I used to go there in the 1980s and it was just how I liked places: scruffy but beautiful. Then it kind of got done up (in done-down kind of way) and some - not all - of the lovely interior was destroyed.

I thought part of the campaign was about preserving the look of the corner and not just the pub. It is an attractive corner, and has a few building of gentle interest (the pub, the row where the bookshop is and the onion dome building) combined with a lack of 1960s style boxes - until the plans go ahead.

Onion Dome building that is what is left of Walter Cobb , a fine department store.

Apols if earlier post was a little gruff- no offence meant Michael.

Yes the interior looks good but surely parts of this can be taken out and saved , somehow?

A study was done by 'Living Streets' on Sydenham High Street. Not sure what happened to this but I am sure it came up with making the Cobbs corner, Greyhound, a feature and perhaps even diverting the road (don't know how they would achieve this),

When BD was a lot younger lots of dodgy geezers hung around the car park in the Greyhound doing up their old cars - a Mecca. And you'd get the odd fight on a Friday night - having said that it was not particularly rough then.

Cobbs was covered under an older posting - this was also used in the 1986 book the Penge Papers; confessions of an unwaged metropolitan househusband

you lot drive me nuts! what did you expect was going to happen once the pub was saved from demolition....that the developer was going to turn the area into some disney version of 'old london towne' complete with hot chestnuts and chirpy chimney sweeps?

Of course its going to be surrounded by new buildings, so of course there will be a clash of old and new - how could it be otherwise?

Like FH Pools, the building is old....but so what? it is not all that attractive or special. The tiled corridor is great, but that can easily be preserved. As a pub it is obsolete, so things have to move on.

Brian, you dont seem to understand that new homes house the population, they dont increase it. I am sure you are all right where you are, but spare a thought for the thousands of inadequately housed people of LB Lewisham who will be desperate for the new social housing that this site will provide.

(and I bet the rest of you will shop in the M&S food hall that - according to the gossip - will be moving into one of the shop units)

I haven't got a problem with new buildings around it, just that those particular new buildings, from the drawings shown, are unimaginative and ill-suited to that site. Better suited to Life on Mars. There are plenty of good modern developments, like Cornmill Gardens in Lewisham, and planty of old buildings I am more than happy to see pulled down. It is an attractive corner so why f*** it up?
No, I won't be using the M&S food hall.

Nutfield
I appreciate your comments but everyone is saying most Central Europeans will move home as economy goes down. That is many less homes required
There are virtually no non service jobs in the area. We cannot live by service jobs alone. The main exterior employment zones in City and Docklands are contracting. Who are all these people who are going to want to live in the area.
I except that people need to have accomodation but beleive less workers and their families will want to live in the area than many forecast.
Anyway getting back to the new buildings . Did they actually employ a qualified professional , many 5 year olds could have drawn those.
I believe The Prince of Wales would not approve. Surely the heir to the throne should be taken note of.

With the correct detailing I think the surrounding buildings will look great. I'm glad they have kept the pub. The contrast between old and new really works and the pub is a needed and ads a historical base to the site. I totally disagree with Roz that the pub should have been pulled down. There are lots of empty buildings around the area which could be done up. Also renovation old properties is far more environmentally friendly than building new ones. The addition of an M&S is fantastic news if it is true and if the site is properly managed and had a strategy for what shops take up the leases, it should be a great local asset. I'm 100% for it, but with an eye on the detailing and finishes of the buildings. If they are a bit like the span houses in Blackheath, then perfect. Fake, poorly designed pastiches of old buildings never work, it's far better to contrast with the old, do something different.

Not really sure, but (a) glad they saved the pub (b) SE26 has far more interesting pub buildings than we have © too much other planning issues to get bothered with in SE26 than to spend time campaigning about next door.

Incidentally I tried to get into the Dulwich Woodhouse this afternoon but found the main door and the other front door locked. There were people in there so it totally confused me. Takes me back to my first posting on this site all those years ago about the problems in getting into the Moor Park Hotel, buying stamps at the Post Office in Wood Vale and catching a train from Honor Oak Station (and now added to that getting my hair cut in Wood Vale). Seems these problems are now spreading to Sydenham heights.