use the theatrical pool hall space for one large cinema screen - the remainder of the existing building will provide ancillary spaces with a cafe, bar, event room, exhibition space and community rooms. To the rear of the site on the footprint of the demolished second pool hall - we will construct a further four cinema screens in a new extension.

"Alongside this will be a thorough landscaping proposal for the whole site including a new route
which will link Ladywell Fields with Ladywell Road, placing the Playtower at the heart of what could become a new cultural quarter for Ladywell."

RJK/Copeland Park and Hillman

"Our vision for the Playtower is to create an exciting and dynamic cultural quarter for Ladywell, while transforming a building that was originally designed to separate people by class into a thriving site that brings people together and encourages them to interact and create.

"We see the Playtower housing a rich mix of performances, events, artist/maker studios, cafes, creative business offices, art galleries, a communal garden-courtyard, restaurants, health and well-being studios, a small cinema and community organizations. The jewel in the crown will be transforming the incredible former first-class pool area into a dynamic performance and event space.

"This space could become one of the most unique and intriguing performance venues in London and we will work with our partners at the Albany Theatre in Deptford to programme a range of commercial and community performances by everyone from leading arts organizations to local people.

"We are proposing to build, subject to planning permission, three new buildings on the site, all sensitively designed to fit in with the Playtower and other surrounding heritage buildings. This new ‘family’ of buildings will include a block of twenty rentable flats, a modest building with four rentable live/work units and ‘The Pavilion’ - a commercial building we will rent out to multiple tenants in the same way as the Playtower."

For a site that has been so neglected for so long, it is exciting to see such ambitious visions being presented by organisations with the means to realise them. You have until August 17th to complete the questionnaire.

Full disclosure, I am a member of the Goldsmiths body that approved this exploratory work on their part.

Lost silver bracelet

Anju writes:

I've lost a precious bracelet from my family, and I believe it may have been on June 17 at either Frendsbury Gardens, St. Hilda's, or Hilly Fields.

The bracelet is two silver bangles joined with a silver ring around them. It is engraved with 'Ava 11.12.15' on one, 'Om Mani Padme Hum' on another and the ring says 'ML & AA'. It looks similar to this.

If it's been found, I would be most grateful if you could contact me by email or mobile, 07979 2041 79. Thank you.

Yes, Let's

Could this be the most measured and accurate account of Brockley ever to appear in a national newspaper? The Guardian's Let's Move To column has covered Brockley and says that while the case against it is a lack of a proper town centre (although Coulgate Street is doing its best) the case for it is as follows:

 "I like Brockley. Gentrification advances, but has yet to overwhelm the place. Duck down the odd back alley, squint and you might have slipped down a wormhole to 1978 when it was full of sociology students from Goldsmiths, bohemians and the scent of wacky baccy and rosebay willow herb.

"A glance in an estate agent’s window might break the spell, but the geography of hills, valleys and crisscrossing railway lines is complex enough to keep hidden wormholes to a past long disappeared in inner London, like a wee nature reserve off terraced streets, or Hilly Fields park, its stone circle glowering over London’s thrusting skyline, the glorious Rivoli Ballroom, and the shaggy mews of overgrown flora behind the town houses on Wickham Road.

"It feels like London used to feel, only with decent coffee. And a lovely Saturday market. The past wasn’t always so great."

 Click here for the full piece

Gardeners' Question Time at Prendergast

MOT garage closes to make way for more homes

The Geoffrey Road MOT garage is closed

The MOT garage on Geoffrey Road has been closed and boarded up, to make way for a new housing development, which is yet to earn planning permission. 

The garage has lived with the Sword of Damocles hanging over its head for years and the development has gone through a number of iterations, with the last version having been rejected earlier this year. The latest proposals are for:

"Demolition of existing buildings and the construction of a three story plus basement building comprising 4 two bedroom and 2 one bedroom, self-contained flats/maisonettes and one 89.9sqm Class B1(a) Office Unit at ground and basement level with pedestrian access from Geoffrey Road, together with the provision of bicycle and refuse/recycling storage and front and rear gardens."

The latest design proposal

The changes to the roof line and Upper Brockley Road elevation represent an improvement on the previous effort.

The neighbouring garage operating from Ashby Mews is still open.

Gently, 405 Brockley Road

We are delighted to be open now in #CroftonPark, every day. Come for a nose. We are selling gorgeous #gifts, #books and #homewares. pic.twitter.com/Xob4LLb2um

— Gently (@gentlyhome) July 23, 2017

Open seven days a week in Crofton Park, selling homewares and gifts, Gently Elephant now has a sibling.

South Circular to move south

At a meeting this week, Lewisham Council decided to move the stretch of the South Circular that snarls up Catford approximately 50 metres further south. The News Shopper reports:

The road will be moved to the south of Laurence House on Catford Road (through the car and lorry park).

The gyratory will also be removed to create a simpler road layout at the junction of the A21 and A205. The works will take place in 2020 and 2021.

Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, said: “Moving the South Circular road will transform Catford and make the town centre a better place to live, work and visit.

“Our decision ends 50 years of uncertainty over the route of the South Circular road and the benefits will be felt for generations.

“The simplified road layout will make it easier for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers to travel by removing the gyratory."

The decision was based on a report that has been kept confidential and no maps have been released. Anything that alleviates congestion and enhances the public realm at this end of Catford has to be worthwhile, but it would be good to see the detail.