Leegate redevelopment
Background and need for regeneration
If you’re from Lewisham and especially Lee or Hither Green, I’m sure you all have different stories about the Leegate shopping centre.
These stories range from the old, thriving Leegate we all used to love; comprised of the iconic Iceland, Sue Ryder and Wetherspoons; the LycaMobile corner shop, kebab and coffee shop, Yoga and Dojo classes, the short-lived CrossFit gyms, the enthusiastic Christ Family Assembly Outreach, known well for booming upbeat tunes across the Leegate ‘strip’ over the weekend, and most infamously, the faction bookshop, which needs no introduction.
Some parts of Leegate that remains in our hearts still live, such as the Laundrette, Museum of Neo-liberalism, Interludee and of course, the Leegate carpark.
Unfortunately, the carwash recently joined this list after closing on Burnt Ash Road.
Despite the strong sense of community Leegate upholds in the local area, the ongoing dereliction over the past five years have led the Lewisham Council to put forward a redevelopment plan to demolish the sixty-year-old shopping centre.
What does the Regeneration involve?
Approval to build over 500 homes occurred during July in 2023, which includes a fifteen-storey tower to be placed.
Further suggestions have involved potentially new gyms, restaurants, a medical & community centre and a supermarket.
Other 8, 10 and 12 storey blocks are also planned to be built.
Pros and cons
The evident benefits of this redevelopment are increased housing availability, assisting the national housing crisis, and general improvement of environmental quality through the creation of gardens and an effective medical centre, supporting the elderly locals.
This redevelopment is also simply a benefit as it will improve the general quality of Leegate, which is one of the worst ranked shopping centres in the country.
However, the central area of conflict over this redevelopment is the stripping away of Lee’s sense of identity and place in London, displacing current residents opposite the Sainsbury’s on Burnt Ash Road, already causing the closing on long-standing businesses such as the Faction bookshop, and the gradual closure of the carpark, which was used by many locals.
One other criticism that has risen involves the questioning of how this has improved from the previous Leegate.
This question has rose due to the redevelopment creating features that were originally there; the supermarket being Iceland, the gym being CrossFit, the medical centre was already in Leegate in the alley between LycaMobile and Sainsbury’s, and restaurants being the Wetherspoons and kebab shop.
Although the redevelopment will bring new and higher quality functions, the question is whether it is worth the stripping away of Lees’ identity for a high-quality destination, or maybe it will create a new sense of identity and place?
