A fundraising drive to buy Charlton’s closed White Swan pub has been launched – with campaigners hoping to raise £360,000 towards a deposit.
Among the incentives on offer for donors are tickets to an intimate gig from Squeeze singer Glenn Tilbrook, who made the offer just days after announcing his band’s biggest-ever tour, which includes a date at the nearby O2.
The White Swan Music and Arts charity has already collected over £44,000 from supporters, with the aim of bringing the Victorian pub, which has been shut since 2020, into community ownership.
If successful, the Swan would reopen with a multipurpose community arts space above the pub, with facilities for young performers and content creators to practise their skills. All profits would be ploughed back into the charity.
Donors can also get the chance to own a personalised tankard made by a local ceramicist, or they can have beer pumps and function rooms named after them.
The campaign will officially be launched on Wednesday evening at 7pm at the Green Goddess pub in Blackheath, where the campaign’s promotional video, featuring Tilbrook, young musicians and a host of well-known local faces in Charlton, will be screened.
Tilbrook lives nearby and played in bands at the Swan before it closed, and recently became a patron of the Music Venue Trust. He said: “Over 50 years ago, the first gig that myself and Jools Holland got was playing in the Morden Arms in Greenwich. We soon had a residency there and started getting gigs in other pubs, gradually. It was great fun and helped us to find ourselves.
“Places like this are vital for young musicians to learn their craft, playing to friends and neighbours. I hope that The White Swan will be able to host another generation of musicians soon.”
Suzanne Hunt, the chair of White Swan Music and Arts, said: “ To me, it’s more than just a pub; it’s where my family celebrated landmark anniversaries or simply where we could gather for Sunday lunch.
“Our plan is to restore the pub and live music venue, but also do more by investing any profits to enable young people access to the arts and provide a space for our wider community. The White Swan should be where you walk up to the bar as a stranger but walk out as a friend.”
The Swan has had a turbulent history since the Isle of Man-based property developer Mendoza bought it from Punch Taverns in April 2015 for £900,000, selling it onto a sister company, Associate Properties, eight months later for £1.2 million.
For four years the pub was run by the management team behind the Pelton Arms in Greenwich, quickly becoming a favourite with music lovers and football fans attending matches at The Valley, with memorabilia from the Charlton Athletic Museum displayed inside.
But the keys were handed back in March 2020 – just a couple of weeks before the coronavirus lockdown – after a struggle with high rent demands.
Since then the pub has fallen into disrepair and Mendoza has struggled to develop the building. While it won a protracted battle to build a house in the back garden in November 2020, that permission has now lapsed.
Three years later, a cannabis farm was found inside the bar and 18 months ago, The Greenwich Wire revealed that Croydon Council was housing homeless residents in an outbuilding in the pub’s beer garden.In June last year a planning inspector comprehensively threw out a proposal to turn the pub into a supermarket and seven flats by adding a two-floor extension.
Mendoza was criticised for leaving the building in a poor condition by the inspector, who concluded that the pub “provided a role and value to the community when it was open”.
To donate to the appeal, visit crowdfunder.co.uk.
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