Development of The Arches

Update provided by Tim Barnes of the Greenwich Society. 26 June 2025.

There has been concern for some time about The Arches in Trafalgar Road and anxiety that the owners of the site were allowing the building to deteriorate to the extent that there would be no alternative but to demolish the building and to create a new non-descript high rise in place of the much loved Arches.

Following a recent meeting with the owners I find that those anxieties can now be allayed. The owners have an impressive track record of developing sites in London, often in proximity to Listed Buildings, and creating  something unique, functional  and beautiful. I hope to obtain their consent to share images of some of these developments, many of them in the Clerkenwell area.

They continue to own the buildings they develop rather than selling  them to a new and less sympathetic developer when planning permission has been obtained. That is their intention with The Arches. Their architects and planning adviser have been working on a scheme which retains much of the exterior and interior of the building. When they have worked up their proposals they are anxious to share their plans with the Greenwich Society  probably with a public display in the autumn.   

I was impressed by their commitment to create something memorable at The Arches, which might begin the transformation and improvement of Trafalgar Road.

Tim Barnes