Addiscombe councillors have organised a meeting for next Monday to discuss how locals can save their local: The Glamorgan pub on Cherry Orchard Road.

Under threat: the boarded-up Glamorgan pub on Cherry Orchard Road

Residents and councillors want to consider getting the building declared as an Asset of Community Value and purchasing it for use as a community pub in a similar manner to the highly successful The Hope in Carshalton. Residents in South Norwood were recently successful in saving The Ship from redevelopment by achieving ACV status for that building.

The Glamorgan, which had been run as a real ale and food outlet in recent years, closed last November. The former owners had endured six years of development blight in the immediate area, waiting for Redrow Menta to go ahead with their schemes for flats along the same stretch of road, all the while being surrounded by undeveloped building sites.

The building is now empty and boarded up, and its new owners want to bulldoze the site, but they have yet to seek planning permission to do so.

Labour councillors for Addiscombe ward, led by Sean Fitzsimons, are keen to keep the heritage building, which dates from 1844, and see it used for the community.

Fitzsimons is staging an open meeting at 7pm in Room F10 at the Town Hall on July 24, which he sees as The Glamorgan being in … well, the last chance saloon.

“Residents of Addiscombe and East Croydon have one final chance to save The Glamorgan for the community,” Fitzsimons told Inside Croydon.

Sean Fitzsimons: bring back the great days

“Local residents need to decide if they want to save the pub, as we need to show the pub can be revived as a community asset, or find a pub company willing to take the building on.

“This was a great pub once, known for its live music, especially jazz. Let’s see whether we can bring those great days back again, and the first step is getting it listed as an ACV.”

“The meeting on Monday is to try and put together a local group to push this campaign forward,” Fitzsimons said.

In its original guise, as the Horse and Groom, when the pub served a busy and thriving residential area on the eastern side of the railway tracks near East Croydon Station, was included in the Good Beer Guide for eight years in succession, to 1982. The Good Beer Guide, published by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is recognised as the benchmark which most pubs aspire to. After a period when it was renamed as the Grouse and Claret, the pub was relaunched as The Glamorgan 10 years ago and once again was included in the pages of the Good Beer Guide, recognising the excellence of its food and drink offer.

Since The Glamorgan’s closure, there are now just four pubs still trading in the East Croydon area.

• Inside Croydon Events: for the most comprehensive community events listings, updated daily

• Inside Croydon is Croydon’s only independent news source, still based in the heart of the borough. In April-May 2017, we averaged 32,000 page views every week
  
• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or a local event to publicise, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com