Hefty Premier Inn hotel coming to central Brixton

[editor]

Work is set to begin on 188-room hotel, costing £4.5m, on the former Woolworths site on Brixton Road.

According to the Brixton Blog:

The application was submitted by Boyes Rees Architects on behalf of Crown Properties Ltd. The architects have said that the design of the hotel manages to “harness the vibrancy” of Brixton and is sympathetic to the Art Deco style of the existing building.

A petition has already been set up in opposition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/no-to-holiday-inn-brixton/

 

[colacubes]

This is what I said elsewhere:

I'm moderately pissed off about this tbh. I genuinely have no idea whether I'm for or against, but given how close I live I'd have liked the opportunity to comment one way or the other. I've had a brief look at the plans now and it looks like it might block some light into our flat. So I'd have quite liked to have been able to comment on it with reference to plans. Plus I'd really like to know how they're going to do the work without causing total chaos in the area

The other thing is it's inevitably going to impact on local clubs (Dex/414) due to noise issues.

I'm feeling a bit Arthur Dent about all this

I honestly don't know what to think about it. Could be a good thing - jobs/economy etc. But could also be bad - density of people/building; impact on local residents and local business. I'm struggling to work out how they're going to build on top without total chaos (I'm sure someone who knows more about this than me will be along to say shortly ).

But the thing I'm annoyed about is that as someone who lives around 50m way I've not seen any statutory consultation

Not sure where the petition's come from but I suspect it's too little too late if planning have passed this.

 

[leanderman]

I am surprised they can build a 188-room hotel for only £4.5million.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

But the thing I'm annoyed about is that as someone who lives around 50m way I've not seen any statutory consultation

This is the first I've heard of it too. I don't live that close but I do read stuff like planning applications on lamp posts etc.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I am surprised they can build a 188-room hotel for only £4.5million.

Workfare

 

[editor]

It does seem really cheap considering the amount of work they've got to put in.

 

[Rushy]

I think Dex (Brixton Clubhouse) will be screwed because they don' t have planning permission to be a nightclub, don't have planning permission for the terrace dance floors and have very stringent noise conditions in their planning permission which no one is currently making them adhere to.

 

[colacubes]

I think Dex (Brixton Clubhouse) will be screwed because they don' t have planning permission to be a nightclub, don't have planning permission for the terrace dance floors and have very stringent noise conditions in their planning permission which no one is currently making them adhere to.

Yep.

 

[colacubes]

This is the first I've heard of it too. I don't live that close but I do read stuff like planning applications on lamp posts etc.

As do I and I haven't seen a single one.

 

[Frumious B.]

Does the petition have any merit? Footfall is terrible on that stretch of Coldharbour Lane and lots of the shops are struggling or have already closed. Wouldn't hotel guests be a boost to independent traders? The hotel could be a lifeline for Cafe Sitifis for example. It's not as if tourists who come to Brixton for the weekend are going to bother with all the places they have at home, like Starbucks, Costa, T-Mobile etc.

The building works will cause a bit of mess and disruption and noise. My flat backs on to the London Hotel which is being doubled in size. Lots of power tools and scaffolders and stuff, but so what? It's temporary, and things change. I'm sure the Holiday Inn works will be less of a pain than the Windrush Square job.

 

[editor]

It's not as if tourists who come to Brixton for the weekend are going to bother with all the places they have at home, like Starbucks, Costa, T-Mobile etc.

Err, why do you think tourist spots have so many McDs, Starbucks etc?

 

[Frumious B.]

Actually the tourists are the ones filling the Granville Arcade. You can't get a coffee at Federation on Saturdays, but you can at Starbucks. And more tourists go to Franco Manca than McDonalds.

 

[ricbake]

AFAIK Crown Properties own a whole lot of Brixton, certainly the old Quin and Axten's building where 99p Store and the Job Centre are, I'm pretty sure also The Fridge/Electric premises, not sure about The Bon Marche Centre where TXMax has superceded The Rest is Noise, but think I've seen it somewhere.
I find it difficult to see how the premises where they want to build to a Holiday Inn could cope with the vehicle access required to service it - Crown Properties have history in not accuratly representing to their tennants this type of access.

 

[editor]

Actually the tourists are the ones filling the Granville Arcade. You can't get a coffee at Federation on Saturdays, but you can at Starbucks. And more tourists go to Franco Manca than McDonalds.

Big hotel chains bring in a different sort of tourist than the groovy feckers heading into the Villaaage (although I'm sure some will stray that way). Take a look at how busy McDs is when there's a big gig at the Academy. Those folks aren't exactly forming a long queue at Federation.

 

[lang rabbie]

I'm pretty agnostic about the idea of an hotel in central Brixton.

But I am outraged that Lambeth seem to have completely failed to give this application the necessary publicity. Are the planners blissfully unaware that there are residents above some of the business premises in Electric Lane/Electric Avenue?

ETA Ain't I posh. Still write "an hotel" without thinking!

 

[kittyP]

Not that it really makes a difference but is it to be just on the site of the old woolworths, so getting rid of the HnM?
Or round the back so getting rid of what?

Sorry, just a bit confused

 

[ricbake]

http://vlstatic.com/l-and-p/assets/...on Hotel Development Monitor - April 2012.pdf
Hotel Development 457-461 Brixton Road, SW9 8HH Lambeth 118 Conversion Mr. Mustak Ibrahim, Boyes Rees

Investigating further it appears that this planning application is the Landlord putting in a preliminary, just to test the water. I still can't get into the Lambeth Planning portal to check out the detail of the application

 

[Frumious B.]

Hmm. I can't really imagine the kind of tourist who likes McDonalds booking a weekend in Brixton. I picture them as more adventurous types - people with Rough Guides who are interested in offbeat stuff. Those kind of people prefer to stay in an independent hotel or B&B, but we've hardly got any of those here. But maybe a Holiday Inn would never get those types...maybe we'll just get people who buy nothing in Brixton and come here for a cheap but trustworthy place near the Victoria Line.

 

[editor]

http://vlstatic.com/l-and-p/assets/partners/partner_area/research-and-insight/hotel-development-monitor/London Hotel Development Monitor - April 2012.pdf

Lambeth has more hotel rooms than I expected:

 

[Frumious B.]

Not that it really makes a difference but is it to be just on the site of the old woolworths, so getting rid of the HnM?
Or round the back so getting rid of what?

Sorry, just a bit confused

Have a look at the Brixton Blog. The hotel won't have anything on the ground floor except a door with stairs/lift leading to an upstairs lobby. So none of the existing shops at ground level will change.

 

[ricbake]

Not that it really makes a difference but is it to be just on the site of the old woolworths, so getting rid of the HnM?
Or round the back so getting rid of what?

Sorry, just a bit confused

To fit in 118 or possibly 188 rooms it would take up the Woolworths building through to Electric Lane and probably out to include the premises where Joy are. It looks like it would leave the bank, KFC and the other Albert Pub.

 

[Frumious B.]

Lambeth has more hotel rooms than I expected:

But they're mostly near the river. In Brixton all we have is the Hootenanny hostel and a B&B on Rushcroft Road. The nearest tourist hotels are in Camberwell/Clapham/Vauxhall.

 

[ricbake]

If you consider on the end of Westminster Bridge there is a Plaza and the hotel in old City Hall that probably accounts for half of them.

 

[lang rabbie]

Without the Lambeth planning site being online tonight, I think the H&M and T-mobile shops on Brixton Rd are unaffected, but the shop unit on Coldharbour Lane that is currently Joy loses a slice to make way for the street entrance to the hotel lobby?

If it is anything like other former Woolies buildings there are thousands of square feet of empty space on the upper floors that were once stock rooms.

(Did the Brixton Woolies also have a first floor cafe back in the day?)

 

[ricbake]

187 rooms in the Novo by Lambeth Bridge can't see how many rooms in Days Inn London Waterloo

 

[Greebo]

But they're mostly near the river. In Brixton all we have is the Hootenanny hostel and a B&B on Rushcroft Road. The nearest tourist hotels are in Camberwell/Clapham/Vauxhall.

AFAIK neither of those have stepfree access even as far as where you check in. OTOH hotel chains tend to think about access in a way which IME boutique hotels and B &Bs often don't. Also, I'd expect a cheap hotel in that bit of Brixton to attract people coming from out of town to a local wedding, or needing somewhere to crash after a night out.

 

[editor]

AFAIK neither of those have stepfree access even as far as where you check in. OTOH hotel chains tend to think about access in a way which IME boutique hotels and B &Bs often don't. Also, I'd expect a cheap hotel in that bit of Brixton to attract people coming from out of town to a local wedding, or needing somewhere to crash after a night out.

I imagine the Academy/Fridge etc will provide customers for the hotel too with visitors (and bands) making overnight stays.

 

[leanderman]

Rejoice: It could have been another phone store or fried chicken shop

 

[Greebo]

Rejoice: It could have been another phone store or fried chicken shop

Or a nailbar selling cupcakes as a sideline.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I'm pretty agnostic about the idea of an hotel in central Brixton.

But I am outraged that Lambeth seem to have completely failed to give this application the necessary publicity. Are the planners blissfully unaware that there are residents above some of the business premises in Electric Lane/Electric Avenue?

ETA Ain't I posh. Still write "an hotel" without thinking!

All of this but especially the middle bit.

AFAIK neither of those have stepfree access even as far as where you check in. OTOH hotel chains tend to think about access in a way which IME boutique hotels and B &Bs often don't. Also, I'd expect a cheap hotel in that bit of Brixton to attract people coming from out of town to a local wedding, or needing somewhere to crash after a night out.

That's very true. The most accessible hotels with the best trained staff are nearly always the chains. Bland identikit is preferable to frustratingly awkward and generally crap.