Lidl seek to demolish Princess Alice pub in Thamesmead
Lidl have reaveled plans for a site in Thamesmead which is home to the Princess Alice pub.
As expected the company seeks to demolish the pub and build a shop on site without any homes despite Thamesmead being labelled a housing zone and rail links a short bus journey away. The Elizabeth line, Southeastern Metro and Thameslink are five minutes away.
In place of the pub would be a shop with large blank walls facing surrounding areas. Good urban design it isn’t.
Greenwich Council will decide on the plan. Housing Minister Matt Pennycook being a former Greenwich borough councillor and now an MP for the nearby area of Woolwich & Greenwich. He’s put housing growth at the forefront of his mission in government.
This plan is anything but.
History
The Princess Alice pub was named after a disaster on the Thames in the Victorian era. A total of 650 people lost their lives in 1878 in a collision off the coast of what is now Thamesmead.
The pub is only around 30 years old and offered carveries – which yours truly enjoyed on occassion.
Perhaps there’s no call for a pub given passing footfall is limited but no homes at all and blank walls on facades on this proposal is just not good enough. London needs homes. The tired old model of Lidl and Aldi of out-of-town retail type units in urban areas needs to be halted.
Without doing so more brownfield land is being wasted and not just here but across London and beyond. There’s not exactly a shortage of supermarkets here to boot.
Three Lidl’s are located nearby in Belvedere, Abbey Wood and Woolwich.
Aldi and Morrisons are also located nearby. If this site needs yet another supermarket at least use the land productively.
Unless Lidl can come up with better design this plan is deserving of being thrown out. They may have got away with it in the 1990s when London’s population was two million fewer people than now. Not in 2026. Do better.
And to add, what happened to their previously announced plans for housing?
This looks a very car-centric design of supermarket which absolutely contradicts the Bus Rapid Transit plans heading past this VERY site to link Thamesmead to public transport. That alone should see it blocked. More cars isn’t going to help that link run well.
True but the Bus Rapid Transit is now so watered down it looks like the weakest and weak fig leafs. DLR must take all funds and all attention – and sod all other transport links from Thamesmead to the Elizabeth line, Thameslink and SE as those in TfL and Greenwich ignore those links and issues like this.