DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Greenwich, January, 2024.

Page Updated:- Saturday, 20 January, 2024.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

Earliest 1979

(Name from)

Hardy's

Feb 2024

90-92 Trafalgar Road

Greenwich

020 8858 5292

https://whatpub.com/hardys-free-house

Hardy's 2013

Above photo 2013.

Hardy's 2024

Above photo 2024.

 

Originally called the "Bricklayer's Arms," the pub changed name to "Hardy's" around 1979 and is now (2020) identified as an Irish theme pub.

 

From the https://greenwichwire.co.uk by Darryl Chamberlain, 17 January, 2024.

Hardy’s Freehouse: Plans for hotel and restaurant to replace Greenwich pub approved.

The pub is likely to close within the next few weeks. Credit: The Greenwich Wire.

In short:- Hardy's Freehouse on Trafalgar Road to be refurbished to accommodate a hotel and restaurant.

- The current pub is expected to close in the coming weeks.

- Neighbours objected to an extra floor being added to the building but the plans were approved by Greenwich's planning board.

Plans for a 10-room hotel above an east Greenwich pub were approved on Tuesday night — with the building’s new owners planning a restaurant in place of the current Irish bar, which is set to close in the coming weeks.

Hardy’s Freehouse on Trafalgar Road is to have an extra floor built on top to accommodate 10 “apart-hotel” rooms for short-term accommodation, under the plans backed by Greenwich Council’s planning board.

But the proposals from MAF Real Estate, a developer based on the Isle of Dogs, came under fierce opposition from neighbours in the next-door Vista Apartments, who complained that guests would be able to see into their bedrooms and could even have direct access to them via a flat roof.

It emerged during the meeting that the pub — once a live music favourite that played host to early shows by Squeeze in the mid-1970s — will close in the next few weeks, and a restaurant is planned on the ground floor, something not made clear in the planning documents. Once known as the "Bricklayer’s Arms," the pub dates back to Victorian times but was rebuilt in the 1930s.

Questioned by the chair of planning, Gary Dillon, about neighbours’ accusations that the pub was poorly-run, Vincenzo Stampone, MAF’s director, said: “There will be new management. We bought the building in 2021 but until January 31 it is being run by the ex-owner because they still have the lease and we were waiting for the application to do the works.”

Regulars at the pub have been told it will stay open until the end of February, The Greenwich Wire understands.

Sarah Hope, who lives in one of the next-door flats, said that there would be a “loss of privacy” for residents, while arrangements to collect rubbish from the hotel via the Vista car park presented “potential threats to our security”. She added: “There have been break-ins from where we believe the council hasn’t closed the locks properly.”

The pub already has eight rooms above it, although these have not been used for a year, and neighbours said the flat roof already gave guests direct access to their homes, which were built about 20 years.

Rahul Ozer, another neighbour, said people from the pub were using the roof to sunbathe and hang washing. “It leads me to think the management is substandard and that doesn’t give much confidence for the new building,” he said.

Hardy's plans 2024

Render of pub development.

The developer plans to build another floor on top of the pub. Credit: MAF Real Estate/Urbanist Architecture.

David Tudor-Morgan, another Vista resident, said many bedrooms were now being used as home offices and residents were “working from home all day every day”.

“What we want is an internal refurbishment, not [building] up … that’d be a win-win for the environment, the developer and the residents.”

Claudia Stephens of Urbanist Architecture, which designed the extension, said that the design had been chosen to avoid being overbearing and windows would have an 80-degree angle to limit overlooking residents in the 20-year-old Vista block.

“There has been an element of overlooking that is a given and has been a given since these buildings were given planning permission,” she said.

The current rooms, which would be available for up to 90 days a year for guests, were “not a liveable space for people”, she said.

“It’s a historic building that has fallen into bad condition,” she said of the pub.

Councillors on the planning board set conditions around frosted glass and canopies to limit overlooking, as well as placing planting on the flat roof, while Dillon told planning officers that they needed to set “robust” conditions on construction.

They also pushed for the fire door to be fitted with an alarm to deter guests from going onto the roof.

Stampone said the new operation would be well-run. “We have a management team for the other properties we have and we have another building like this in Chelsea, and they do everything for us and they will do the same here,” he said. “We will make sure no one goes out on the roof without any reason.”

After the decision was made, Dillon suggested that Stampone invite worried neighbours to his restaurant in Chelsea.

“Maybe it will help the residents understand how you operate and what they can look forward to,” he said.

Referring to the neighbouring Japanese restaurant which closed earlier this month, he continued: “I suppose with a nice new restaurant on Greenwich high road, things could improve there. We’re going to miss Zaibatsu but hopefully your restaurant may be able to help.”

“It might be worth extending that invitation to the residents — and to the local councillors,” he added to laughter.

 

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