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Greenwich news and information

University studies Stockwell Street land

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The University of Greenwich will soon start work on the site of the old Village Market in Stockwell Street.

Archaeological, ecological and geological surveys will take place and some of the disused buildings on the site will be pulled down.

The University plans to submit a planning application later this year for a new School of Architecture and campus on the site.

They have provided details on some of the investigations they will be carrying out on the site before any work can take place:

Before construction work begins, detailed studies are planned. Test pits will be dug to look at the archaeology of the site, which has been in use since at least the medieval period. Initial research indicates that building work over the centuries, and war-time bombs, have destroyed evidence from early periods, but the university will pay special attention to what remains of the 19th century maltings, which once supplied ale to the Spread Eagle Tavern.

Another investigation will establish whether there are still old petrol tanks beneath the forecourt of the disused petrol station on the site. If necessary, an expert team will carry out clean-up and remediation works. Greenwich Council has given permission for the removal of the petrol station, along with some other empty structures and hard landscaping. In order to preserve the streetscape for as long as possible, two large blocks on the frontage of Stockwell Street, John Humphries House and the disused storage unit at number 18-19, will remain standing for the time being.

Next weekend will mark the one year anniversary of the end of the much-loved Village Market which was held every weekend at the Stockwell Street site.

The land, which includes the John Humphries House office block, was sold to a developer who had planning permission for a mixed use development on the site but instead sold it on to the University of Greenwich.

Greenwich Uni Acquires Stockwell Street Land

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Aerial view of Stockwell St land

A little while ago, via a cabbie that the University of Greenwich was interested in buying the land in Stockwell Street that had been home to the much loved Village Market, and the rather tired looking John Humphries House.

It turns out that the cab driver was exactly right, proving they really do have the knowledge, and the University of Greenwich has just announced the acquisition of the land in a £60million investment which will see the construction of a new library and a new home for the School of Architecture & Construction.

The University is launching a competitive process to select an architect who will be tasked with creating “an inspiring piece of contemporary architecture”. Preliminary work on the site will include the removal of existing buildings and archaelogical digs.

The University says it is committed to consulting with local residents and businesses, and that the development will be constructed to the latest environmental standards, with a low carbon
footprint.

The site had previously been ear-marked for a mixed use development containing flats, offices and shops.

UPDATED 5th March

The tender notice for this contract has been posted to the European Union’s Tenders Electronic Daily system. The details of the job spec put the estimated construction cost at £41million and aims to have an architect selected by the end of August 09.  The Memorandum of Information associated with the project says that the “University wishes to create educational buildings that are inspiring, flexible, adaptable and innovative, whilst at the same time sustainable. They should become a bench mark for the way that education can be delivered and must contribute to the built environment of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage site“.

Aerial view of Stockwell St land
Map of the Stockwell Street site

A Tribute To Greenwich Village Market

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Greenwich Village Market

Greenwich Village Market closes this weekend. Author of the London Market Guide, Andrew Kershman, explains why the closure of the market is such a loss to Greenwich.

For a while in the early 90s Greenwich occupied a unique place in London’s market scene and seemed destined to rival Portobello and Camden. At that time there were five different markets taking place in Greenwich at the weekend including a small crafts market called Bosun’s Yard and a Flea Market on Thames Street, where traders sold junk from rusting ship containers.

When I returned from college to London with a car full of books and little money, I started selling my library at the market and saw the place in its prime. Since those halcyon days the Flea Market and Bosun’s Yard have closed and another Greenwich Market is soon to join them.

The covered market, in the central part of Greenwich, has become more dominant in recent years with its mix of arts, crafts and food and tends be the first port of call for tourists. Likewise, the Antiques Market, next to the cinema on Greenwich High Street, is still soldiering on at the weekends, but is small and without any roof it is vulnerable to the British weather. My favourite has always been the sprawling complex of shops, lock-ups and stalls just off Stockwell Street, opposite the Ibis Hotel, called The Village Market. It was here that I sold my second-hand books, bought some great furniture and acquired a wardrobe of retro clothing from the many second-hand stalls. It is this major Greenwich market that is due to close on Sunday 22nd March, marking the decline in the area’s status as a unique and interesting shopping area.

The best thing about the Village Market was that space was allowed for traders to sell large items like second-hand furniture and there was room for storage at the end of trading. This kind of spacious market with lots of cheap second-hand things has beeb disappearing as land values have increased and developers moved in. Famous markets such as Bell Street have closed, while the Stables Market in Camden has been transformed into a smart alternative shopping area, rather than the junk market it started as in the 1970s.

I now write The London Market Guide. Researching each edition of the book has allowed me to chronicle the rise and fall of many of London’s markets. When I returned in the summer of 2008 I was saddened to see the decline in the Greenwich Village Market. It still retained some of its charm, but the owners were planning to replace the market with another dull shops and residential development and the place had a neglected feel. Having wandered around the clothing stalls and noticed that the indoor collectables part of the market was actually a lot better than it used to be, it was clear that the place still had the potential to be a great market. I got involved in a campaign to save the Village Market in the hope that some more reasonable plans could be devised that took account of Greenwich as a great market area.

Greenwich Village MarketIn the course of campaigning I was struck how many people were genuinely fond of the market and upset to hear of its imminent closure. The attempts at public consultation had been pretty limited with a display on the top floor of a municipal building and the planning documents lodged at the local library. It seemed that lots of people regretted the market’s closure but not enough to spend too much time campaigning for its survival.

I attended the planning committee meeting on 26th June 2008 when the council approved the planning application, having rejected a very similar proposal the year before. The councilors showed very little interest in the market and spent as much time discussing the exterior rendering of the new shops and residential units. The developers had cleverly allocated space for eleven stalls on the outside of the complex and this seemed to satisfy the council that a ‘market’ of some sort was continuing on the site. The fact that just a few stalls would be a shadow of the great market of the 1990’s didn’t seem to matter.

Since then the onset of the credit crunch has led to the developers shelving their plans for the site, but this has not given the Village Market any reprieve and on Sunday 22nd March it will close its gates for the last time.

As with many things in life you either get it or you don’t. You either think that junk and second-hand markets are great or that they are dirty events that are only tolerable until the space they use is built upon. Even if the developers and the council don’t understand, this closure is a big deal for Greenwich, particularly when the closure of the Central Market is also under consideration. If things continue in this way, Greenwich will soon have just one small market left. Maritime history is all well and good, but without its markets Greenwich will loose many of its younger visitors and its unique place in London’s shopping landscape.

Andrew Kershman’s The London Market Guide is available now from Amazon.co.uk

What are your memories of Greenwich Village Market? Post your comments below…

Andrew Gilligan: Don’t Buck The Market

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A FEW years ago a vigorous campaign, in which I played a part, was mounted to save Greenwich Market. Though the battle is not definitively won, the new plans are better than the old ones, and the market continues to thrive.

Across the street, however, there is a market that has suffered a very different fate. Last Sunday, the Greenwich Village Market, which sprawls across a big site at the junction with Stockwell Street and Greenwich High Road, had a desolate air. Only about half the space was filled. Many of the lockups which used to disgorge intriguing piles of tat every Sunday were, well, locked up. This is a market that is about to die.

Almost without anyone noticing, something that has been a cornerstone of Greenwich’s weekends for the last twenty years has been destroyed. The market will close for ever on 22 March, to make way for a much-needed…er… much-needed patch of derelict wasteland.

It was going to be one of those hideous rabbit-hutch “housing and retail” developments – but as Greenwich.co.uk reported in January, the recession has put paid to that. The developers have pulled out. Now there is talk of Greenwich University buying the land to build an architecture school, though no deal yet appears to have been done.

I am very saddened about the Village Market’s demise. It was the best of our three weekend markets – cheaper, bigger and more random than the slightly chi-chi, scented candle stalls of Greenwich Market. It had the fleamarket atmosphere that so many markets have lost.

The desk I’m writing this piece on was bought secondhand from the Village Market. What could be greener than recycled furniture? A lot of the books in the shelves in front of me came from there, too. So did some of my clothes. Greenwich’s weekend markets are a major draw to the area – but the closure of the VM, by far the largest one, will reduce the size of the market area by more than half.

But more than sadness, I feel anger at the utter madness of throwing the stalls off now. Even if the university does indeed buy the land, even if it does have the money to build an architecture school, there is no planning permission for such a project. There isn’t even, as far as I can tell, a project design. It will be literally years before it gets through the design and planning process.

Why on earth not allow the Village Market to continue until at least the fate of the site is decided and the builders move in? Wouldn’t that be preferable to a gaping hole right in the heart of Greenwich for most of the next decade?

Part of the reason, it’s said, is that they need somewhere to put the stalls from Greenwich Market while that is redeveloped (assuming it ever happens – recession again.) But those stalls occupy a fraction of the space that the Village Market has. There ought to be plenty of room for them, even if most of the Village Market traders stay.

The Village Market is something that generates wealth, employment, character, interest, and even the odd bargain. It is being torn up for no reason that I can see, and yet another thing that makes Greenwich special is being lost for ever. What is the problem with the people who run this place? Why do they so often get it wrong?