The Scoop

The landlords of quaint Greenwich market think it would look much better torn down and replaced by a boutique hotel

Darryl Chamberlain | Tuesday 1 February, 2011 15:21

Tranquil, genteel, stately. Tourist guides love to roll out the cliches when they talk about Greenwich. But beneath the visitor-friendly veneer, a battle has been raging over the future of the riverside district that attracts thousands of sightseers each day. In the eyes of many locals, that fight’s just seen a high-profile casualty with the government’s decision to back the redevelopment of Greenwich Market.

There was widespread outrage when Greenwich Hospital—a naval charity which owns the freehold to much of Greenwich town centre—first announced plans to revamp the market.

Greenwich Market has provided a home for many local businesses since the early 1980s.

Architecturally, it’s no great shakes—many of the shops are built out of 1950s warehouses from its previous life as a wholesale fruit market. But over the decades, the market has expanded from a weekend tourist attraction to a five-day-a-week operation.

The centrepiece of the plan was the demolition of many of the market buildings and the construction of a boutique hotel. The application was unanimously thrown out by Greenwich Council’s planning board in summer 2009.

But Greenwich Hospital—backed by local MP Nick Raynsford—took a revised plan to a planning inquiry. Last month Communities Secretary Eric Pickles—he’s the one who goes on about “localism” a lot—overruled the elected councillors and gave the scheme his backing.

Most people in Greenwich are happy with the place as it is—a bit less traffic and some better places to eat and drink would be nice, but the market decision is yet another that seems to have taken place over their heads.

Work begins in 2013, when the stalls will be moved to a temporary spot at the Old Royal Naval College so demolition can begin. Many locals fear that when the hotel is completed, there will be little room for the market to return in its current form.

Before then, the upheavals in Greenwich have already begun. Another market has already disappeared—the Village Market on Stockwell Street has been empty for nearly two years, awaiting demolition for a new University of Greenwich development.

The foot tunnel to the Isle of Dogs, scene of many aspiring bands’ photoshoots, is undergoing renovation—leaving walkers and cyclists to the mercy of unreliable lifts which break down almost daily. For cyclists, this can mean a detour via Tower Bridge or Woolwich Ferry.

Next to the foot tunnel, the long-awaited restoration of the Cutty Sark clipper ship—itself beset by rows, delays, and 2007’s fire—will be accompanied by a revamp of the windswept space around it—its second redevelopment in 13 years.

And Greenwich Council is keen to push ahead with a scheme to pedestrianise part of the area around the market—at the cost of creating a huge gyratory system to the west of the town centre.

Most of these developments have their eye on the coming Olympic equestrian events in Greenwich Park, which are still bitterly resisted by a section of the community who fear irreparable damage to the historic green space. Preliminary work is already under way for a stadium and horse riding course to appear next year.

Some Olympics-related pride aside (it’s not every day your nearest park gets beamed around the world), many locals are looking to the future with apprehension, not excitement. “What people seem to forget is that people like Greenwich because it’s quirky and characterful,” said one commenter on news site greenwich.co.uk. “Greenwich will be so bland, so compromised, that it will be something people quickly pop through on their way to the National Maritime Museum.”

With huge developments springing up along the riverside up to the O2 and in neighbouring Deptford (once again “west Greenwich” in estate agent lingo), the face of Greenwich will change dramatically over the next few years. Whatever happens to its personality, though, remains to be seen.

“Yuichi photo”:

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