Hammersmith Old Fire Station Set to be a Pub

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Hammersmith Old Fire Station Set to be a Pub

Concerns about the changes to the entrance with glass doors planned

Developer Nightingale Estates won consent for a change of use for the former Hammersmith Fire Station at the Hammersmith Broadway end of Shepherds Bush Road. Nightingale and its partner Stonehurst Estates plan an extension to the former appliance bay, to provide a bar/restaurant comprising approximately 6,500 sq ft (600 sq m).

The Fire Brigade left the building in May to a new £7.7m station just some yards up the road. The former fire station is a Grade II building built in 1913 and it is part of Hammersmith Broadway conservation area. Nightingale wants to transform the ground floor into a pub, with a two-storey extension added to the back.

There are also plans for changing the entrance. The huge fire bay doors would be swung open to reveal a 4m high space, complete with white glazed bricks to produce a light and airy space.

Although the character of the building and its architectural features will be retained -even the firemen's poles-, there are concerns about the new glass doors planned to be in front of the original wooden doors.

Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group told the local press that the changes would obstruct the views of the old doors. The group wants developers to retain the original timber, although they believe that the building is being adapted in a sensitive way and are pleased that it won't be demolished as feared when the new station was built.

There are also plans for 12 affordable homes, which would consist of five one-bedroom flats, five two-bedroom flats and two three-bedroom flats, what helped developers having the permission granted. A lift at the back will provide access to flats on the four upper floors.

Just months ago, another fire station on Brentford High Street was transformed in an upmarket bar/restaurant. An early Edwardian fire station in Waterloo Road (SE1), which retained many of the fixtures and fittings of the original building, became a busy pub restaurant in the area and tourists, commuters, office workers and local punters visit it.

The former Hammersmith fire station also has potential, appealing to office employees from several companies in W6 such as Coca Cola, Bechtel, L'Oreal, Haymarket Publishing, Sony and EMI and audiences at the London Apollo and the Lyric Theatre, apart of Brook Green residents themselves.