Peckham Rye Station
From Peckham Vision
[edit] Introduction
Peckham Rye station began operating in 1865. The building was Grade 2 listed in early 2008 by English Heritage after years of campaigning by the Peckham Society. The station was built with an open square in front: see picture. The original building remains but the square in front was filled in with commercial buildings in the 1930s. The Council agreed in 2008 to adopt a policy to have the buildings in the square removed, and the square reopened as an open space in this central part of the town centre. This has been part of the integrated plan produced by Peckham Vision for Rye Lane Central since 2006.
In the meantime, Peckham Vision, with the Peckham Society and the Rye Lane and Station Action Group (RLSAG) and with support from the Council, have been working together on a step by step process to restore the station; see the illustrated summary here. The historic original waiting room above the ticket hall is being restored stage by stage, and showing its potential. Further work is about to be carried out in 2012 to improve the front of the station building. Now, the long term ambition, to restore the station square, is to be achieved in the next few years - on 23 November 2011 it was announced that the London Mayor, through the GLA, and with Southwark Council will provide sufficent funds to restore the station square over the next few years. Read more below. For latest news on all this and disucssions about the future come to the community meeting on Wednesday 14th March 7pm, exhibition from 4pm see details here.]
[edit] Station square & rear courtyard
It was agreed in 2008 by all local elected representatives across the political parties at local ward, borough Council, London Assembly and Parliamentary levels that the aim should be to re-open the square in front of Peckham Rye station. This needed a viable business plan to be created to compensate the owners of the buildings to be removed who have them on long leases from Network Rail. The aspiration was included in the draft PNAAP, the next stage for which is the consultation on the Preferred Options report (in Feb-April 2012. Read more... However, on 23rd November 2011, the London Mayor announced that he would grant £3m to £5m towards the cost of this making it a plan that can now be implemented in the next few years; see further information here and below
[edit] Station accessibility
Peckham Rye station does not comply with the requirements for disabled access. It can also be inaccessible for people with heavy luggage and small children. This is recognised and the aim is to install lifts to each platform. This needs major works. Initial plans developed for Southern Rail the managers of the station were presented by Southern’s architects to the RLSAG on 28 October 2009. This raises a number of details which need further discussion. Although Peckham Rye station is now accepted as a priority to make it accessible, the funding is not in the station improvement programme, and pressure needs to be kept up to get Peckham Rye into the funding programme that survives the current constraints on public expenditure. Read more... Peckham Vision is now developing proposals for new lifts which meet the station users' needs and also the needs for lift access into the Old Waiting Room. These may now possibly be seen as part of the station restoration project, and if so be achieved sooner rather than later.
[edit] Old Waiting Room
The huge magnificent empty space above the ticket hall began to come to light again during the recent years through campaigns by the Peckham Society, Rye Lane & Station Action Group and Peckham Vision. It was referred to as the Old Billiard Hall as it had been used for many decades by the railway staff as a recreation room. But it was closed and the windows bricked up over 40 years ago and it remained a secret silent place inhabited mainly by pigeons. It was originally the Waiting Room for platforms 2 and 3, so it is also referred to as the Old Waiting Room. Over the last few years, it has been revived and opened to view again. This work has been inspired and led by Benedict O’Looney, local architect and historian, from the Peckham Society, with support from Community Council CGS funds.
First the windows were unbricked and revealed original Victorian paint! The latest work has reached another important stage with the original wooden floor and the electrics now repaired. This was celebrated in the Old Waiting Room with many of those, who had helped and supported in some way, present on 16th July 2010 - see picture.
original floor restored |
Benedict O'Looney explains the restoration |
we all celebrate 16th July 2010 |
entrance to Old Waiting Room from Platform 3 |
The room has in the meantime been able to be used temporarily in 2009 and 2010 for the annual design workshop for students from the Canterbury University Architecture School. Next step is the restoration of 3 lower windows and 2 doors in the tower to the left of the forecourt, funded by the Council CGS fund for 2010/11. This will reveal the magnificent metal staircase leading from the station forecourt almost up to the Old Waiting Room. Work continues to secure funding for its repair and rehabilitation,and to enable the wonderful Old Waiting Room space to be in full use as a public space, for example as a commercial restaurant combined with community events - see the illustration above. Read more... The completion of the first two stages of the restoration was celebrated on 16 July 2010, see here See here for more pictures.
On 31st March 2011, the Peckham Society with Peckham Vision held a meeting in the Old Waiting Room to celebrate Peckham’s historic architecture. It was standing room only as over 120 people crowded into the historic room. New research was reported by the Peckham Society and English Heritage about the local landmarks, there was a report on progress with the proposed Conservation Area to help restore and preserve the best local buildings for the future. Exciting ideas on improving the forecourt as it is now, including new lighting, were described. An enthusiastic welcome was given to a major fund raising campaign launched at the meeting, and new volunteers recruited to the growing team. see pictures
[edit] Station forecourt
Some CGS funding was secured by the Southwark Rail Users' Group (SRUG) for 2010/2011 to put together for a joint project with Southern Rail to clear away some of the clutter and to brighten up the station forecourt. This work dovetails with the work to reveal the metal staircase when the ground floor windows are unbricked in the tower to the left of the ticket hall. Read more...
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[edit] Travelling from Peckham Rye Station
Peckham Rye station is at the intersection of two railway lines - one from London Bridge in a south west direction, and one coming from Blackfriars and Victoria (which join at Denmark Hill) and going south east to Kent. This means that going into central London Peckham Rye is directly connected to several Tube lines:
- London Bridge within 10 minutes connections to Jubilee & Northern Lines
- Blackfriars within 13 minutes connections to District & Circle Lines (suspended until Autumn 2011 for work at Blackfriars)
- St Pancras/Kings Cross (via Blackfriars) within 23 minutes to Northern, Victoria, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Circle Lines
- Victoria within 15 minutes to Victoria, Circle, District Lines
- Farringdon within 20 minutes to Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Circle Lines
Going out of central London there are several ultimate destinations in south London, Kent and Surrey.
For handy tips from rail users on how best to use all these connections, click here.
[edit] Stages in Peckham Rye Station Rehabilitation
[edit] Original station square to be restored November 2011
On 23rd November 2011, the London Mayor announced that Peckham would receive between £4m-£5m from the Mayor’s £70m Regeneration Fund, which was set up to help repair the damage caused by the August 2011 riots. Southwark Council has said it will match fund the project to restore the open square in front of the station, and transform the spaces around the station in the middle of the town centre. Read more comment and Evening Standard The proposal for this project was able to be put together by the Council to meet the GLA's very fast timetable immediately after the riots because of all the work that had already been done by Peckham Vision, the Peckham Society and the Rye Lane & Station Action Group in collaboration with the Council over several years. The Southwark News reported it as recreating the 'Grand entrance’ for the Victorian station. Read the article here. The Council are now working on the details of the plans, and discussing with Peckham Vision the way the community work on the station and surrounding area can be aligned with those.
[edit] Celebrating the Old Waiting Room and Peckham's historic buildings 31 March 2011
On 31st March 2011, the Peckham Society with Peckham Vision held a meeting in the Old Waiting Room to celebrate Peckham’s historic architecture. It was standing room only as over 120 people crowded into the historic room. New research was reported by the Peckham Society and English Heritage about the local landmarks, there was a report on progress with the proposed Conservation Area to help restore and preserve the best local buildings for the future. Exciting ideas on improving the forecourt as it is now, including new lighting, were described. An enthusiastic welcome was given to a major fund raising campaign launched at the meeting, and new volunteers recruited to the growing team: some photosand very short video
[edit] Local residents campaign for social enterprise multi purpose venue Dec 2010
The Community Council applauded at their 8th December 2010 meeting the latest reports and pictures about the Old Waiting Room, and discussed suitable commercial uses to make the best of the wonderful space. Further funds are being sought to continue the restoration to the external staircase, & to improve the station walkways. This would be the public entrance to the space and make it useable for public activities. Local residents are developing a social enterprise project to bid for the lease for the Old Waiting Room from Network Rail as a multi purpose flexible venue. For more information, see brief here, and and blog here. If you want to get involved in this exciting project email oldwaitingroom@gmail.com
[edit] Two restoration projects completed at the Old Waiting Room July 2010
On Friday the 16th of July the latest stage of the restoration was celebrated to mark the completion of two restoration projects which have helped open up and reveal to the Peckham community the grand Victorian waiting room that had become a bricked up and forgotten space. This huge, vaulted, hall was ‘lost’ in the early 1960s when the station’s southern platforms were demolished and re-built further west. At this point British Rail closed the billiard hall that had been using the hall since about 1900, bricked up the windows and essentially forgot about this fantastic room. It became a time capsule with all its original Victorian paintwork and most of its joinery intact. The Peckham Society and the Rye Lane and Station Action Group have campaigned to restore and open up these lost parts of the Peckham Rye Station.
The station was designed by the talented Victorian architect Charles Henry Driver, who specialised in railway stations and civil engineering structures. He designed London’s great pumping stations at Abbey Mills and Crossness and detailed Bazalgette’s Thames Embankment. He also designed the London and Brighton and South Coast Railway stations at London Bridge, Denmark Hill and Battersea Park amongst many others across the south. He was passionate about the decorative possibilities of cast iron. The Peckham Society first persuaded English Heritage to list the station in 2008, then, with the help of Southwark Council, the Peckham Society architect and conservationist Benedict O’Looney began a programme of restoration.
With two ‘Cleaner Greener Safer’ grants first the windows were un-bricked and new doors and sash windows were fitted matching the original Victorian designs. The second project was to repair the large timber floor replacing the rotten areas with reclaimed 19th century wood, cleaning, sanding and sealing it. With another Southwark grant in hand, and a pledge of support from the Railway Heritage Trust, the next phase is to un-brick the sealed up windows at the station forecourt to reveal a spectacular stone and cast iron stair that has also laid unused, collecting dust for 50 years.
To celebrate the completion of this first phase of the work we decided to have a gathering in the old waiting room on the evening of Friday the 16th of July. Friends in the Peckham Community, Southwark politicians and council officers, and a strong contingent of enthusiasts for Victorian architecture all gathered to examine this ‘lost’ historic room. Hannah Parham from English Heritage spoke about why they listed the station, Paul Dobrasczcyk, the expert on the architect Charles Driver, set the Peckham Rye Station in the context of Driver’s career, Benedict talked about discoveries during the restoration project, and local activist Eileen Conn celebrated the joy of community led regeneration.
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[edit] Onwards with revitalising the station March 2010
Two more CGS proposals have been accepted by the Community Council to take this vision forward. The Peckham Society's bid for about £6k was successful to restore the beautiful metal staircase in the left hand tower from the forecourt to the Old Billiard Hall room. This adds to the work now starting on restoring the wooden floor, and the already completed opening up of the windows and flooding the huge room with light. Southwark Rail Users' Group's proposal for clearing up some of the clutter in the front (repositioning the notice board), improving the lighting and the role of the tub plants, was also accepted. This will enable SRUG to add to the money pot being provided by Southern Rail through our energetic Station Manager Barry Jones, and take part in working out the details of the improvements. Some time within the next 12 months it might be possible to open up the magnificent old room for public use. This vindicates the plan from the community groups involved of taking it one small step at a time to get there.
[edit] Making the station accessible October 2009
Southern Rail and Network Rail are working on plans to restructure the interior of the station to instal lifts and new stair ways. The first report and discussion of this work was made at the meeting of the Rye Lane & Station Action Group (RLSAG)on Wednesday 28th October 2009. There were also reports on the plans to transform the square in front and the area behind the station (see above), and how all this fits in central Rye Lane, & with the Council's PNAAP (Peckham Area Action Plan). Read more Transforming Central Rye Lane
Photos of the meeting here. link to minutes.
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[edit] Old Billiard Hall comes back to life! April 2009
Daylight now floods, just as it used to, through large Victorian windows into the magnificent huge Old Billiard Hall above the ticket hall at Peckham Rye station. This huge room above the ticket office was originally the old waiting room and then for many decades a billiard room, but has been derelict for many years. The recent restoration is the successful result of collaboration between The Peckham Society, Rye Lane & Station Action Group, Southwark Council, Southern Rail and Network Rail. The Peckham Society have now secured some funds from the Community Council for the next stage see proposals – to restore the wooden floor and make the room fit for community and public use again. This is a significant contribution to the transformation of central Rye Lane (see here). Read more here and here.
The former Billiard Hall, Peckham Rye Station, showing renewed south elevation, March 2009. |
New doors and windows carefully matching the Victorian originals. |
The South elevation restored. |
[edit] Peckham Rye station renovation 18 January 2009
Reports that Network Rail is funding £1m renovation work on Peckham Rye station:
15/01/09 Southwark News - £1m funding given to help renovate Peckham Rye Station. Read more...
16/01/09 South London Press - £1m facelift for run-down railway station.
Read more
[edit] Transforming Peckham Rye Station: report launched November 2008
A breakfast briefing about Peckham Rye Station and its redevelopment took place on Friday 21 November 2008. The event launched a report, Peckham Rye Station: The Case for Changethat brings together a number of ideas for the proposed development of Peckham Rye Station. These include the imminent listing and upgrade of the 19th century station building and recommendations for the creation of a focal point for the area in the form of a piazza or square.
The leader of Southwark Council, councillor Nick Stanton, Harriet Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, and Valerie Shawcross, GLA member, attended the briefing along with community activists, representatives from Transport for London, Network Rail and other local stakeholders.
Councillor Nick Stanton, said: “On the evidence of today’s attendance, it’s obvious there is massive support to see these improvements at Peckham Rye Station. We now have to focus our efforts on working with Network Rail to deliver this project, which will drastically improve the station and its surrounding areas, and present commuters and local residents with a far more pleasant experience.”
[edit] Feasibility Study Agreed 2007
Striking new images of plans to create a modern public realm in the heart of Peckham town centre were shown to councillors in a presentation in 2007 to the Nunhead & Peckham Rye Community Council. This is available to download as a powerpoint presentation here and a summary is shown below.
Valerie Shawcross, Southwark/Lambeth elected representative on the Greater London Assembly (GLA), made a strong case for dramatically improving the area around Peckham Rye Station. The image on the right shows something of what this vision could look like, with an open piazza surrounded by shops to replace the shabby buildings which currently occupy the site. Central to this work would be the restoration of the outstanding 1880s station building to its former glory, as well as transforming the first floor room into a community use. The proposal would also help reduce crime and serve to boost local usage of the area. While the removal of the existing buildings in front of the station would affect local businesses in the short term, the proposal also allows for retail space in the nearby railway arches and a number of market stall facilities in the new square.
Southwark Council has recently agreed to press ahead with working out how to create the piazza in front of Peckham Rye station, and Val Shawcross obtained £50k from the GLA for this work. The Council are now developing a feasibility study with Network Rail who owns the property and Southern Rail who manage the station. Cross River Partnership and other London bodies are supporting. All the elected representatives are on board - Val Shawcross London Assembly Member for Southwark & Lambeth, local Lane ward councilors, Nunhead & Peckham Rye Community Council, and the Council’s Executive. The feasibility study will look at how it can be done technically and financially.
The recent agreement on a feasibility study is the fruit of years of campaigning by the Peckham Society, the Rye Lane & Station Action Group (RLSAG) and Peckham Vision. There is a long way to go yet and local people will need to keep up the pressure. But the pursuit of this exciting new project through Council processes is greatly welcome,and will be an important ‘flagship’ development for the new strategic vision for our town centre.
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- Shown to councillors in a presentation to the Nunhead & Peckham Rye Community Council in April 2007.
[edit] Station square presentation summary April 2007
- Why a project for Peckham Rye Station?
- Preserve a beautiful Victorian station.
- Create an attractive ‘front door’ for Peckham.
- Reduce crime and fear.
- Improve local economy.
- Boost usage of area.
- Better interchange with new Cross River Tram.
- How do we go about it?
- Persuade Council to adopt project.
- Council do feasibility study.
- Seek financial support for the project.
- Put together public and private sector partnerships.
- Negotiate with Network Rail/DfT.
- Plan of long term maintenance/business plan.
- Possible Donors
- London Development Agency.
- Transport for London
- Southwark Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.
- Heritage Lottery Fund.
- Railway Heritage Trust.
- Network Rail/Spacia/DfT
- Private Sector Involvement?
- Bar or Restaurant in old ‘Billiard Room’?
- Usage of ‘arches’ building at side of square?
- Street stall style businesses?
- Components of Project
- Feasibility/construction/design (Grant Aid)
- Refurbish station frontage (Grant Aid)
- Install business in station (private investment)
- Compensate existing tenants
- Demolish buildings/construct square
- Utilities realignment.
- Create business space in arches.
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