Sidcup cinema plan submitted

Plans for a three-screen cinema on Sidcup High street have been submitted.



The building will also include a library and nine flats on the former site of Blockbuster which has remained empty since 2013. A cafe will also face the High Street.

Current building on site

Nine flats will be built to the rear of the site which help finance the project and provide much-needed new homes – and have the benefit of additional people living near the High Street providing custom to shops.

A new library will replace the current building just of the High Street on Hadlow Road.

Library with large windows illuminating the interior with natural light

According to planning documents: “The proposed new building will significantly enhance the leisure offering on the high street, animate the street frontage, drive footfall and connect with the life of the wider area”.

Sidcup High Street – cinema site is on the right

Sidcup recently benefited from a street upgrade and is looking smart.

Shopfronts improved

Arts group Really Local Group are on board. Founded in 2017, the company are also behind plans for a cultural venue in Catford. DRDH Architects are behind the design.



Street clutter removed under recent scheme

The applications states: 19/01372/FULM | Erection of a four storey building to provide a 3 screen cinema with an additional studio (Class D2), a library (Class D1), a cafe and bar (Class A3), provision of a Changing Places WC and 9 residential flats comprising 3 x 1 bed and 6 x 2 bed flats. | 106 Sidcup High Street And 1 Elm Road Sidcup Kent DA14 6DS

Click here to view planning documents.

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I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

12 thoughts on “Sidcup cinema plan submitted

  • I think the new cinema will benefit both Sidcup High Street local businesses and residents in the area. They is not much in the way of entertainment venues in Sidcup. The new cinema will help rectify this while also providing new homes. I hope this planning application does get the go ahead from Bexley Council.

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  • Apologises should have typed there is not much not “they”.

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  • I dont think this is a great idea at all… why move the library from its current place? losing a library that has access for the elderly to park. There are already bars and cafe’s in the high street, if the council want to improve Sidcup high street then make it what it used to be “A high street with shops that serve the residents of Sidcup” how about looking at putting a post office back into the high street… as from July the High Street wont have the very basics of a high street… Yes a post office… there are more and more Flats being built on our high street then anything else…. it’s a High Street… definition of a High Street is “the main street of a town, especially as the traditional site for most shops, banks, and other businesses” not as its currently being changed to which consists of bars cafes & nail bars galore… I for one strongly oppose this new venture … we need business that bring people unto the high streets during daylight hours…. I hope others feel the same and oppose this…

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    • Bad idea, bad planning. Why put a library in the same place as a cinema. It is an extremely noisy corner of Sidcup High street. Flats will suffer from pollution problems sited there and there are already too many flats going up and who would want a flat right by a cinema with all the added noise and disturbance that would bring especially at night. Sidcup needs shops and life bringing back into it by way of a variety of good quality shops, a Post office, book shop, clothing/shoe shops. Our towns are just becoming places of wine bars, restaurants, nail bars by the ton, beauty and tanning salons. Why not put a cinema in the place of the Lamorbey Baths old swimming pools. Rose Bruford college never did anything with the site and it desperately needs something doing with it. But as always Bexley Council will pass this, like they do with everything else, irrespective of how it will spoil the environment and the fabric of what should be a high street. So rip off flats, where it will be impossible to open the windows for noise and pollution, a place of learning and peace and quiet (library) next to a cinema. Think Bexley Council need to rethink this one.

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    • Sadly I fear this will not be possible. Far too much is weighed against the small business owner to consider anything but a safe venture (coffee bar, nail salon). The people who are out during daylight hours increasingly don’t have the means to afford to keep many small shops going.

      For a small business owner it can be a mixture of increasing business and energy rates (a traditional bakery will be stung for around £12k a year on electricity, repaid at around £1.50 a loaf). Wholesale food is extremely expensive too.

      Add to this the cost of theft and illness abuse by staff (a big chain can treat its workers like dirt; for small businesses its the other way around) and cash handling fees by banks and you get an idea of why its not worth the heartache of setting up a shop.

      Generation Rent works punishing hours and doesn’t have time to wander the High Street. Amazon, Uber and Deliveroo mean you never need to. They have no loyalty to the High Street because they will never afford to be part of it.

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  • I am all for saving our High Streets and have written to several councils asking them to allow shops on the High Streets to have longer opening hours so residents can shop after work on their way home and on Sundays. Many Councils have declined this. So only some supermarkets tend to have the longer opening hours rather than other local shops and businesses on our High Streets.

    However sadly most people now tend to shop online, order food online or if they do venture out shopping tend to go to larger out of town outlets where shops have longer opening hours and more car parking facilities.

    I do not have all the facts with regard to the current Library. But I do know a lot of Councils are selling off buildings to raise funds to provide other essential services. I presume Bexley Council have had lengthy discussions with the developer about relocating the Library in the new development before submitting the plans to the Planning Department.

    I am sorry to hear of your Post Office closure from next month, Royal Mail are pressing ahead with Post Office closures despite hugh opposition to the closures..

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  • Closing the Post Office has got to be one of the most idiotic plans suggested for our High Street. Just one more reason to shop elsewhere. Moving the library from it present location where it has easy parking and quieter foot traffic into a noisy, inconvenient location makes absolutely no sense at all. Obviously, money the council will generate from the sale to developers is behind the decision – these have not been community decisions.

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  • I have read the comments on thjs development and do agree with the points raised by CDT in his post especially with regard to shop opening hours, shopping on line, ordering food on line and the large out of town oulets,

    All of these have done nothing to help save our local high streets. I think the new cinema will help bring people back to Sidcup High Street which can only be good for local business pubs and restaurants while also helping the local economy.

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  • Councils say they care about elderly residents but do they. My move a library that was already renovated a few years back costing thousands – that is in the same road as many residential homes. The elderly have walking difficulties – it makes no sense. The cinema could look much nicer than the concrete box it is going to be I am sure. I am happy for a cinema – but to be honest I was happier with the cinema we had previously in a better location and had history – instead of knocking it down to build flats it could have been re-modelled.

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  • The library will be a waiting hall for all the kids from the local schools whilst waiting for the bus and munching on their McNugget’s or KFC,

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  • Great idea and can’t wait for a cinema to return to Sidcup after all these years! I hope they make the brave decision to show some art house and challenging films instead of just the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

    It’s a shame that the library move may inconvenience some people but hopefully there will be ample parking and the distance between the two sites is fairly minimal for walkers.

    Also, I feel that Jolly Roger’s comment is unnecessary and way out of touch with modern society.

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  • My opinion is: the plan to move the library is about developers who back the Conservative party being rewarded. The cinema could have the flats built over it, surely?

    Reply

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