Former Woolwich pub beside Beresford Square up for rent at £75,000 a year
A Woolwich town centre pub is up for rent after part of the building underwent renovation.
The Ordnance Arms otherwise known as the Old Gun Pit on Beresford Square has seen work undertaken on upper floors over the past year as part of plans that was also to see the ground floor refurbished.
After closing in spring 2024 scaffolding went up later that same year. It recently came down revealing a rooftop extension. A hotel plan for upper floors was approved back in 2023.
However approved refurbishment plans at street level at the pub havn’t yet been undertaken with the pub now up for rent at £75,000 a year.
This doesn’t mean the proposed ground floor changes are dead in the water as some slight revisions have recently been submitted to Greenwich Council. However without the refurbishment it’s hard to know if anyone would take on the unit, as both approved and proposed changes would greatly improve the site.
Approved ground floor pub changes included opening up the original corner entrance as well as adding new windows. Or rather, putting in what existed before removal in the 1950s.
Tiles are also due to adorn the ground floor. It’s far smarter than what currently exists.
Whether it remains a pub is also unknown given it’s marketed as having “a flexible layout suited to both traditional pub operations and alternative hospitality or leisure concepts”.
Beresford Square
The former pub sits beside Beresford Square which was recently the recipient of a multi-million pound project adding seating, greenery and a fountain.
The pub is well positioned to capitalise on that with outside seating alongside high levels of passing footfall located being the Royal Arsenal and Woolwich Elizabeth station to one side, and the town centre and Woolwich Arsenal DLR and rail station the other.
As things stand it’s an eyesore at street level. Revised plans recently submitted suggest ground floor refurbishment is still on the cards, but it’s one to watch.
Regardless, the building looking such a state at ground floor level right now is hardly good for Woolwich so soon after a major multi-million pound town centre upgrade and a new leisure centre opening a short distance away.
As one of the first buildings seen upon leaving Woolwich Elizabeth line station upon entering the town it doesn’t leave a good first impression, much like vacant and rubbish-strewn TfL plots opposite Woolwich Arsenal station.
Lita Homes are behind the Ordnance Arms refurbishment. They’ve been contacted for comment on refurbishment plans at street level.
The Lita Homes board on the building advertises commercial use.
My money is on a Pret a Manger or similar, perhaps an Italian cafe-restaurant (especially since the closure of Osteria Vitis). Woolwich has lots of pubs and it is difficult to imagine that another one would be very successful. A pub-club like The Swan in Stockwell might work but I suspect the chance of getting the necessary late license would be very slight, these days, mores the pity.