Woolwich town centre looking tatty as council meet to discuss
A meeting tonight is set to discuss town centres across Greenwich borough as Woolwich’s recent multi-million pound project looks ever more tatty.
Much of Powis Street saw work undertaken alongside Beresford Square as part of a £22 million wide-ranging town centre project though recent trips show street furniture, landscaping and paving already in poor shape.
Some may say that’s the drought. Those of us who’ve spent a while in Woolwich know rain or no rain, things like this just aren’t maintained.
The Inclusive Economy and Culture Scrutiny Panel meeting today will look at how the town centre can be kept in good condition. History over recent decades shows a succession of failure, from the 1980s upgrade which was replaced in the 1990s.
That lasted until recently though some of it was in poor conditions. General Gordon Square was upgraded in the early 2010s but since then the water feature seems to be have been permanently switched off no sooner had a new one been turned on at Beresford Square.
That Beresford Square upgrade was the second in little more than a decade as the first wasn’t a success. In Woolwich it’s often a case of one step forward, one step back.
What’s evident now along Powis Street on a recent trip is that almost every single bin appeared broken. The bins are a bespoke design for the borough and cannot handle the volume of waste, so older bins have been dumped down nearby.
Note the stained paving and scratched street furniture. Not great after so much money spent.
It’s further example of a failure by senior management to question outside consultants who drew up plans. We know they’ve struggled to maintain the town centre for decades so why adopt yet another town centre upgrade that requires such heavy and frequent maintenance?
The bright white paving materials were always going to age badly.
Good news
According to the report there was an increase in visitors to the town centre though what part isn’t stated.
As for Beresford Square a report states: “In Woolwich Town Centre, work has begun on addressing cleanliness in Beresford Square with interim measures and reviewing permanent cleaning solutions.
“Cross functional working groups have been established to consider resolutions and actions to address street-drinking and Anti-Social Behaviour, specifically on Beresford Square”.
They also state “Legible London project work is underway to update and improve Wayfinder posts and signage, supported by an £80K Transport for London budget.”.
Then again previous legible London signs became damaged and left in place for a year (if not longer) in the shadow of improvements.
This sign is in site of the council’s main HQ and directly outside Woolwich DLR station. If they couldn’t spot this – or act on it – then basic procedures were clearly broken.
In terms of routine cleaning the report notes:
“£250,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) funding has been allocated to enhance cleansing operations within the town centre. This investment will fund new cleansing equipment and support the introduction of a pilot time-banded waste collection scheme on Powis Street.”.
Positive future
We’ve heard if similar one-off funds before though and that’s never kept the centre in good shape for long. There is however mention of something that would help over the mid to long term:
“Woolwich Town Centre Partnership, successfully launched on 13th August. As in Eltham, the new partnership will bring together businesses, public sector organisations, and community stakeholders to coordinate activity and champion the town centre.
“It is expected that the partnership will play a key role in supporting local initiatives and in developing a future Business Improvement District (BID) proposal for Woolwich, helping to secure long-term investment and a sustainable framework for town centre improvements.”
Now that may achieve a lot. Many town centres across London and the country have BIDs which is a long term funding package to undertake routine maintenance and put on events in addition to public funds. Bexleyheath town centre businesses have just voted to renew the BID there.
It’s no miracle fix-all but it can play a key role in keeping town centres in better shape, and in Woolwich that means looking after the £22 million investment just made.
Business changes
One last thing which doesn’t show Greenwich Council’s knowledge of Woolwich in a good light is this:
“Recent lettings, including Home Bargains on Powis Street, the full occupation of the former Ordnance Public House building… demonstrate continued commercial demand, business confidence and investment in the town centre.”
The problem there is an application did go in for the popular national retailer Home Bargains which would drive much footfall to Powis Street but that’s not what has opened.
A ‘Home Value’ did. It’s rather different. In addition there is no full occupation of the former Ordnance pub. It’s had a fantastic upgrade but the ground floor is not occupied.
A council report on Woolwich town centre really should know what’s happening.
It may explain why the town badly needs a BID with some expertise the council lacks which explain ongoing struggles for many years. Fortunately a new town centre manager is in place to assist.
It’s a disaster. Actually looks worse than before already.
Hi
Having lived here over 30 years whatever plan for maintenance not only isn’t working now, for 30 years it hasn’t even been a minor step in the right direction…
100 metres from me a small white fence surrounded a green area, it needed painting….this never happened once, in 30 years….
It’s unbelievable that Council assets are ignored for 30 years. …but this could be 50 years ago this could be 5 years ago…nothing ever changes…
Something is disfunctional
“Work has begun on addressing cleanliness in Beresford Square with interim measures and reviewing permanent cleaning solutions.”
Maybe that should have been part of the plan from the start? So typical of Greenwich! The bins are probably the most emblematic of how they handle things, although that Home Bargains howler comes close!
Greenwich Council have always failed to neglected their public realm.. Thry spend millions and then leave it unmaintained to fall in to a state of disrepair.
The hot weather has not helped the plants of grassed areas as they got to dry. People also have to take some of the responsability for liittering the pavements. That said i have often seen the bins on Ppowis Street n particular overflowing and not emptied..
There needs to be deducated Town Centre cleaning Teams. Bussiness also need for their runbish to be collected twice a week particularly from supernarkets restaurants take aways etc where foid is sold to stop rubbish being dumped on the streets and to help reduce the increase in rodents in Woolwich. Have spoited more rats again recently.
Woolwich is a total DISGRACE. It’s a slum!!!!!!
A bit harsh. There’s lots of parts that are fine. A lot can be improved however and hopefully forthcoming steps will see that happen.
I am sorry but I disagree, the original poster is correct. Greenwich Council over the decades have consistently shown a general disregard for anything outside of Greenwich town centre which is ironic given there offices are a stones throw from Woolwich Town Centre.
Cllrs and their officers seem incapable of running an efficient street cleaning operation – or they have different standards of what they regard as a clean public realm – and think this is OK .
There are just two services that affect everyone in the borough on a daily basis – street cleaning and refuse collection. Those two services should be the ones that are delivered every day to the highest standards.
Yet these pictures show these are not Cllrs or senior officers’ priorities.
Labour’s pre election slogan was we are ” getting things done ” .
Clearly not.
That is so very true Kathy. Well said..
Some of these pictures are from before covid, lazy journalism. The footfall through Woolwich is hung maybe just regular cleaning/maintenance?
Not a single image is from before covid. The town centre upgrade didn’t even commence until long after 2020. Most images are from the past week. It finished in 2025.
I’ve been covering it extensively from initial conception, to implementation and beyond. All images above show the new Powis Street layout and street furniture that only finished in 2025. Perhaps the only one that isn’t obvious is the broken board image but zoom in and the new lights are evident. As said, not a single image is old and all are post-project completion.
Here’s one post in 2023 when work commenced: https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2023/11/15/woolwich-town-centres-major-revamp-on-powis-street-begins/
Here’s one post from March 2024 showing progress: https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2024/03/12/latest-look-at-woolwich-town-centre-upgrade/
Here’s one from late 2024 before completion in 2025: https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk/2024/12/16/powis-street-upgrade-in-woolwich-looking-close-to-completion/
Having live in the borough all my life I’ve found things have got worse in Woolwich, the council seem to think if we refurbish the town centre, we can leave it for about 10 years,then waste millions of our money ( as the council doesn’t have its own) redoing it again. I’ve had the view that the council couldn’t organise a bus queue.
Due to personal circumstances I’ve had to move to Tonbridge in Kent, and to be honest I couldn’t be happier
Is it any wonder? What’s the news? Pearls before swine usually look like this. Throwing money at an ill-educated bunch won’t solve the cultural issue of a lack of community behaviour.
Exactly.
I keep saying that regardless of how much money is thrown at Woolwich, it’s going to be wasted because of the significant portion of the people in the area that will ruin any improvement.
Also, it’s not pleasant to stroll around with the anti-social behaviour in certain parts. We don’t need private civil enforcement officers who will fine the vulnerable for small innocent infractions, but avoid the people who are causing the real problems because they will fight back.
We need actual police patrols that can arrest people!
Also, the choice of shops and the designs of the shop fronts is a big factor. They often look cheap and tacky.
The broken sign outside the DLR is gone!
Was starting to think it was part of an abstract art trail.
Completely agree with the (continued) lack of foresight in using materials which look good for glossy advertisements for architects and builders on day one, then they head away to the next project never needing to step foot on their work again. Until Greenwich bid and win the next £mn central government fund. All of these funds should have some kind of binding maintenance budget- if you can’t prove you have the intent, capability and expertise to maintain it- you shouldn’t receive funding from central government. Councils bid against each other and are incentivised to spend this capital expenditure, whilst taxpayers fund central pots and local budgets and don’t have assurance it’s money well spent for the long-term.
That being said, emboldened by the council’s reporting of a 7% increase in footfall and 18% increase in spend recently. Whilst the vast majority of this is a result of new housing, it’s still good there’s shoots of recovery and demonstrates the need for a proper Business Improvement District which there are rumours of and this site has pushed.
Can’t be that bad in Woolwich town centre can it. Perhaps it really needs a massive improvement to make the town centre more accessible, cleaner and pedestrian friendly.
Another example of the reality of Greenwich Labour ‘Getting Things Done’. Still, the addicts who rob Greggs seem quite happy living there