The boss of the Trafalgar Tavern pub has said he feels “no glee” after winning a battle with Greenwich Council over benches and tables on the Thames Path.
A planning inspector backed Frank Dowling in his appeal to keep the riverfront beer garden after a public inquiry which the pub owner believes “should have never happened”.
The council believed the seating impeded the movement of pedestrians and cyclists walking along the riverside path, harmed the heritage value of the Old Royal Naval College and obscured views from the world heritage site.
But Dowling argued there was sufficient room for pedestrians to pass, the seating enhanced the appeal of the Naval College and as the walkway was a footpath, the movement of cyclists should not be considered.
The council issued an enforcement notice in March demanding the pub remove the seating. Dowling appealed against this notice, and a public hearing was held in August.
Lee Douglas, the inspector, sided with the pub, which has now been given planning permission for the tables, chairs and umbrellas. Dowling said it was a bittersweet victory because of the amount of money spent by both the pub and the council in the dispute.
“It shouldn’t have had to be done,” he said. “Honest and earnest dialogue between parties should have resolved everything. There’s no glee about this because inherently it should have never happened.”
The Trafalgar Tavern and the council will now have to agree a management plan, which will include how the pub will ensure a clear gap of more than two and a half metres through the area.
Dowling said he hoped he could “reset the relationship” with Greenwich Council and move on. He added: “We want to do a lot more here. We have more space we want to bring on and we’re creators of space, we’re creators of interiors and we’re creators of employment.
“Let us do what we do well, and if you’re not happy with something that you think we do badly then let’s talk. We’re going to be here for 20, 30, 40 more years. We have 100 years on our lease and we want to work together. We’re obviously very successful in what we’re doing.”
In his decision, Douglas said he was satisfied that a clear gap of at least 2.5 metres in width through the part of the Thames Path known as The Knuckle “would be sufficient to allow the reasonably safe passage of pedestrians and cyclists.”
He also found the presence of signs with Greenwich Council insignia along the path telling cyclists to dismount conflicted with the council’s claims that cyclists had a right to unrestricted access. Douglas noted that the pub’s table service presented “the greatest risk to the safety and access of pedestrians and cyclists” but no evidence of collisions or accidents had been provided.
In terms of heritage, Douglas found that the pub’s benches and tables caused no harm to the nearby Naval College, only stating that the current number and positioning of umbrellas outside the pub caused “a modest level of harm” to the historic significance of the Grade II-listed tavern itself by partly obscuring views of it as well as of the rest of the World Heritage Site.
Greenwich Council said: “We’ve been clear throughout this process that we have a duty to make sure the Thames Path is accessible for everyone.
“It’s a narrow stretch that is constantly in use, and it needs to be easy for people with disabilities, the elderly, or people with pushchairs to use.
“We have always said we wanted to find a sensible solution without compromising on accessibility or setting a precedent for a private business to stake a claim to a public part of land in a Unesco world heritage site.
“The planning inspector has concluded that the pub could, in principle, use a small portion of the path – subject to it successfully submitting strict and detailed plans to us for approval.”
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Cameron Blackshaw is the Local Democracy Reporter for Greenwich. The Greenwich Wire is a partner in the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which is a BBC-funded initiative to ensure councils are covered properly in local media.
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