Very nice of you CellarDoor.
I've got me flak jacket and tin 'at on though!

Good luck.
I can hear the clickety-clack of furious fingers on keyboards as I type. Sounds like machine gun fire?

Yep, the nail has been hit on the head. People around here, in a downturn especially, don't have money to spend on £30 meals. They do have money to spend on a pizza to feed the family for a tenner. Sad reality that fast food franchises weather recessions better than mid-market restaurants.

After reading the comments on this forum about the noise outside the Question Bar (and being a HOP resident in close vicinity to the Old Bank site) - I am not sure I'd like a gastro pub there.

A restaurant would obviously be preferable to a Domino's but in this climate, would it really be able to make enough money to survive? Old Bank was around £30 a head inc booze if I remember rightly, and they obviously struggled.

Babur is an exception I think, as it has built its reputation over many years and is a destination restaurant, and Le Querce offers excellent value but is a much less prominent location so the rent is possibly cheaper (I may be wrong on this)?

I think the existing take-aways on the high street (pizza, fish and chip shop and Chinese) and the nearby parade already provide excellent value and lots of choice.

The old bank struggled because it was a terrible restaurant. The food was bland and overpriced.

I received this email from Councillor John Bowen:

Local residents are rightly up in arms about plans for a pizza takeaway at 76-78 Honor Oak Park. This is simply the wrong place for a delivery centre that could have seven mopeds buzzing around until midnight.

Dominos Pizza have applied for permission to change the old bank building to a take away. No date has been set for a decision but the Council’s target date is 7th November.

I urge everyone who is concerned to write to the Council. The application number is DC/11/78332 and the address is Planning Services, Lewisham Council, Laurence House, 1 Catford Rd SE6 4RU. You can also email your comments to planning@lewisham.gov.uk and don’t forget to send me a copy.

email saynotodominospizza@gmail.com and a draft letter highlighting all concerns will be sent to you so you can adapt forward to planning!! You will also be kept up to date of the campaign progress. The latest is that the campaign has been extensively covered in local press and the evening standard. About 500 signatures were handed into Lewisham PLanning, a further 500 plus on line. Also well over 400 official letters of complaint. PLanning have got the message, lets hope Domino's do too and look for a more suitable location in SE23

Agree old bank is not suitable for a Domino Pizza factory.

However can anyone suggest an alternative site ?

Re Tersie's suggestion: Can anyone confirm that this has happened for them? - I've sent three emails to that address, none of them has bounced back undelivered yet I have received nothing back.

I already did...

The former Angle Bar at that address has been out of business for much longer than The Old Bank. The site has space for has off-street parking with access to a non-residential street. And it's not far from where they are proposing. What's not to like?

If you agree with BarCar, you may wish to retweet a question from @poppag_girl to Dominos on twitter. Hashtag - SE23

fyi - Response: Thanks for your tweet - we'll pass your comments to our property team.

Shara, just for my own understanding, is the decision potentially to be taken on/by 7th November on whether a public consultation will be held, or is it the actual decision on whether planning/change of use will be granted?

I would agree that the The Old Bank's pricing was probably not the reason for its failure. I used to frequent it quite a bit and it was a lovely restaurant a few years ago, they had some great fish dishes and pasta. But quality of the food and whole concept were nowhere near as good in the last 12-18 months of its existence.

BTW just some more food for thought, but it is possible to have a nice meal in most local restaurants, even at Babur, for £15-20 per head, if you leave out the wine. For that, you will be able to have a sit down meal, in a nice atmosphere and, if the restaurant is any good, enjoy some well made food. Chances are it may even contain some healthy ingredients. Unlike a certain pizza chain's products. If on the other hand you want to have a reasonably cheap family meal that beats the recession crunch, there are 1001 cheaper alternatives of quick, home cooked meals that would beat a Domino's order or starters, pizzas & soft drinks on price any day.

Agree this would be a great spot for a pub - next to a train station is the traditional spot for pubs

This is the reply I received from Lewisham Council Planning Department (planning@lewisham.gov.uk):

Acolaid Case DC/11/78332/X

The change of use of the ground floor at 76-78 Honor Oak Park SE23 to use Class A5 (Hot food takeaway), together with the installation of a new shopfront at No 76, installation of new door at 78 and extract duct/air compressors to the rear at No 78.

Thank you for your letter giving your comments on the above proposal, which will be taken into account when this matter is considered.
The majority of applications are decided by Senior Planning Officers under delegated authority, but if this proposal is to be reported to Committee for determination by the elected Councillors, you will be invited to attend the Committtee meeting.

For your information, Committees are held on Thursday evenings at 7.30, but at this stage it is not known whether the application will be reported to Committee or to which meeting the proposal would be considered.

If the proposal is going to be reported to Committee, you will be given as much notice of the date as possible. A representative of the objectors will be able to speak to Committee for 5 minutes giving reasons for objecting. If you want, you can meet with other objectors before the Committee meeting in another committee room or the
Civic Suite foyer if available. Further details of this will follow.

You can also phone to find out the names of other objectors once the time period for making written comments has passed, or to obtain a leaflet explaining more fully the process and guidance for objectors.

Yours sincerely
Chris Werren
South Area Team, 020 8314 7754

Wonder how the 327 individual objectors are expected to pick one representative to speak at the meeting.

It is good it is going to go to consultation - as many people that go along on the evening the better. We are still awaiting the date on this. A few of us are meeting Domino's directors later in the month about the application, will update people as to the result of this.

Thanks for this - I received the same email from the Planning Department. ::fingers crossed::

Hi Tersie.

My understanding is that it may go before a committee, which is not a consultation that would consider attendees', except one speaker's, comments or views on the night. It's mereley where the 9 committee members, made up of borough councillors, will consider the merits of the case and vote - and a majority decision wins. It is most important that comments are put to the planning department before the event so that the committee can take them into account when weighing up the case. Anyone thinking of going, if a commitee meeting goes ahead, should know that comment from the public gallery is strictly not allowed.