No new bars and restaurants for Southwark railway arches with views of the Shard as residents win fight

Southwark Council rejected the Arch Company’s bid to turn four disused railways arches on America Street in Borough into drinking and eating haunts open until 1am at weekends and midnight on weekdays, at a licensing meeting on Thursday (November 7).

Local Liberal Democrat councillor David Watson, who supported residents of the America House apartment block, where homes sell for between £890,000 and £2million, in their opposition to the plans, said the committee made the right decision.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: “The number of bars and licensed venues in Borough and Bankside has ballooned along with antisocial behaviour, noise and disruption. This application could have added four more bars right outside the bedroom windows of neighbouring residents, in an area where the police and community wardens are already struggling to promote community safety.”

The Arch Company told the meeting that it had spent £2.5 million on turning the arches, which were previously used as car dealerships, into ‘state of the art leisure venues’. The firm, which manages over 900 arches in the borough, said it had been marketing the four spaces on America Street since June.

While it had received interest from a number of independent restaurants and gyms, the company said that rental offers had been lower than expected and it hoped the late licences would attract ‘more commercial uses’.

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James Anderson, representing the Arch Company, added: “We would make sure that [any] tenant was a good tenant. There’s nothing to be gained by the Arch Company making a quick buck by getting an unsuitable tenant in because all that would do is disturb local residents and the tenant would probably have a life expectancy of six to 12 months.

“The word ‘bar’ is slightly emotive and perhaps gives the impression of lots of blokes standing drinking pints. But of course the trendier version of that is the much more relaxed seated ambience, which is likely to be the type of tenant we will attract.”

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But Helen Green, one of three residents of America House who spoke against the Arch Company’s application at the meeting, poured cold water on the suggestion that the venue being a trendy bar would make any difference.

She said: “I take exception to one of the earlier people saying ‘oh it wouldn’t matter because it would be more wine bar than pub’. It doesn’t matter if it’s a drunk person on wine or a drunk person on beer. They’re out there fairly late at night, practising unsociable behaviour.”

Alex Brown, another resident of the apartment block, added: “I think the prospect of having four licensed premises with sliding doors and potentially 480 people about 30 to 50ft away from our bedroom windows is not acceptable.”

Cllr Renata Hamvas, chair of the licensing meeting, said a full explanation of the committee’s decision would be emailed out to the meeting’s participants within a week. Cllr Margy Newens and Cllr Andy Simmons were the other members of the committee.