The Telegraph Hill Society

07/08/2026

Ommaney Rd, Criminal Damage 4/8/2026

On Tuesday at 3.pm, two of the young privet street trees on Ommaney Rd, sponsored on behalf of the Society, were attacked by a man and a woman sharing a high vis outfit and a long, powered, cutting tool.

Within a few minutes they shredded the majority of the foliage of one tree in front of Harney Court and half of another in front of Jerningham Court. These had been purchased and cared for for several years by local residents.

Before they could be challenged, they quickly loaded the branches into their van and made off with them.

This was criminal damage and theft and it has been reported to the police. Report: 01/7910342/26

Did you see the attack? Can you recognize the perpetrators filmed by a door cam nearby?

10/07/2026

23/06/2026

Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries Open Day - 12 July 2026

If you haven't visited Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries, it is well worth using the opportunity of their open day to have a look around.

There will be stands explaining the history of the cemeteries, notable graves, local history and ecology.

The Friends of the Cemeteries will be conducting walks - it is large enough to get lost in! Not only are there all the monuments you would expect from a cemetery opened in 1858 but it is an absolute haven of wildlife.

23/06/2026

The planning application has now been submitted to redevelop the old Post Office site at 199-205 New Cross Road (next to the Dentists that was Barclays Bank).

This involves the demolition of the existing building and construction of new 4 storey, plus basement building for Student Accommodation.

139 units are being proposed, with a mixture of studios, "twodios" and "cluster bedrooms". There will be the provision of cycle and bin storage and new landscaping, designed around an internal quadrangle.

Although it is still taller than the surrounding buildings it has been quite cleverly designed to ensure that doesn't over impact on neighbouring properties and the communal area at the front (shown in red) hopefully means that the side wall of the old bank building might remain free from disfiguring graffiti whilst not obscuring the nice designwork at the top of the bank building itself.

There are of course argument for and against the design as indeed there have been discussions over whether housing would be more appropriate than student accommodation.

Anyway, see what you think. The full planning application is at:
https://planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=_LEWIS_DCAPR_132075
or you can just go to https://planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online-applications/ and type in the reference: DC/26/144152.

There are a lot of documents as you might expect from such a large planning application, but these three documents probably give you a good overview of how it will look:

Heritage, townscape & visual impact assessment

heritage assessment

Design and access statement

If you want to comment yourself, you can do so on the Council website.
The closing date for comments is 30 June.
If you would like let us know your views, please send them to us.

17/05/2026

Fun for all yesterday at the Telegraph Hill Society stall at Nunhead Cemetery open day, where we were selling historic photographs and ordnance maps of the area.

11/05/2026

26/04/2026

As part of the New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival, on Sunday 3rd May, weather permitting, there'll be an outdoor, bike-powered screening of School of Rock in Telegraph Hill Upper Park from 8pm.

15/04/2026

The Kingston Society has highlighted a new focus on mid-rise, rather than high rise housing developments, as players start to look at making housing better suited to communities and not just about hitting target numbers. https://kts.org.uk/londons-housing-debate-shifts-towards-form-scale-and-public-consent/

09/04/2026

The White Hart



The White Hart public house has been closed since 2021 and has been looking shabbier and shabbier.

The good news is that the new leaseholders of the pub (the landlords turned the upper floor into flats) have put in a planning application to refurbish the building and re-open the pub - something to celebrate.

The application can be found here
https://planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online-applications/ and on the Council website by searching for application DC/26/143117.


Sadly, some would say, the name "The White Hart" is proposed to be changed to "The Broken Wheel". The pub opened in 1847 as 'The White Hart' (the current building dates from 1874) and it seems sad to lose the historic name.

Perhaps the owners would reconsider and keep the original name?