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New Chambers Wharf to include the Thames Path

Plans have been unveiled to open up the riverside at Chambers Wharf at Bermondsey in central London.

At present there is no river view and walkers are forced to turn inland and follow Loftie Street and the long Chambers Street (page 26) round the back of a cold store.

Initial proposals by the St Martin’s Property Group include a wide riverside path alongside a new public garden. This would allow the Thames Path to continue with the river from Fountain Green Square on the east side to within a few yards of East Lane Stairs on the west side.

The new development plan comprises of eight buildings with a total of 750 residential apartments including studios and three bedroom flats.

The cold store was built in the 1930s and has recently been used for document storage. It was the erection of this huge warehouse which split the continuous Bermondsey Wall lane into Bermondsey Wall East and Bermondsey Wall West.

The new Chambers Wharf riverside garden would be flanked on the north side by the Thames Path and on the south by an extended Bermondsey Wall lane on its original line.

If Southwark Council grants planning permission next year, building work will begin in 2008. The new path could be opened in 2013.

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Greenwich pie shop closes

Goddard’s Pie House in Greenwich is closing having been run by three generations of the Goddard family.

The shop which was open every day has been popular with walkers wanting a cheap filling meal served speedily. The menu had not only pie and mash but also fruit pies for a pudding course.

Tables were often crowded and it was sometimes necessary to go upstairs to find a seat. Many foreign visitors sought it out.

Closure has come as a surprise. The building was saved from demolition when the Docklands Light Railway was extended across the river from the Isle of Dogs. The new station was squeezed into a small space leaving the popular pie shop unscathed.

Indeed the vegetarian pie was called a Banks Pie in honour of vegetarian Tony Banks who in 2000 had the building listed when he was a minister.

The last day of trading is Sunday 12 November when the shop is due to close at 7pm. The building will reopen later this year as a branch of the small upmarket Gourmet Burger Kitchen chain.