Blackheath pub Green Goddess gets the green light as licence approved

A licensing committee has approved plans this morning for a licence at the forthcoming Green Goddess pub and micro brewery in Blackheath. The meeting can be viewed here.

Common Rioters brewery are behind the venture and occupied a temporary site at Charlton House this year. They’ve also sold products at the Royal Arsenal Farmers Market in Woolwich and Lesnes Abbey Farmers Market .

The pub and micro brewery will be located in the former Barclays Bank at the Standard.

During the meeting Cllr Pat Greenwell then asked about strength of beer. Green Goddess owners then responded to say stronger beers are usually served in third or 2/3s of a pint which is standard for micro breweries and craft pubs.

Planning application

When the full planning application was approved in October 2021 Cllr Norman Adams rejected the proposal for an independent pub and brewery at the town centre site due to the possibility some may park nearby on double yellow lines.

Rather than pushing for a Parking Department that enforced restrictions rather than being an ongoing shambles, he sought to prevent an independent business from opening.

Adams was in effect stating that a town centre site with great public transport links isn’t a suitable as a site for a pub as Greenwich will not enforce parking (that may not even occur) – particularly in the evenings.

It was a classic case of Greenwich Council failing to get their own house in order, and so a new business offering something many locals were looking forward to should be blocked. Other cllrs disagreed and it did pass – though with some other odd adjustments.

Other councillors also sought to block cycle stands nearby, as people would obviously cycle home drunk.

Despite those strange interventions cllrs did approve by a majority to both the planning application and now the licensing application and so the area will now have a micro brewery and pub offering a choice and style of drinks unavailable in the vast majority of pubs in the area.

A major win in my book.