Noticed the next phase of permissions have been granted for the hotel, restaurant/bar and shop on the old Co-op site. Looks like it will take about 16 months. Right nearby is the other new development going up next to the bridge.
Am I seeing the plan correctly? You won’t be able to use the pelican crossing if you’re approaching from the bottom of Waldram park road and there’s no temporary replacement. So we’ll have to zigzag the south circular using the traffic islands for 16 months.
It looks like the pelican crossing will still be in use but the pavement around the site (both on Waldram Park Road and Stansted Road) will be closed. So pedestrians won’t be able to walk on the north side of Waldram Park Road between the junction of Stansted and the telephone exchange. They’ll need to use the pedestrian refuge crossing near the junction with Church Rise.
Am I the only one wondering why FH needs a hotel…surely apartments would be better.
Given the long-term reduction in business travel, I suspect there is going to be plenty of excess hotel rooms available for tourists and visitors to London. Which means that suburban hotels will primarily be used by local authorities to house people who are homeless.
With over 7000 homeless people in Lewisham in temporary accommodation this will be a big driver for hotel rooms in the borough and the only way that hotel operators in suburban London are likely to achieve profitable occupancy rates.
I would be happy to be proved wrong, but I think that the market for hotel rooms in Forest Hill is very different to what was expected in 2019.
I can see this being a particular issue for people using the pelican crossing to get to the bus stop. It’s far from ideal and I’m surprised TfL have signed this off without at least another temporary traffic island.
Up until a few years ago, there were hardly any hotels in the borough. Off the top of my head, I can only think of a couple at either end of Lewisham Road.
There are plenty of weddings at venues in and around Forest Hill that should keep any hotel booked up on weekends for the foreseeable.
We’re actually really looking forward to a hotel in the area. We have a lot of family in Germany and it’s always a pain to find somewhere nearby when they visit!
Exactly with most of the properties in forest hill massively sub divided I can imagine a lot of them simply don’t have space for guests. I certainly didn’t have space for more than a couple of days. When I had multiple guests I needed to put them in a hotel that was a car or train journey away