Green Light for Fulham Broadway Wetherspoons
Councillors approve licence despite twenty objections being lodged
The building on Fulham Road was most recently used as a food court. Picture: Google Streetview
June 23, 2024
Fulham is to get a new Wetherspoons after the pub chain was granted approval to move into a former ticket office. The unused building by Fulham Broadway Station, which was most recently utilised as a food court, is to be turned into a two-storey pub and restaurant following Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s decision earlier this week.
A number of concessions were made by JD Wetherspoon during the Licensing Sub-Committee meeting, including the sale of alcohol starting at 9am rather than 8am as initially requested, and for off-sales to be limited to the pub’s terrace area.
A total of 20 objections, including one from the local ward councillor and Deputy Leader of Hammersmith and Fulham, Ben Coleman, were filed prior to the session this week. Concerns raised included the potential for increased crime and disorder if the application was approved, and the implications if there is to be alcohol sold after midnight.
One objector wrote, “In the three years that I and my husband have lived near the Fulham Broadway end of Barclay Road, we and our neighbours have been subjected to crime and disorder caused by excessive and late drinking. We need the assistance of LB Hammersmith and Fulham to start dialling back the levels of crime and disorder we are seeing on any given weekday or weekend. Late hours are a particular problem – please please do not grant a licence allowing the sale of alcohol after midnight at the Old Market Hall in Fulham Road.”
During the meeting, objections raised by residents largely revolved around three areas; the access to the roof, especially by children, the impact of off-sales, with particular concern when Chelsea FC are playing at their home stadium just round the corner, and the opening/closing times.
Sarah Chambers, a resident and acting Co-Chair of Walham Green Town Ward Panel, said she is happy for the premises to be taken over and to be active once again. On the proposed opening hours, which were requested to run from 8am to midnight Sunday to Thursday and 11pm to 1am Friday and Saturday, she said, “Residents would very much hope these hours are capped at midnight. It’s a very lively area, and there’s also quite a heavy residential population down Harwood Road which faces almost directly onto the Wetherspoon and directly behind it.”
Charlotte Dexter, who lives locally and was representing a number of other residents, specifically mentioned the proposal to begin serving alcohol at 8am as a concern. Nigel Connor, Legal Director and Company Secretary at JD Wetherspoon, told the committee he was happy to have the time amended to 9am, which while still earlier than the 10am requested by Ms Dexter, is in-line with the times at the chain’s other pubs in the borough.
Cllr Bora Kwon also raised the prospect of the pub having regular meetings with residents to air future issues, something Mr Conor said he was happy to sign up to.
The final approved opening hours for the premises were 8am to midnight Sunday to Thursday and 11pm to 1am Friday to Saturday, with alcohol to be sold 9am to 11.30pm Sunday to Thursday, and 9am to 12.30am Friday and Saturday. The additional conditions agreed during the meeting stipulate there must be no sale of alcohol for consumption outside except on the external terrace, that a member of staff shall organise and accommodate meetings with residents at least twice a year, and for the premises to be part of the local Pubwatch scheme.
Following the meeting, JD Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “We are very pleased that plans for the new Wetherspoon pub in Fulham have been approved.”
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter