Marks and Spencer return to Woolwich alongside a Mini showroom
It’s not exactly a secret but Marks and Spencer are returning to Woolwich after departing the town a couple of years ago for Charlton. A planning application has been formally submitted.
They are taking on Blocks A and B below newly built towers. The exact spot is closest to the forthcoming Crossrail station.
Unlike the former department store in the town centre this new branch is simply a food store. The planning ref is 16/2927/F.
Also submitting plans for the new parade of commercial units is a Mini showroom. This will occupy a unit underneath the last tower to complete. The reference is 16/2928/F.
The final tower on this stretch is now almost complete. Here’s a pic from this past week:
A Sainsbury’s is also likely to occupy a unit. Plans have also been submitted last week for another 150 odd homes around the corner. I’ll cover those in an imminent post.
Wow, one side of that street is certainly getting better and better! Shame about the other side! Spray St development better get started ASAP otherwise Woolwich will become even more obviously divided.
Spray Street looks fine as it is and is very cultural instead of removing it for new luxury apartments with expensive shops why don’t they just give the current look a bit of cleaning and revamping and keep it how it is.
Many buildings are in very poor condition, have little architectural merit and are extremely low density for a site so close to numerous major transport links connected to large areas of employment. The few that do have merit should be retained.
If London is to accommodate 1.5 million more people in the next 10 years sites like that cannot stay mainly as crumbling 1 and 2 storey buildings. Even without all those people we need to increase density at sites such as Spray Street as there’s a huge number of people commuting in for long periods of the day when they’d rather live closer to work. It’s not good for the transport network, their wallets or their health.
The number of affordable homes and commercial units available is a separate issue, and it’s essential there are many of both.
In August Barclays got permission to move into units 3 and 4 here as well. Ref 16/2455/SD
Many thanks for that. So far it’s all a bit underwhelming along there.