Grove Tavern Demolition Approved for a Community Garden

The Grove Tavern, empty since a fire in 2012, can be demolished. Southwark Council granted planning permission on Tuesday 10 November for the building at 520 Lordship Lane to come down and for the site to become a community garden.

The applicant is the Dulwich Estate, which owns the site and took back the lease at the end of 2025. The garden would be run by Grove DIY, the community group that already runs the skate park on the old car park next door.

The permission is temporary. The decision notice says the garden use must end by 10 November 2029, when everything on the site has to be removed.

What was approved

The application, reference 26/AP/1059, covers:

• demolition of the whole building, with the basement filled in and the ground levelled
• a fence and gates around the site, about three metres high, with planters facing outwards
• a garden of movable raised beds, polytunnels, potting sheds, seating and storage, with running water

The officer’s report says the garden would open to the public in daylight hours, with no amplified music. Nothing would be dug into the ground, because all the planting sits in movable planters.

The skate park is not part of the application and stays as it is.

Why the council said yes despite the heritage harm

Officers did not hide the cost. The report describes the Grove as a purpose-built inter-war pub in the Brewers’ Tudor style, which replaced an earlier pub, the Green Man. It points to the half-timbered fronts, clay-tile roof and the central chimney with its decorative diamond pattern (diaper) brickwork.

The building is not on the council’s local list. But officers judged that it meets the criteria for one, and treated it as a heritage asset in the Dulwich Wood Conservation Area.

The council’s own urban design team objected. In the report’s words, demolition represents “substantial harm” to the building as a heritage asset and “less than substantial harm” to the conservation area. The national amenity societies objected too, saying the structural report did not show the building was beyond repair or reuse.

Southwark’s pub policy normally requires two years of marketing to prove nobody wants to run a pub before one can be lost. The report says no formal marketing evidence was supplied. Officers accepted the loss anyway, citing more than 14 years of vacancy and the plan for community use.

Their conclusion was that leaving the site empty and in disrepair was “on balance” the worse option. The garden, they wrote, “would at least offer a positive use for a short period”.

How it got here

The report sets out the history:

• The Grove traded as a Harvester, run by Mitchells & Butlers, in the 1990s and 2000s.
• The long lease passed to Stonegate Group in 2011.
• A fire caused significant damage in August 2012.
• The pub was not repaired or reopened before Stonegate’s lease ran out in September 2025. The report says the Estate repeatedly asked for repairs.
• The Estate applied to demolish on 14 April 2026.

The Estate’s own proposal page says surveys showed the building was beyond repair, and that a return to commercial use would not be viable. The officer’s report puts it more narrowly. It says the Estate’s position is that the building cannot viably be repaired and reopened as a pub, “rather than that the building is physically incapable of repair”. The structural survey found the brickwork and chimneys in relatively sound condition.

Sixteen people commented on the application: nine in support, six against and one neutral. The ward councillors did not ask for it to go to the planning committee, so officers decided it themselves.

When the building will come down

No date has been published. Several conditions must be met before any demolition starts:

• a demolition and construction management plan covering noise, dust, vibration, lorry routes and a contact for neighbours
• a full historic record of the building to Historic England’s most detailed level, Level 4, before anything is removed
• a tree protection plan for trees on and next to the site
• a European Protected Species licence before any work that would affect bats

Before the garden opens, the Estate must also get approval for a management plan saying who runs it, how it is funded and how it is kept secure.

What it means for you

If you live near the junction of Lordship Lane and Dulwich Common, expect a demolition plan to appear on the planning register first. That plan must include a contact for neighbours during the works.

The garden is not the end of the story. The site is earmarked in the Southwark Plan for a mixed scheme of homes with a pub, or another commercial use if a pub is shown not to be viable. The report gives an indicative 63 homes, a figure it says is under review. Any permanent building would need a fresh planning application, and residents would be consulted again.

The Estate asks for questions and feedback at grove@thedulwichestate.org.uk.