The Firkin Group which runs the Fox and Firkin pub and brewery in Lewisham high street has taken on the lease for the nearby Black-Heath Antiques shop which has been vacant for some time.
It aims to to turn the shop into a cafe, restaurant and bar which would be accessible from the high street and the Fox and Firkin pub garden – an enclosed space that hosts craft fairs and outdoor concerts
A planning application for extractor fans and a steel-frame pitched glass roof for the rear of the ground floor extension says “the high street facing cafe would serve breakfast until lunchtime”.
A “street food style restaurant with a small bar” would operate in the afternoon and through the evening.
The planning application (DC/26/142637) follows a positive pre-application advice consultation (PRE/25/141621) meeting with the council in October last year.
The proposed restaurant kitchen “will replace free standing street food businesses” that operate within the pub garden.
The application says these businesses “do not have regular opening hours and cannot guarantee consistent service. They also have limited storage and washing up facilities.”
The plans for the Fox and Firkin come just days after an application was made to turn the ground floor of the Ravensbourne Arms into a 10 room House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).
The Firkin Group is run by the Didier Autard, who has invested in the local community for over two decades and has supported grassroots movements in South-East London for even longer.
The Fox & Firkin has given countless local artists a paid platform to perform alongside renowned international artists, some of whom perform for a low fee or for no fee at all in order to support local charities and community causes.
The Fox and Firkin was originally part of the Firkin brewery chain, founded by David Bruce in 1979.
The London-based group of pubs known for brewing their own cask ales on-site.
By 1995 it ran 44 pubs but was sold to Punch Taverns in 1999 and subsequently rebranded. The Fox and Firkin survived with its own on site brewery.