Hotel plan submitted for site beside Abbey Wood station and pub
Plans have been submitted for a hotel behind the Abbey Arms pub.
Located directly beside Abbey Wood station, the pub would be refurbished and extended with a separate coffee shop added next door.
The application states the hotel would include 132 rooms and be located to the rear on a former beer garden. Developer Uplift are behind the project.
Changes to the pub detailed in the application’s Planning Statement include “a new space at first floor for dining and a games room which sits above the coffee shop area.
“The terraces that were located off these spaces before have now been consolidated into a larger south facing garden at ground floor.
“There is a kitchen at first floor which connects to the ground floor by a lift for ease of service and to keep the ground floor area as open as possible for the bar, an extract flue will run though this space and vent through the roof to minimise external visual impact.”
Transport
Travelodge would operate the hotel, which is seconds from the station. By the time it opens total trains serving Abbey Wood will be around 40 per hour.
The station now sees more passengers than Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Bristol Temple Meads and Stansted Airport to name but a few.
Oddly the PTAL level is only 4 out of 6. Even level 6 is split in to two levels. PTAL measures how close public transport is alongside service levels. Yet this measurement of 4 shows how flaky the Public Transport Accessibility Level can be.
If numerous Elizabeth line, Southeastern and Thameslink services per hour at a station metres away – plus many bus routes calling at stops – can only muster 4 out of 6 that’s not a great advert for the rating system.
There’s also two night buses in the N1 and N472.
Nearby
Next door to the west sits a BT exchange. Greenwich Council had previously included that as a further potential development site.
If the BT exchange were to see changes – if only at its entrance – that would allow the adjacent alley, which is not exactly enticing to use, to be opened up in part.
That’s greatly help pedestrians but beyond the scope of this specific application.
In terms of other public spaces. Wilton Road also still lacks some of the promised improvements from a decade ago and what was installed was quickly diminished by Greenwich Council putting down large expanses of tarmac and ugly street furniture on newly installed areas of public realm.
The hotel plan will bring in around £870,000 to Greenwich Council via a Community Infrastructure Levy payment:
“The EBS calculates that the development will create a substantial increase in business rates revenue of c.£500,000 per annum, alongside a CIL payment of approximately £875,000 and further Section 106 obligations.”
Whether they spend much in the town remains to be seen. Some is currently looking the worst it has in 40 years, with evident neglect in areas.
There’s not a great deal of much Elizabeth line-derived benefit in much of the area despite new developments bringing revenue to the authority. Public spaces and shopping parades remain in dilapidated condition.
Hi
Let’s hope it’s built over the next few years…
This would turbo charge both infrastructure shopping and transport in this area…for European visitors it’s a good place to stay…Next to Crossrail…jumping off point if driving from Dover…and one day connecting direct to Ebbsfleet
European visitors driving from Dover are not likely to want to stop there! They’ll usually choose countryside, pubs/inns, etc, to get the English character we’re famed for, and they are on holiday after all. Would you stay at a cheap hotel here by AW station while on holiday? And anyway, with 100 rooms, that’s potentially 100 car parking spaces needed, taking up valuable green space next to the station, adding to local street ‘ugliness’. It needs more green spaces- but green spaces THAT ARE MAINTAINED WELL BY THE COUNCIL (that’ll be a first, I hear voices saying!), for locals to use for shade and sitting on benches, socialising (or ‘hanging out’ as it’s now referred to haha). Likewise, the removal of a large beer garden, which is ESSENTIAL for a pub these days-outdoor drinking will become more and more popular. Confusing how they say adding a south-facing garden?? Where? And how big a garden compared to the one being built over? I bet it’s tiny and will inevitably become neglected and full of locals’ canine excretions of one type or another. And why a Travelodge, for God’s sake? Last time I stayed in one will be the last time too! Cheap they may be, but there’s a limit to sacrificing comfort, cleanliness, style and food quality merely to keep the ‘cheapest rates in town’. Stay in one if it’s all your budget allows, though they do of course vary from place to place (a little, but identical decor-bland and soulless)
Personally, I feel the hotel could be great for the area, but not at the sacrifice of extremely important community and cultural spaces. Although it’s true that the once beautiful large garden of the Abbey Arms, belongs to the new pub owners, so they can do as they please with it; however, why can’t there be a ‘happy medium’?
Abbey Wood has already lost two community public houses to development and two large community centres, over the past few decades. Cannot a larger part of the garden be saved and used again for community events such as the movie nights, gigs and concerts; and still build the hotel?
Either way, I’m cynical that the promised community adaptations to the pub, such as the coffee shop and function room, may never happen, once they are given planning permission for the hotel. Where are the guarantees? Will they honour this ‘dangling carrot’ by carrying out the work on the pub first? Doubtful.
I would stay in a place like this and I have in other cities. I’ve stayed in budget hotels all over the country and Europe. I’m there to see the city so the room wasn’t really too much of an issue and the chains are fine. Many people who will stay here are on city breaks, seeing gigs, visiting attractions etc. AbbeyWood is now extremely well connected to places be it a direct train to Heathrow, two trains to Gatwick via London Bridge, direct train to St Pancras for Eurostar, one train to Luton Airport and Stansted is easy with a direct train to Liverpool Street or go to Stratford. Paddington and Kings Cross is direct too via Crossrail and Thameslink.
If I’m living in say south Wales and my favourite band are playing the o2 and that’s the only UK date then I’d google hotels and see this one is just one direct bus to the o2 and book it if good value. It’s far quicker to reach now than say a decade ago. South Wales to Paddington (faster since electrification) then a quick change to Crossrail direct to Abbey Wood running up to every 5 minutes and the journey is quick and easy. Same story if coming from the east, midlands or north. Take Sheffield as another example. One train to St Pancras then change to Thameslink direct to Abbey Wood. Leeds? Newcastle? Train to Kings Cross then one train to Abbey Wood. All avoiding the tube too when with luggage. I think many people don’t realise how many tourists visit London for for specific events such as a musical or theatre show or sports events and they just want a cheap place for a night or two. There’s lots of events that only happen in London so people will travel from across the country and continent for them. I have no interest in NFL but they can fill out a stadium in London for one off events. I mean even this weekend there’s a Formula E race at Excel. That’s the only UK race. It is 6 minutes from abbey Wood on the Liz line.
If people do I what I do when looking at cities it’s how close is the hotel to public transport, how frequent trains are, how long to destinations like music venues or the centre trains take plus link to major transport nodes in the centre or airports. AW ticks all of them boxes now. Canary Wharf is about two stops? West End in barely any time. Same with the City and the area off Liverpool Street.
With the beer garden it is a shame to lose it, but perhaps 132 rooms and those guests will buy a coffee in the morning and have a drink or meal at night in the pub helping them to survive. That’s what I did on my holidays abroad. Stay in cheaper hotels and spend money in local businesses nearby.
There’s a big market for these kinds of budget hotels with good transport connections. People attending events at the O2 arena will be very well served, and beyond that, the Elizabeth Line’s 20 minutes to Tottenham Court Road is easier than staying somewhere like Wembley or Epping and trundling through on the Tube. Parking will be an issue, though, so I hope there’s provision in the plans for it.