Woolwich’s art-deco former co-op sees new store frontage plan

Plans have been submitted to install new shopfronts to one of Woolwich’s best buildings.

The former co-op department store at the western end of Powis Street saw upper floors converted to housing around a decade ago but the ground floor has remained boarded-up for years.

That could now change with plans at long last evident for improvement work. While it won’t be the original shopfront design it will be in keeping with the local Conservation Zone.

And about time too. Plans for the building’s ground floor were first approved more than 13 years ago on 20 September 2012. Now comes detailed designs.

In the not too distant past the whole building was set for demolition. Fortunately that 2000s idea was dropped. The subsequent plan came arrived with a rooftop extension though the ground floor has been a sad sight ever since.

Below shows a glimpse of one end of the restored building with the route to Mortgramit Square and Hare Street.

Western end of Woolwich

This end of Woolwich town center is stuffed full of wonderful buildings which also includes the Royal Arsenal C0-operative Society (RACS) building directly opposite the art-deco department store. That’s now mainly occupied by a Travelodge.

The recent town center revamp didn’t stretch this far down but really it didn’t need to.

Though as much as we all love trees it’s unfortunate to place so many of them directly in front of town’s best buildings obscuring much of the exquisite upper floors from sight. I mean, there’s plenty of other places they could go.

It speaks of a slapdash approach to the town’s management from Greenwich Council. They’ve recently done the same and planted trees outside some fine buildings on Calderwood Street and Thomas Street.

Cinemas

Nearby in Woolwich there’s also the former Granada Cinema and Odeon/Coronet cinema.

Fortunately these buildings and their fine architecture are generally visible.

This part of town could still see further improvements in a number of ways, and one move that could bring new life and enhanced footfall down here is to do something with the expansive car park.

New homes on site would add further footfall and help improve the area, which is already a lot better than it was twenty years ago. It’s still not great but buildings have been occupied and a number have seen restoration work on both Powis and Hare Streets.

If parking must remain, a multi-storey would be a more efficient use of land permitting homes and shops on the remaining part of the site.

Long term a better way to improve links to areas in the west and Woolwich Dockyard is also a must.

There are road changes currently underway and Greenwich Council are looking to potentially redevelop estate nearby greatly increasing the total number of homes by around 1,000.

Many have written off this end of Woolwich though it’s far from dead – and could be better. There’s also the Mortgramit Square housing plans and redevelopment of Waterfront.

The long, drawn out process of Mortgramit Square’s development has been a thorn in the side of improving this end of Woolwich.

Shop owners were evicted and buildings have sat empty for many years.

Still, when new homes are built here and other spots nearby occupied it’s not hard to imagine how this end of town could strive and regain some of the glory it had during the 20th century.

For now though I’ll take an attractive frontage on the old co-op. Small steps, but crucial ones.

–

A quick link at the end which shows how the store looked inside after the co-op closed but residential conversion had yet to begin.

Since those plans to knock it down the town has come a long way with Greenwich Council now acknowledging its history and fine buildings with a conservation area in place.