Developer’s plan for Tesco store at Charlton’s White Swan pub rejected

A government-appointed planning inspector has comprehensively rejected plans to turn the White Swan pub in Charlton into a shop and flats.

Mendoza, an Isle of Man-based developer, had suggested Tesco could move into the bar area while it would build an upstairs extension to accommodate seven flats.

The pub has been left empty since March 2020 after the previous management struggled with high rent demands and the bar area has been left to deteriorate. A cannabis farm was found there last year.

Last month The Greenwich Wire revealed that Croydon Council was housing at least one homeless household on the premises, in a small outbuilding in the beer garden. Rooms upstairs are also being occupied, despite no planning permission having ever been given for flats.

Kevin Savage, the inspector, said he did not believe the pub had been offered to prospective tenants at realistic rents, and criticised Mendoza for not trying to sell the building outright to attract those who could refurbish the pub.

“It has not been adequately demonstrated that the public house is no longer commercially viable or that it could not be made viable, nor has the marketing exercise been sufficient to establish that there is no long term prospect for the White Swan under another owner or operator,” he said. 

“Therefore, I conclude that it has not been shown that the loss of the public house would be justified.”

• The inspector’s full report

Mendoza, which claimed it would cost £400,000 to refurbish the bar, was also criticised for leaving the building in such a poor condition.

“The evidence indicates that the condition of the building has deteriorated significantly under the appellant’s ownership,” Savage said. 

“Although the period of squatting and use as a cannabis farm was not intentional, the responsibility for the building’s condition rests with the owner, and the evidence before me does not suggest the events which occurred were wholly unavoidable.

“No steps have since been taken by the appellant to refurbish the premises, or at the very least clean and repair it, to increase potential interest and justify the rental price sought. This is in notable contrast to the investment that has clearly been made in renovating the first floor level of the building for a different use.”

The design of the upstairs extension was also criticised, with the inspector saying that it would harm the surrounding conservation area and the building itself, which is on Greenwich Council’s local heritage list.

Mendoza, which has developed a number of pubs around London, appealed after Greenwich Council did not make a decision on its planning application within six months.

However, the council said that Mendoza had not provided enough information for it to have made a decision and said it would have rejected the scheme on the details it had.

A community campaign, White Swan Music & Arts, was set up last year to try to save the pub and ensure it helped revive Charlton Village’s local economy. 

Savage noted on the large number of public comments opposing the development and said: “I am satisfied that the public house can be said to be a facility that provided a role and value to the community when it was open.”

In 2020 Greenwich Council had approved plans to build a house at the back of the White Swan, a decision taken on the casting vote of Stephen Brain, the council’s chair of planning at the time. However, the inspector said in his report that the permission had now lapsed.

Mendoza has been contacted for comment.