A woman has described her shock at the partial demolition of a pub described as the “Buckingham Palace of Penge”.
Bromley Council decided to knock down part of The Mitre pub and two adjacent shops last month after monitoring showed that they had become dangerously unstable.
Last year, scaffolding was put up around the block over concerns about the structural stability of the 160-year-old pub during building works.
In 2022, planning permission was granted to build 10 flats above the pub.
Further cracking in the structure of the block this year prompted the local authority to evacuate people living next to the pub six weeks ago.
One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said that the council had been “very accommodating”, and had been housing them in a nearby hotel.
“The evacuation was a complete and utter shock and it completely disrupted all of our lives,” they said.
“It’s just sad because the pub had been there for such a long time. People who live around here know The Mitre - it’s like Buckingham Palace, it’s a well-known name.
“But what the council has done is to make the building safe and make the residents safe. It has been nothing but supportive to us.”
Bromley Council has said that work to demolish the unstable parts of the affected buildings is almost complete.
By tonight (July 25), it is expected that hoardings will have been pushed back off the road and pavement.
The screens will remain around the affected buildings to allow for future works.
Husband and wife Sinnarasa and Sutha Harihalan, who own James Store at 172 Croydon Road, told the News Shopper earlier this month that their family business is being financially ruined by the works.
They were forced to temporarily close on June 12 due to their proximity to the pub, even though their shop was not among those deemed structurally unsafe.
A Bromley Council spokesperson said: “This safety related demolition work has been an absolute last resort, given the advice of our structural engineers about the building becoming more unstable.
“We know this has been an immensely difficult time for residents and affected businesses who we have sought to support and we are grateful for their understanding.
“It is now for the building owners again to take forward and resolve the remaining issues.”
The local authority added that it would be looking to recover the costs of the demolition work.
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