Lewisham’s Model Market is on track to reopen later this year, its new operator has said, even though the site is still sitting empty months after it was first supposed to have opened its gates.
The food and drink spot, which closed in 2021, is due to be revived as part of plans to redevelop Lewisham Shopping Centre.
Landsec, the company that owns the centre, said in December last year that “a reimagined street market for a new generation” would reopen this spring. In June, that was revised to “late summer”. Signs outside the shopping centre now say “later this year”.
But the gates remain padlocked – and peering through the gap reveals a pile of rubble in the centre of the site.
German Kraft, the brewery behind Mercato Metropolitano near Elephant & Castle, will be in charge of the site when it does open. Felix Bollen, one of the company’s founders, said the plan was still to open this year.
“German Kraft is fully committed to taking over Model Market and bringing the site back to life for the Lewisham community,” he told The Greenwich Wire.
“While site preparation and initial planning are taking slightly longer than early estimates, we are working hard behind the scenes to get the venue ready. We are currently targeting an opening later this year, in line with the signage in the shopping centre.”
During the summer reports indicated that Mercato Metropolitano had been due to close at the end of August, but the food market on Newington Causeway is expected to stay open until later this year.
Asked if Model Market’s opening was dependent on a closure date for Mercato Metropolitano, Bollen said: “Multi-site developments naturally involve many moving parts and shifting logistics across locations, but our primary focus remains on delivering a fantastic new destination in Lewisham.”
The original Model Market was a hub of mainly black-owned retailers that traded until the 2000s. It returned as a street food market in 2014, but closed seven years later when its operator, Street Feast, collapsed.
Developer silent on shopping centre plans
Last year, Landsec won permission to knock down the shopping centre and build 1,700 new homes along with a new mall, green space and music venue, keeping Model Market in place. Under the approved plans, there will only be 98 homes for social rent, and 231 at discounted rents for key workers.
Since that decision was made, Labour – which supported the development – lost control of Lewisham at the council election in May.
Liam Shrivastava, who lent his support to a campaign against the development, is now the elected Green mayor, but he does not have the power to overturn the decision made by his predecessors.
For the full development to go ahead, Landsec will need to take control of Lewisham House, the former Citibank tower behind the shopping centre, which is leased to a different company, Lewisham House No 1 Ltd (LHN1).
LHN1 has its own plans to develop the tower and is opposed to Landsec’s scheme. If Landsec cannot come to a deal with LHN1, Lewisham Council would need to step in and issue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the tower.
Shrivastava has said he will not allow a compulsory purchase unless Landsec ups the number of social homes, but has not said how many would be required for this to happen. So far, the CPO process has not begun.
The Greenwich Wire asked Landsec for an update on its plans for the shopping centre, but did not receive a response.
But LHN1 was happy to respond. It has already had a plan to convert the tower into 193 flats approved, but is waiting for a decision on a separate plan to turn it into 320 co-living studios, with the company offering £6.2 million to the council instead of “affordable” housing.
LHN1 said in a statement: “Whilst we have not had any engagement with Landsec on the CPO, we have received assurances from Lewisham Council that the CPO process has not commenced for our site.
“LHN1’s position is to fight any CPO brought forward on our property, irrespective of whether the Landsec Masterplan is revised to meet Lewisham Council’s priorities. Our only focus is to deliver our plans for a sustainable retrofit of Lewisham House into new homes, which could still be delivered alongside or as part of a revised masterplan and avoid the need for a costly CPO if Landsec were willing to collaborate with us.”
It added: “We had hoped to have had our [co-living] application determined by the strategic planning committee already so that we could (subject to their decision) deliver our plans for new homes as quickly as possible, and our £6.2m affordable housing contribution can be put to good use by Lewisham Council – but we are yet to have confirmation of a committee date for our planning application.”
❤️ Get better local news on your phone. Add The Greenwich Wire as a preferred source on Google.
📩 Follow The Greenwich Wire on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn or Threads. You can also sign up for WhatsApp alerts – or subscribe to our emails through the blue box above.
You must be logged in to post a comment.