The Walpole Vanishes

The Walpole Inn in New Cross Road has now been completely demolished. It closed last year, and planning permission has been granted for a hotel to be built there.  The adjoining buildings that lately housed the tattoo parlour and hairdressers have also gone.

When I went past a couple of months ago, most of it had already been taken down...

...but through the scaffolding traces of the pub could still be seen:

Now it has vanished completely....

The tattoo parlour at no.405 New Cross Road must have been a tobacconists' in the past, as it had an old hanging sign of a tobacco roll outside. These are quite rare, and the interior of the pub also featured a wall of late 19th century majolica tile (pictured here in previous Transpontine report)

Tobacco roll sign outside the now demolished 405 New Cross Road

A condition of the planning application being granted by Lewisham Council was that both the tiles and the tobacco roll sign from next door should be retained in the proposed Hotel:

'11) A schedule of works for the dismantling of the faience tiled wall in the bar of the existing public house and its erection within the hotel hereby approved, shall be submitted to and agreed in writing by the Council and all works which form part of the schedule shall be implemented before commencement of the use, unless the Council has given its written consent to any variation. 

12) A schedule of works for the dismantling of the tobacco roll hanging sign on the front elevation of 405 New Cross Road and its erection on or within the hotel hereby approved, shall be submitted to and agreed in writing by the Council and all works which form part of the schedule shall be implemented before commencement of the use unless the Council has given its written consent to any variation'.

The architects for the Walpole scheme did submit a plan in February 2013 for the removal of the tobacco roll and for its relocation in the lobby of the new hotel. Heritage Tile Conservation Ltd have also been brought in to advise on conserving the tiles (see report here with lots of photos). In fact they have even identified that they were probably manufactured by Craven Dunnill & Co, Jackfield, Shropshire, circa 1895 - and that most are still in good condition.

I trust that the Council will be monitoring to ensure that these conservation requirements are followed through on, following the sorry tale of the Crown and Sceptre in Friendly Street where the developer seems to have completely ignored the requirement to retain tiles.

Detail of tiling in the Walpole