Let us run the pub, residents say to developer (From Surrey Comet)
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Let us run the Emma Hamilton in Wimbledon Chase, residents say to developer
8:30am Thursday 9th February 2012 in Wimbledon
Campaigners with plans to create a community-run pub are urging residents to help their campaign to save their local pub from being turned into flats.
The Wimbledon Chase Residents’ Association has collected more than 150 signatures for a petition against the redevelopment of the former Emma Hamilton public house, in Kingston Road.
Instead, they believe the empty building has a future as a co-operative enterprise.
A developer, Stadium Capital Holdings, has applied for a second time to Merton Council to build 57 flats and ground-floor shops – this time with 25 per cent more affordable housing and 12 more car parking spaces.
Grahame Darnell, who lives in Oxford Avenue and a key voice against the plan, said: "The developers claim to have listened to local people but they haven't at all.
“They have made some tokenistic changes to the design and parking allocation, but have blatantly ignored concerns about the overall height and mass of the building.”
The pub closed in August after opening in 1962, and is named after the notorious socialite and mistress of Lord Nelson, who lived in nearby Merton Park.
During a previous consultation on the original plan for the site, the developer received 101 written responses, nine of which were positive, 31 neutral, but 61 where concerns were raised.
A spokesman for the developer said: “A design-led approach has been taken to create a unique and iconic development to regenerate this site with a contemporary design to reinforce Wimbledon Chase as a destination and a place to live.”
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