They’ve been on the brink of collapse for years! There are cracks around the walls at the back, brambles have taken over the access paths, someone stole most of the roof, and the whole building has a slight lean to it. The inside’s not much better – for those who’re confident enough to venture past the ‘dangerous structure’ signs scattered around the building it’s been a sort of store for groundskeeper junk – bent goalposts, burst footballs, abandoned shopping trollies. The old toilet building on Clapham Common westside – in the corner of the forest, nearest to Clapham Junction – closed decades ago, due to the usual combination of vandalism and dwindling maintenance budgets. The fact that this building was the very epicentre of one of the most notorious cottaging spots in the country, at a time when our LGBT community was a lot more in the shadows, probably played in to the decision too.

But for all of the decay and dereliction, there’s still an undeniable charm to the building, which was built in a country cottage style, to match the rural and wild nature of this bit of the Common. It still has the chimney from when it had a fireplace to provide heating. Its age is uncertain – it’s one of the older buildings still standing on the Common itself, dating to somewhere between 1895 and the 1930s. The image below shows the interior, where the old facilities are still (more or less) in place.

In 2011, there was an attempt to knock it all down. Lambeth, who manage the whole Common despite this part being in Wandsworth, applied for permission for complete demolition. They clearly weren’t keen on what they described as “redundant brick built toilets”, arguing that it had been empty for 15-20 years, had suffered from vandalism and structural defects, and was ‘beyond repair’. They proposed to replace it with two steel portakabin-type changing rooms with an attached bathroom.

Lambeth’s application was a pretty shambolic one to be honest – it looked like a Friday afternoon job, with no real explanation of why the existing building was considered doomed, and (rather strangely) no details of the proposed appearance, position or layout of the new structures either, other than that they would be painted green! It saw 13 neighbour objections, with arguments that there was no need to destroy the building when the new structures could be put next to it (or indeed anywhere else in the woods where they’d be less of an eyesore), that the building (and the matching changing rooms next to it that had recently been refurbished) were an elegant structure that was part of the Common, and that contributed to the conservation area, and that the building wasn’t anywhere near as wrecked as the application suggested and could be rescued for cafe or other public use.

Wandsworth’s conservation & design advisor said that the change from a low-key building that upholds the character of the conservation area, and which could be refurbished and adapted or extended, to a harsh and industrial portakabin-type structure, should be refused. Wandsworth’s planning department supported the idea of upgrading facilities – but also felt that there wasn’t a convincing case for knocking the building down rather than repairing it, especially as it was in a conservation area. They recognised it was in ‘a decrepit state’ and seemed to be leaning at one end, but they noted it would be attractive if it was refurbished, and that Lambeth hadn’t really offered up any evidence that the structure was beyond economical repair.

They also felt that the proposed replacement structure was ‘not considered to be acceptable’: for starters it wasn’t specified if it was temporary or whether it was a prelude to a more permanent replacement, plus it would be an eyesore completely out of keeping with their environment, and in any case their dimensions didn’t look suitable for a sports team in any event. The final report was pretty damning, it’s written in quite diplomatic terms but you can sense the planning official sighing and wondering who thought such a weak application would get through. They concluded that “planning permission and conservation area consent should not be granted, until adequate justification is provided for the demolition of the existing building, and suitable replacement facilities are proposed.“

Lambeth tried again the next year, this time describing the portakabins as ‘temporary’, but the second application was later withdrawn (presumably as they got wind that another refusal was on the way) and never got to the final decision stage. And at that point Lambeth lost patience with the project and pretty much closed the book on the old building, leaving it to an uncertain future. Not much happened for a long time, though it’s at some point after this that a fair bit of the tiled roof mysteriously went missing, and was covered with a plastic tarpaulin.

A full ten years later, there was another brief spark of interest: flushed with their success at re-letting the Skate Park cafe for an astronomical level of rent (which as we reported then had a great deal of money spent on upgrading it to become a new outdoor-focussed branch of Megan’s), and conversion of the central La Baita cafe to a new branch of Pear Tree Cafe (which we also reported on), Lambeth explored if anyone wanted to take on a ten year lease on the building. As a building on Common land, the lease would include an unusual condition that ‘The premises must be accessible to the general public providing services or activities of a recreational, social or educational character benefiting the Park‘. There would be a lengthy rent-free period in exchange for the new tenant getting the building back in to a usable condition. As we reported at the time, we didn’t think that Sanderson Weatherall, the estate agents advertising this property (whose video is linked above) would exactly be seeing queues round the block, given the amount of repair work involved – this was going to be a difficult place to let! But the place did have potential. The number of people walking past here on a typical weekend is vast, it’s right next to one of the wealthiest and densest residential catchment areas in London, there’s a surprisingly large amount of enclosed space around the building that could be put to use or even used for a small extension, and it remained a pretty elegant building.

Thousands of people read our article – but no one leased the property. We started to wonder if the place was, after all, doomed. But then in a surprise move that no one really saw coming, Lambeth themselves, the ones who were itching to knock it all down 13 years ago, had a change of heart. They decided the building wasn’t beyond economic repair after all – but would make an ideal premises for a new café (just as Wandsworth had suggested back in 2011). They got the builders in, who haven’t wasted any time getting the leaning wall and chimney straightened up, damaged bricks carefully replaced, the whole building cleaned and repointed, and the roof repaired.

There will be new timber framed windows, including a hatch for outdoor counter service, and the interior will be opened up (as shown in the floorplan design above) to create a cafe with an internal WC, as well as an accessible one that can be accessed from the terrace. The existing railings around the edge of the site will be refurbished, and a small area between the building and the path will be resurfaced (partly with sandstone, partly with permeable resin-bound gravel) to allow for an external seating area. The planning application notes that the small scale of the venture will mean it doesn’t detract from or compete with, the town centre businesses on Battersea Rise, but that getitng the building repaired and back in to use will create a space that is a useful asset for Clapham Common, directly serving the park users and making the Common a better public space.

It’s scrubbing up really well, as our photos of the work in progress show. Just think – that this could by now have been a set of green steel sheds! The similar ones by the old gravel pitches below show what we’ve luckily avoided.

But the newly-enthusiastic Lambeth went further. Probably with half an eye on the huge volumes of trade that the other two upgraded-and-extended cafes on the Common are now doing, and the proximity to the busy but café-less playground at the Battersea corner of the Common, they saw the potential for income. The Clapham Common Management Advisory Committee have reported that rather than leasing it out, Lambeth is considering operating the cafe themselves. The planning application makes a slightly different suggestion that the Cafe will be operated by a private tenant under a lease agreement with the Council.

Opening hours have yet to be agreed, but there will be a requirement to open all day on weekends and holidays between Easter and end of October, and more limited weekday and winter hours operation (typically opening at 8am, and closing at 4 in winter – but with the ability to run to 8-9pm on summer nights, and an ability to open to 11pm up to 15 times a year).

This looks like a happy ending. We’re pleased to see that Lambeth have had a change of heart and decided to invest in this bit of the Common, which was increasingly neglected, with a hint of antisocial behaviour being increasingly drawn towards the derelict-looking buildings. The new cafe should offer a welcoming space with both indoor and outdoor seating, and it feels like a realistic and sensible use of the building, which strikes the right balance between preserving the green and somewhat rural character of the Common, and making the money needed to maintain its facilities & provide services to its users. Above all it’s good to see this historic building, which looked to be doomed to further decay and ultimate demolition, being restored to the picturesque country-cottage style building it should have been all along.

Meanwhile closer to Clapham South the Bowling Green Cafe, which has been the subject of much more controversy linked to plans to convert the whole site to a Minigolf facility, is also seeing works. This building is a rather more fragile structure in the first place than the forest toilet building, and is in a similarly dreadful condition; for some time it has been too unstable to have customers inside. The team on site were doing their best to repair the roof, and we understand it is also being refurbished to be leased out as a cafe

The bowling Green pavilion next door to it currently has a slightly intriguing planning application in – for the change of use from ‘areas or places for outdoor sport or recreation’)’ to ‘Provision of education’. The proposal is so new that no details are available – in due course we’ll find out more (the reference is application 2024/2622 at wandsworth.gov.uk/planning). We did spot some minor works to repair the rather dilapidated building.

The two buildings had been jointly available for lease as a Cafe (the details are here) and it is marked as under offer. Looking at the size of the building, our best guess is that this is for the building closer to the former bowling green itself – which is larger and in a better overall condition – to be leased out as a nursery, but if you have more insight on this we’d be keen to hear from you.

We mainly cover the Lavender Hill area, but sometimes also report on developments on Clapham Common. If you found this interesting, you may want to see our previous articles on planning and development, or on shops and food & drink traders in the area. To receive new posts on lavender-hill.uk by e-mail (for free, unsubscribe anytime), sign up here.