NOOKS and CORNERS
AS CASH-strapped local councils desperately search for any remaining publicly owned treasures to flog off (see Rotten Boroughs,
ad nauseam
), in the London borough of Greenwich neither listed wartime buildings nor Olympic legacy sites are safe.
Having already sold off the grade 2-listed Borough Hall and East Greenwich Library since 2021, the council has now sparked a furious row with its proposals to sell off two more sites.
The property known as “Green Garth” was built in the grounds of Shrewsbury House during the Second World War, as a hardened shelter for the Air Raid Precautions Control Centre, which was initially based in the main house. On Historic England’s map, the listing of Shrewsbury House includes Green Garth and its gardens. The building is also noted in the local conservation area documents as being of historic interest because of its wartime role and its later conversion into a bungalow to tackle postwar housing shortages.