O'Dowds

Above Google image, June 2008.

Above photo, date unknown.

From the https://www.newsshopper.co.uk 22 March 2018, by Joe Dempsey.

O'Dowds pub in Plumstead will not become flats says developers.

Developers planning to build flats at the site of an abandoned pub in Plumstead have insisted the pub itself will not be touched.

O’Dowd’s Pub at 67 Plumstead High Street has been shut since 2014 and residents wanted to have the building listed as an Asset of Community Value.

A petition was launched urging people to oppose plans by Langleys Chartered Surveyors to build a three-storey building with eight homes at the site.

More than 300 people already signed the online petition, started by Stephen O’Connor, highlighting that the planning application had no reference to retaining the pub.

However the developers insisted they had absolutely no plans to touch the pub at all and are only building at land behind the pub.

A spokesman from Langleys said: “The planning application does not go on the top of the pub or change the use of the pub.”

The planning application states that the new structure would not be visible from the high street at all, and that the building will “not be affected by the development proposed and there will be no alteration to the building’s appearance when viewed from the street.”

The plans were originally submitted to Greenwich planning office in January 2016 but Langleys said delays with the council has led to the project approval being pushed back.

Above plans showing the proposed building at the back of the pub in Green Man Court. January 2016.

Plumstead’s O’Dowds pub plans to be decided tonight.

Plans to build homes to the rear of O’Dowds pub at 67 Plumstead High Street are due to be decided tonight by Greenwich Council. Council officers are recommending approval.

Courtesy Google.

Eight flats are planned on land to the rear of the locally listed pub.

Locals are concerned that the pub itself will be affected though developers state that building work will only be undertaken behind the pub building.

A petition to protect the pub received hundreds of signatures.

It has taken two years and two months from initial application to reach today’s planning meeting.

The planning reference number is 15/3970/F

UPDATE: Plans were approved

From the https://www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk By J Smith 28 October 2026.

Former Plumstead pub could become 17-person HMO.

Plans are in to increase the size of a HMO at a former pub building on Plumstead High Street.

O’Dowds closed some years ago and currently has a HMO for 11 people which was approved retrospectively in 2023 and included a “change of use of the upper floors of a public house (Sui Generis) to a large HMO (Sui Generis) with a maximum capacity of 11-persons, alteration to internal layout and associated cycle parking and refuse.”

The applicant – Vantage (Plumstead) Limited – now want to increase that to 17 people.

The new application seeks an extension at the rear as well as changes to some rooms.

Development to rear of pub seen recently. Lombard Square development to rear of that.

A new block of eight flats has also been approved behind the pub and now visible from the High Street. That includes “5 x 2 bedroom flats and 3 x1 bedroom flats, plus associated secure bicycle parking and refuse storage areas at the rear.”

Approval for that was given back in 2018.