Threatened pub on Stratford High Street to remain for now as tower plan rejected
Proposals to demolish a pub on Stratford High Street as part of a new student tower development have been rejected.
The London Legacy Development Corporation blocked plans for a 34-floor tower and shorter 12-storey element which together included 700 rooms for Queen Mary University of London.
That was an increase from 25-floors in an approved 2022 plan. The Builder’s Arms would have come down if approved.
LLDC Planning Officers described the scheme as too tall despite other towers in the vicinity:
“By virtue of its excessive height, scale, massing and substandard design the proposed development would be incongruous within its context”.
While losing the pub was unfortunate, the arguments about height seem a little strange. The LLDC have approved some dismal tall buildings along here and utterly failed to crease a thriving High Street, hwich is their biggest failing.
Look how little life there is at street level and a lack of active frontages.
The tower element of the proposal was decent and a cut above most others approved in the area over recent years.
Howells’ design had a touch of quality all so often missing in Stratford and particularly along the High Street.
Ideally we’d see something as good remain and perhaps retain the existing pub building which currently is an oasis of light in the gloom of many modern Stratford buildings.
It’s hard to believe that twenty years ago, there was a massive, glass-fronted Porsche showroom at the top of the road; right up to the ‘redevelopment’ in anticipation of the 2012 Olympics. As you say it’s quite a bleak stretch – once you get past Tesco there’s really only a small health centre in one of the smaller units, and the buildings closer to the roundabout are already showing signs of wear.
On the plus side, at least the mini mall in Stratford Centre has re-opened, so even if the high street is deserted there’s quite a bit of life in the old centre.