A former health centre on Plumstead High Street that has been closed for many years could reopen as a pub.
Antic, the company that formerly ran the Equitable in Woolwich, has applied for a licence to open up in the old Kinara Building, which was last used as a family centre in the mid-2000s.
Greenwich Council tried to sell the building, which was built as a health centre and dental clinic in 1921, four years ago, to help pay for the nearby Plumstead Centre. According to the Land Registry the building is still in town hall ownership.
However, planning documents filed last month claim that Jove Ltd, a sister company of Antic, is planning to buy the building from the council. Property guardians currently live upstairs and Jove had applied for the upper floor to remain in residential use.
No planning permission has yet been filed to convert the lower floor into a pub, but Antic has asked for a licence to serve alcohol from 10am to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and until midnight on other days under the name Plumble. Residents have until November 29 to comment on the plans.
Locals had been unhappy about the loss of the Kinara centre, with an application to declare it an asset of community value – a mechanism where local groups can step in and buy cherished buildings if they can raise the cash – turned down on the grounds that it had been disused for more than a decade.
But many may welcome the possible arrival of Antic on Plumstead High Street, where almost all the pubs have closed in recent years. Next door to the Kinara building is the former Horse & Groom, converted into a church, while the next building along used to be the Prince of Orange and is now a shop.
The nearby Plume of Feathers, which is Grade II-listed, is having nine flats built around the pub. The building’s owner has said the bar will be refurbished. Meanwhile plans are in place to sell O’Dowds, a large pub on the high street which has also closed its doors.
In Woolwich, Antic’s spell in charge of the Equitable ended suddenly at Easter with the company blaming rent arrears built up during the pandemic. The licence was transferred the following month but the bar has not yet reopened.
The company has long wanted to open a pub at the west end of Powis Street, next to the former Co-op department store, and won approval in 2020 for its latest plans. Last month it filed further details with the council, an indication that the plans could finally be moving ahead.
Antic also recently refurbished and reopened its Job Centre pub in Deptford under a new name, Jam Circus, reviving a title used for one of its original bars in Brockley.
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