Above photo 2016.

Above photo 2016, by The Greenwich Wire.

Above photo, circa 2022, by Sister Midnight.

From the https://londonist.com 25 January 2022, By Will Noble.

This South London Pub Urgently Needs You To Save Its Future.

The future of a currently disused Lewisham pub hangs in the balance, after a collective hoping to turn it into a community-owned live music venue say they've been gazumped by a private bidder.

The Ravensbourne Arms in Ladywell closed in 2016, but last year, Sister Midnight — a community collective championing the south London music scene — spearheaded a £500k crowdfunding project to lease the pub by April 2022, transforming it into a hub for lovers of live music.

£225k has been raised to date, with Blackheath resident and Hootenanny master of ceremonies, Jools Holland, among the shareholders.

A sketch by steering group member @alastairjhoward giving an idea of what the new Ravensbourne Arms might look like as a community pub. Image: Sister Midnight.

Now though, Sister Midnight — which is led by Sophie Farrell, Lenny Watson and Verity Hobbs, and started out in 2018 as a grassroots music venue in Deptford — says a private buyer has suddenly stepped in, offering £700k to the building's owners. That offer has apparently been accepted.

It's now all hands on deck, as Sister Midnight aims to ramp up crowdfunding and hit a target of at least £350k within two weeks, showing the fight for this venue isn't yet over.

Donations from £25 upwards are being accepted, as well as the opportunity to buy shares in the pub, starting at £100.

Sophie Farrell, Lenny Watson and Verity Hobbs of Sister Collective, who are trying to turn the Ravensbourne Arms into a live music community hub.

It's unclear what the redbrick 1930s building would become, should the private investors win the bid.

Says Sister Midnight: "If successful, London would see the pub reopened as a democratic, not-for-profit community space, but if unsuccessful and the pub is sold to private owners there are no guarantees about what the future of the Ravensbourne Arms will hold."

South London post-punk band Goat Girl, added: "Having community run venues is so important, especially now with all the venues that are closing basically because of gentrification. With the model that Sister Midnight are pushing for being community owned, it's not in the hands of big landlords."

London has had some great successes with community-owned pubs before now, with the likes of The Ivy House in Nunhead, and the Antwerp Arms in Tottenham.

From the https://greenwichwire.co.uk 11 March, 2024, By Darryl Chamberlain.

Lewisham’s Ravensbourne Arms pub could be turned into flats.

The Ravensbourne Arms in 2016, days before the pub closed. Credit: The Greenwich Wire.

A closed Lewisham pub that was the subject of a campaign to turn it into a community music venue could be turned into flats if a developer has its way.

The Ravensbourne Arms on Lewisham High Street, which was owned by the pub and property company Antic, was closed in October 2016 after planning permission was given for flats above the bar. The building was sold shortly afterwards.

While the upstairs floors were converted into seven flats, the bar has remained empty and boarded up since then.

Now Ravensbourne Arms Ltd has applied to Lewisham Council to convert the bar space into four flats.

In 2021 a Deptford record shop, Sister Midnight, launched a crowdfunding campaign to buy the space and turn it into a community music venue. Lewisham Council has since offered it the Brookdale Club in Catford, with investors’ cash being used to renovate the dilapidated site.

Planning documents show that the Ravensbourne Arms building had been on offer for £3.2 million; Sister Midnight told its crowdfunding investors in May 2022 that independent valuers had put the price at between £1.6 million and £1.9 million and that it had an offer rejected.

The developer claims that “no offer has been made for the site in the last seven years” and that the pub is unviable.

The Ravensbourne Arms was originally known as the "Coach & Horses" but was taken over by Antic in 2011 and renamed. The “Ravensbourne Arms” title was previously used by a pub in Coldbath Street, which itself was converted into flats in the 1990s.

The planning application can be found on the Lewisham Council website, where comments can be left too.