It’s been a bit of an eyesore for years. The Cedars, a large building at 5 Lavender Hill, has been empty for ages since its previous incarnation (late bar / club Ashtar) moved to Vauxhall. Going back further it was a place called Amnesia, and originally The Cedars pub. Time wasn’t kind to the building, which was squatted a few times before property guardians moved in, and became a mucky pigeon-infested mess. When work started it had to be pretty much completely cleared out – nothing of the original interior remains.

The good news is that after some pretty substantial internal works, the building has finally been cleaned up and restored – with a cross section of its new layout shown below. The upper levels have been converted to three fairly generously sized flats, with the addition of another storey up on the roof. The first & second floors are two bed flats, with a smaller one bed flat at roof level; and one of the flats has an outdoor terrace.

The ground floor and unusually large basement aren’t returning to pub or club use, but are instead set to become a restaurant or cafe (with the precise use still to be determined – it could also become a shop). Although the flats are pretty much complete there’s still a fair bit of work to do on the ground floor, but the original windows are still in place and have had a clean up and repaint to make sure that the building looks good enough to put the flats on the market.

There’s not much ability to use this stretch of pavement, so the plans (shown below) provide for the back of the commercial premises to be extended (replacing a mess of outbuildings) and fully glazed, giving access to an outdoor terrace in what used to be the service yard (which still has a long passageway leading to Cedars Road, which is potentially a useful fire escape).

The flats are decent-sized and the works look to have been done to a good standard. It’s a shame it has taken quite so long for this development to go ahead, but at least the premises is now back in use & the work has addressed one of the more run-down parts of this end of Lavender Hill. We close with a photo of The Cedars back in its public house days…