Bellingham wins the Lottery as new video is released about the Fellowship Inn

The Fellowship Inn is an historic pub, a landmark building and a key community asset that had been neglected and faced being sold off and demolished for commuter flats. The fact is that Phoenix Community Housing saved it and has created a real-life success story out of what could have been an all-too-common tale of the sale of a community asset.

Phoenix is a co-operative and tenant-led housing association with local people in control. I was proud to be part of their team as a board member and local Councillor to help negotiate the sale of The Fellowship Inn from Lewisham Council to Phoenix. This historic building was in a state of disrepair and it was widely expected that it would be sold to the highest bidder at a relative low price to be demolished. A block of flats by a London railway station is a licence to print money!

The negotiations were tortuous but we got there and the building was finally transferred to Phoenix Community Housing for a price well above the valuation.

Due to fears of a major loss of a significant building, Historic England decided to list The Fellowship and it was then that Bellingham literally won the lottery as, following a lottery funding bid by Phoenix, the Heritage Lottery Foundation insisted that we needed more money. The result included a local history project and a record of the work of which this video is part.

‘Regeneration’ can be imposed on people on an area or it can come up from the grass roots and be a joint effort and I will always support the joint effort approach. The exciting bit is that the best is yet to come. The renovated historic pub, theatre, cinema and community space – with a micro-brewery thrown in – is going to bring many local people together and will provide a thriving centre that will become, I have no doubt, the beating heart of the community.

For more information see: https://www.phoenixch.org.uk/community/fellowship-inn

Councillor Alan Hall