The proposals were approved. One of the major problems we had with the campaign was the approx 100 supportive comments lodged on the proposals after the first consultation. Most of these were because the authors thought that this proposal would help the local ‘housing crisis’. Unfortunately, it will not.
It will not help local housing need; even the few “affordable” ones will be at 80% of market rates, pricing them beyond local people’s pockets – to be precise this is requiring an income of £51K and costing £1196 a month*.
The public meeting was well-supported and very constructive, but the committee it elected folded a few weeks later. There is still a group on Facebook to continue in attempts to save the building, but only the facade is in the Conservation Area. The rest of the building falls in one of the council ‘Opportunity Sites‘ along with the Hill car park and the Telephone Exchange building – when this site comes forward and is marketed to developers (for high-rise housing), it will be difficult to prevent demolition.
Our theatre building, it has been announced, is at end of life, and the repairs needed will cost more than the council is prepared to pay. Therefore, council has put the freehold of the building on the market for sale.
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Bromley is named after the little yellow broom flower – it grew in profusion in the fields – and the town held a festival every year. This year, we resumed the custom of celebrating it again. We had our exhibition panels set up in the upstairs of the Glades, with new panels about Broom flowers and Bromley
It was discovered, 9pm on Thursday 2nd May, that the new owners of Community House, planned to demolish the lovely cupola that Saturday (4th May). We did as much as we could to spread the word, so people could email our council leader and other relevant parties to prevent this.
On Friday afternoon, the borough Conservation Officer, Simon Went, had “Preservation Notices” posted on the building and hoardings, and the Cupola was saved! These notices give six months to get the building listed, and full protection in that time.
We are very grateful to everybody who spent the time to email on this issue, and very glad it succeeded.
The new freehold owners – recently sold the property by our council, to save the council tax payers the cost of repairing the property – would also like to avoid the repair costs.
The cupola is an essential and iconic part of this historic building, built in 1939 by the architect C Cowles Voysey. The old Magistrates Court is one of an identifiable group of public buildings on Widmore Road and South Street.
The cupola on the former Magistrate’s court in 2019.
We are very proud that our Chair, Tony Banfield, was one of ten recipients of the Mayor’s award (for contributions in the voluntary sector). Tony has been pivotal in saving our historical buildings and green space in the town centre, in founding the Heart of Bromley Residents Association (HOBRA) in the 1980s, then the Bromley Civic Society in 2007 as part of the national Civic Voice movement.
There is a more recent post, here, as the proposals have finally come to committee, with the planners advising approval.
The Cliff Face proposed to face people driving down Masons Hill.
How the new buildings will tower over the Rail and Police Stations.
The Proposals
The development provides 353 ‘build to rent’ flats in four towers: 24, 19, 12 and 10 storeys. The existing food store is retained, and some commercial space is provided. The development is car free – ie no parking spaces for residents (there might be some disabled spaces). There is parking for the Waitrose store however – reduced from the present levels. There is some new open space provided past the bridge – also a hard landscaped ‘piazza’ at the entrance to the store. The Build to Rent flats are to be controlled and managed by John Lewis Partnership, with a minimum of 10% affordable housing (by habitable room) in the form of Discount Market Rent at London Living Rent levels.
WHAT WE ARE OBJECTING TO:
Note for people thinking of commenting: Objections that simply say ‘…the buildings are too high’ or that express a dislike of tower blocks will carry little weight by themselves. However, look at the paragraphs below for phrases you could effectively make, remembering that your own words will be better than copying ours.
The planning application is at 23/02633/FULL1. Please copy your own ward councillors in on your comments – you want them to feel accountable on this issue – which you can find here. And please copy in the Town centre’s ward councillors (LibDem) at btcouncillors@bromleylibdems.org.uk:
We have collated 12 points which you might want to comment on, against this development:
The Mayor, and Mayoress of Bromley visited the Civic Society’s new exhibition in the Glades at Open House 2023 this year.
Our chair describes the exhibition’s context: “Most people don’t realise the Town is a treasure trove of Arts and Crafts architecture, also Dutch and French influence, Queen Anne, and Neo Georgian – it’s all there! Then there’s HG Wells, David Bowie and Hanif Kureishi… The question is asked will an Invasion of Tower Blocks put an end to all this character and history?”
In May we were contacted by a friend-of-a-friend in the South of France, about a rather stylish antique table. When they bought it, and got it home, they found a note inside:
Where to see it: Martin’s Hill is just two minutes walk from Market Square along Church Road behind Primark where Bromley’s name- sake shrub burst into spectacular bloom from mid April to the end of May.
The name ‘Bromley’ is from the Anglo Saxon ‘Bromleag’ or ‘Broomleigh’ literally meaning a clearing where broom grows.
A walk on Thursday to link with the Library Lates event that evening
Last month we conducted the walk “Bertie’s Bromley” to complement the Library Lates event. Despite the miserable weather, more than 30 people turned up for the walk, which was informative and entertaining. The title is derived from the family name for the famous author HG Wells . He was born on the High Street and described the Victorian Bromley that he grew up in, in his works.
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Developers visual of their high-rises towering over our High Street. The red lines are our adjustment for the minimal 2021 changes.
UPDATE! As of today, 7th March 2023, the developers have withdrawn the current application. This is great news. We will keep an eye on the site though.
The Council is currently consulting on the Bromley Town Centre Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which will govern how large and where future buildings will be, in the town centre. It will provide better control of the development (that affects the character and appearance of the town) by providing detailed guidance – in fifteen Guidance Notes and 8 Character Areas/Sub-Areas. The SPD is a dense document and long read (as it needs to be) but there’s 4 areas we would like you to comment on:
* That the proposals for the Palace Park and Civic Centre will not be watered down, now that the site will be given up
* That the Urban Open Space designation for the Church House Garden Depot (formerly the walled garden) will not be silently removed without consultation – and exactly what can be built there.
!
Have your say
Make your comments – not forgetting to cc us at : chair@bromleycivicsociety.org.uk * by email to: ldf@bromley.gov.uk; * in writing to: Head of Planning Policy and Strategy, London Borough of Bromley, Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley BR1 3UH; or * via bromley council’s survey monkey link (see our post here on how you might want to fill this in)
The council is consulting on how new buildings should appear, by creating an Urban Planning Guide for architects. Most of this document is good, there are only… the illustrations. These are nearly all cheap, ugly, and very undesirable. Including these will make it very hard to object to schemes like the brutalist-car-park design for Churchill Quarter, because they look just like what the council has used as best-example illustrations!
Figures 14, 16, 17 and 18. Over–scaled, out-of-character extra high buildings are ok if you call them playful’ to ‘break up the massing’! These developments would be too high for any site in Bromley, and their inclusion suggests that similar proposals would gain ready approval.
We would like to see these examples removed and replaced:
Figures 14, 16, 17, and 18. Examples of buildings that are too tall for anywhere in the borough (and the ‘decorative’ ones fail to use any good local examples or heritage features – brutalist balconies and random brick ends are not what we want to see in Bromley)
Figures 15, 32, 34. Poor choice of decorative features – especially balconies (no heritage features) – and failing to use good local examples. Sticking brick ends out of a wall is not depth and quality – try ‘vernacular’ features such as Kentish hung tiles and black weatherboarding
Figures 6, 23 and 25. These do demonstrate new buildings at a ‘human scale’ and ‘conformable’ to existing low level development, but… they are cheapskate, plain, short on windows and heritage features are completely absent. Use Trinity Village or the Bromley Hospital site developments, they are both better than these.
Figures 30, 31, 32. These ignore local heritage and take the cheapest interpretation of the 1960s. Appropriate for the Hayesford Park estate, but not suitable for a borough-wide guide.
It is late to object (as the author is not a planner and has a job to earn a living) but you can still write to ldf@bromley.gov.uk. Please cc your email to us at chair@bromleycivicsociety.org.uk, and to the town centre councillors at btcouncillors@bromleylibdems.org.uk. You can write to Head of Planning Policy and Strategy, London Borough of Bromley, Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley BR1 3UH.
In Bromley, the council has policies designed to stop ‘Protected Views’ from being destroyed by developers. In practise, this is not always the case. Two protected views that are on the line with current planning proposals:
(1) The East side of the Ravensbourne Valley, notably from Queens Mead
This protected view is subject to planning proposals from Churchill Quarter, 2-4 Ringers Road, and the former maplins site.
(2) View of Keston Ridge from the Broadway (lower High Street)
The protected view of Keston Ridge from the Broadway, the Lower High Street (Google July 2021)
This protected view has already been partially blocked by the new Police station, but the proposals for 1 Westmoreland Road will completely close it.
We have an update from the Liberal Democrat councillors which throws more light on the Council’s recent statement on the future of the Churchill Theatre building:
“
Following many months of uncertainty, Bromley Council has just agreed to accept an offer from a developer for the leasehold of the Churchill Theatre site.
The developer’s proposals include a commitment to work with Trafalgar Group to ensure the theatre remains in the current building – something Bromley Liberal Democrats have campaigned for since plans to sell the site were first revealed in November 2022.
Signatories of our petition will recall the Conservative-run Council’s rationale for selling the site, which had fallen into disrepair on their watch and was supposedly “nearing the end of its design life”, with the cost of necessary repairs spiraling out of control.
In response, 5,585 local residents signed our petition and made their voices heard, helping to secure this outcome. Under the agreement the building will be refurbished and made structurally sound, giving Trafalgar the assurances they need to keep the theatre in its present home.
There are details about the deal that we can’t share with you yet, and there will be concerns about whether the Council have secured best value for this site, whether there are sufficient guarantees to ensure the theatre’s future, and whether it really was necessary to spend £15m to move the library now that it seems that the building wasn’t actually “end of life”.
But initial signs are that this is a positive outcome that couldn’t have been achieved without the support our campaign received. Thank you to everyone who helped our campaign. “
Yours sincerely, Graeme Casey, Julie Ireland and Sam WebberLiberal Democrat Councillors for Bromley Town
On the other side of the road you can see a row of trees that survived from the original entrance drive to the Old Bishops Palace (see stop 1/6 of the trail). The trees on this side were lost to the bypass.
The Bromley Oak.
There was a lovely Arts and Crafts arch and gatehouse near here, designed by Richard Norman Shaw in the 1860s.
The alleyway running down the side of the former Civic Centre site is an old path that led to the Palace farm (about half a mile away). When Charles Cole-Child bought the Manor of Bromley from the Church Commissioners, he experimented with the cash crop of hops, so his home farm had three large ‘Oast houses’ which were used to dry the hops – apparently if they are not dried these flowers crumble and lose their flavour.
Fun Fact
The bypass is built over the old Lovers Lane, an ancient and leafy track that led down to the Tigers Head Inn (now Crown of Bromley), complete with several ghosts!
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
To continue the Heritage Trail, go down the alleyway, and when it emerges onto Rochester Avenue, turn right into the former civic centre. Cross the car park diagonally to the large beech tree. Just down the old Carriage Drive is St Blaise’s Well.
Welcome to College Green. This location is a stop on the heritage and biodiversity trail around the historic parks in Bromley Town Centre.
This post is a work in progress.
The park was formerly a plant nursery. In the Victorian era it supplied both vegetables and bedding plants to the town. Originally it supplied vegetables and fruit for the college residents. The house on the alleyway is the Seedsman’s Cottage, where the gardener lived.
Fun Fact
perhaps HG Wells snobbish description of the boys of the National School
On the opposite side of the road, where the Methodist Church now is, was the Parish School, designed by, sudden demolition
Phonebox is K2 model, the earliest distributed, as K1 was a concrete prototype.
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
To continue the Heritage Trail, cross the road and go down leafy North Street. At the end, go past the Railway Tavern and turn down East Street. In another 100 meters turn left up South Street, then right down Court Street. Cross the street diagonally and go down next to the car park, this emerges into Queens Gardens. Turn left here, and continue to the edge of the park by the crossing.
Bromley Zoo is a much loved and playful installation of the town.
These borders have the ‘Bromley Zoo’ as their backdrop, artist, year. The zoo is also featured in it’s own post on the Bromley Civic Society web site.
Hope to restore the paintings, especially the missing one.
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
To continue the Heritage Trail, turn left down the alleyway to Bromley High Street. Turn left and in 50 meters you can turn right down College Slip. At the end of this is the K2 Telephone box.
Welcome to Martins Hill. This location is the second stop in this park, on the heritage and biodiversity trail around the historic parks in Bromley Town Centre.
This post is a work in progress.
Deadmans steps is another name where the origin has been forgotten, but some local history experts think that the name is because they are on a Medieval “coffin way”, and the bottom step is where the coffin would have been unloaded, to be carried on people’s shoulders, because the hill was too steep for the horses to continue.
Fun Fact
something perhaps the sprites
Deadman’s steps is also known locally to be haunted: a badly injured man in breeches and waistcoat can be seen lying in a pool of blood at the top of the steps.
The road at the bottom of the steps used to be called ‘Swan Hill’ as the inn at the top is called The Swan and Mitre. Locals say that the swan represents the bishop’s mistress, the Bishops of Rochester have been Lords of the Manor in Bromley for over a thousand years.
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
To continue the Heritage Trail, go down the steps and up the hill to the junction. At the car park entrance, turn right down the uphill side of the car park, and the Bromley Zoo mural is on the wall to the left.
Welcome to Martins Hill, this is Bromley town’s war memorial This location is the first stop in this park, on the heritage and biodiversity trail around the historic parks in Bromley Town Centre.
This post is a work in progress.
The origin of the name Martins Hill is lost in time, but the likely explanation is that the martins used to circle in the thermals created by the slope. There used to be a lot of sand martins in Bromley, they nested in holes in the sandy banks and walls of various gravel pits.
War Memorial
Fun Fact
something
The path coming up the hill to this spot, the bends at the bottom were a drovers road up to the market square, where there were butchers. Without refrigeration, the butchers shops slaughtered the animals in the yard behind the shop.
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
To continue the Heritage Trail: (1) longer route – go down the path lined by lime trees along the top of the park until Deadmans steps, down to the road, are reached. (2) shorter route – retrace steps to the gates, turn left down the road to the High Street. Turn left up the High Street, then right into Walters Yard. Go left and right to the front of the supermarket, then left to the far corner of the car park. The gap here takes you to the K2 phone box.
Welcome to Bromley Palace Park and it’s historic features! This location is the fourth stop in this park, on the heritage and biodiversity trail around the historic parks in Bromley Town Centre.
On this site there was a fine gothic house, with a tower, large conservatory, and large terraced Garden. Looking out towards the Church, you can see the former Carriage Drive – with the circular end for horse-drawn carriages to drop their passengers at the door. You can also see the walls of the former walled kitchen garden (currently a depot, though there’s proposals to build flats there).
Church House bombed out in 1941
On the night of the 16th April, 1941, in WW2, a German bombing raid dropped an incendiary bomb on the house and it burnt to the ground. All the churches in central Bromley were also bombed that night, and a large store in Market Square. The rubble from the parish church blocked access to the house, so firecrews could not reach it and fight the fire.
The Carriage Drive flowerbed, by Tony Banfield in 2010.The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul in October 2023. The Church that ‘Church House’ is named for.Cypress tree silhouetted against the Ravensbourne Valley, January 2022.
In recent years the flowerbed in front has won awards.
The White Hart was a historic coaching Inn on the High Street; at various times it hosted the early local fire-engines, various Magistrate court hearings, a local library, and a homeopathic medicine practise.
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
To continue the Heritage Trail, follow the little path (on the right hand side of the Carriage Drive) and on your right there is a rocky cliff – this is the fernery.
Welcome to Bromley Palace Park and it’s historic features! This location is the first stop on the heritage and biodiversity trail around the historic parks in Bromley Town Centre.
The balustrade you can see here was originally the boundary between Church House and the gardens.
1955 photoshoot of David Bowie (David Jones) and the Konrads in Church House Gardens. Unfortunately that actual section of the balustrade has not been repaired/replaced after it was broken in the 2000s.
The balustrade’s claim to fame is that an early photo shoot for local boy David Jones, better known as David Bowie, was shot here.
Fun Fact
Though David Bowie never showed any liking for his home town, one of his last videos was filmed in Whitehall Recreation ground. His favourite condemnation is reputed to have been “That’s so f*****g Croydon!”
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
To continue the Heritage Trail, continue uphill and on the other side of the trees, on the level ground at the top, is a Carriage Drive in a loop around the flower bed.
There were a number of mills recorded in the Doomsday Book along the River Ravensbourne in Bromley, but the only one that survived until the modern era is this one.
Paper. fulling.
It is often called ‘Glass Mill Pond’ as there was a glass mill on the higher bank. It ground lenses for opticians glasses and optical instruments.
The mill also ground glass for scientific instruments.
Two Regency Gilt Convex Mirror by Thomas Fentham CoWorking in a glass mill in the Victorian ageWorking to cast shaped glass in the Georgian age
The proprietor that electricuted his neighbour.
The mill pond on a sunny day in March
The pond was remodelled in 2023 by Thames 21 which included recreating the pond, separated from the river by a bank, over which the river can wash when the water levels are high.
Church House Gardens – Terraces and a grand design
Welcome to Church House Gardens and it’s historic features! This location is the second stop in this park for heritage and biodiversity trail around the green spaces in Bromley Town Centre.
The remodelled yachting pool, now a deluxe sand pit
Originally these gardens were leased by Abel Moysey from the Bishop of Rochester’s land agent in 1832, and he designed a garden that made the most of the shape of the land to create the first version of the Rockery, shrubberies and lawns.
In the centre was Church House, but unfortunately the house (and many other buildings in Bromley, including the town centre churches) was destroyed in the bombing raid on 16th April, 1941.
In 1923 the gardens were donated to the people of Bromley in 1923, with further improvements made with adding the amphitheatre and the yachting pool in the 1930s.
Church House Gardens yachting pool in 1957
The yachting pool – a walled pond only about a foot deep – was very popular for decades, and children came from the whole area to sail the model boats they’d made on it. There is one surviving on the River Cray at Fordcroft (the bottom of Poverest Road) in Orpington (BR5 4BQ). It is drained every winter and the fallen leaves removed. There are still model-boat sailing clubs to be found, for instance in Leonardslee, Sussex.
Fun Fact
something
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One of the larger model yachts being sailed at Leonardslee, Sussex. The rudder is radio-controlled.
In the 1980s the yachting pool was remodelled into a padding pool, and a local artist added ceramic tiles at the entrances, illustrating various ports around the world. The number of days that a paddling pool is practical in the UK is quite limited, so at the millenium the pool was repurposed into a deluxe sandpit with climbing frame. This incarnation is very popular with families.
All the stops in the Bromley Town Centre Parks Heritage & Biodiversity trail can be found on the page about it here.
There is more information on Church House Gardens at the entry on this park in the Bromley Civic Society site, here.
To continue the Heritage Trail, turn left along the edge of the fish pond and along the causeway between that and the sandpit. Go down the left hand side of the sandpit and straight on to the gate. In front, and to the right, is Glassmill Pond.
Yours sincerely, Graeme Casey, Julie Ireland and Sam WebberLiberal Democrat Councillors for Bromley Town 
Browse our old photos, in 
from being dominated by tower blocks: Look here and email our ward councillors about:
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