Walthamstow

Dismay as ‘beautiful’ Walthamstow tiles lost for flat conversion

18 October, 2021 12:00 am
3 Min Read

Waltham Forest Council’s cabinet member for housing said he was “dismayed at the destruction of our local heritage”
By Victoria Munro

The converted shop and, inset, the tiles that were lost (credit: Richard Hughes)
The converted shop and, inset, the tiles that were lost (credit: Richard Hughes)

Walthamstow residents are mourning an attractive tiled shop front stripped off so the building could be converted into a flat.

Even Waltham Forest Council’s cabinet member for housing, Simon Miller, said he was “dismayed at the destruction of our local heritage” but that the council had no power to refuse it.

The ground floor of a former car supplies shop on Forest Road was converted into a two bed flat this autumn, after a planning application approved by council officers last June.

The planning application argued the conversion would be “sympathetic to the existing building” and that the shop’s “long-term future as a successful retail premises is unlikely”.

What the shop used to look like (credit: Google Streetview)

Local resident Richard Hughes, however, told the Echo he felt the building could have become a flat while still retaining its unique charm

He said: “It’s just a shame. I’m sure some would argue it’s [the owner’s] building and they can do what they want with it – and that’s correct – but it is on the edge of a conservation area.

“It was a really beautiful building before… it had real merit. It could have been converted and made a fantastic approach to a flat, it would have been wonderful.

“This is in my opinion a very unsympathetic and cheap way of doing things, I don’t think there has been any kind of thought or intention.”

He noted it was particularly ironic given the amount Waltham Forest Council has spent restoring shop fronts in Walthamstow and St James but was aware changes to national planning laws had made it harder for local authorities to reject conversions of this kind.

Cllr Simon Miller told the Echo: “Like many I am dismayed at the destruction of our local heritage, of which these tiles were an excellent example from the arts and crafts period.

“However, the property in question fell short of the criteria to be either a listed building or a locally listed one, and unfortunately we had no powers to stop this going ahead.

“It is a great shame when developers fail to see the advantages of preserving the beauty of the properties they are converting and instead find it more convenient to pull down and destroy the fine workmanship of our forebears.”

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