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Issue 1772

Established: 1987

50p

January 22 2026

LOCAL PUBLICANS FEEL CRIPPLED BY A COCKTAIL OF TAXES

EXCLUSIVE

southwarknews.co.uk

KNIFE CRIME

MISSED CHANCES HAUNT LIONS INVESTIGATION

WHAT DO THE FIGURES HIDE?

‘WILD SWIMMING ON OLD KENT ROAD’ See pages 4-5

See page 4

See pages 6-7

EXCLUSIVE

Ambitious plans announced for former gas works See page 3

2 NEWS

NEWS Pages 2-16 OPINION Page 14-15 ARTS Pages 17 HISTORY Pages 18-19 EVENTS Page 20 CLASSIFIED Page 21 PUBLIC NOTICES Pages 24-27 SPORT Pages 29-32

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By Kumail Jaffer Local Democracy Reporter LONDONERS FACE paying an extra £20 a year in council tax to the Greater London Authority (GLA) to fund an increased police crackdown on phone theft and more resources for the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

The Mayor of London plans to increase the policing precept in residents’ council tax bills by £15 a year for an average Band D property, with a further £5.13 going to support the fire service. The overall GLA precept – the portion of council tax the Mayor is allowed to raise – will increase from £490.38 to £510.51 for an average Band D household. This is equivalent to a 4.1 per cent increase, with the overall sum of money collected by the GLA forecast to be £1.67billion. Here’s where Londoners will see their money going in the upcoming financial year – subject to change after scrutiny from the London Assembly in the coming weeks. The final budget will be published in March.

MAYOR TO RAISE COUNCIL TAX TO HELP TACKLE PHONE THEFTS

Contents

Read what’s in Sadiq Khan’s budget

PHONE THEFT CRACKDOWN

Sir Sadiq Khan plans to ask the Met Police to work on a package of measures to target phone theft gangs on the capital’s streets, including the use of drones and training specialist officers to use e-bikes in hotspot areas. The extra levy is expected to raise £60m out of an overall £1.22bn funding uplift for policing in 202627. Londoners will contribute just over £1bn in council tax for policing in the capital, with the remaining £2.9bn coming from the Home Office.

NEW LONDON FIRE BRIGADE HQ

Every household will pay an extra £5.13 a year which will go directly to fund improvements to the LFB to the tune of £19.3m. Officials say that as the UK’s largest fire and rescue service – and one that operates in an “extremely complex environment” – additional investment is needed. The money will go to “maintaining LFB’s operational capabilities and response times” and investing in LFB’s estate, including building a

London Fire Brigade Funding

Police Funding new headquarters and refurbishing Lambeth Fire Station. The draft budget shows an extra £16.4m will be spent on “preparedness and response” in addition to £5.9m more being spend on capital financing – money used for major projects such as buildings or equipment. Overall, £251.1m of taxpayer cash will be given to the fire service.

TFL NEEDS £252M BAILOUT

The draft budget suggests almost £252m will be given to Transport for London (TfL) to cover a deficit caused by increased operating costs. MILLWALL EXCLUSIVE

Issue 1771

Established: 1987

50p

January 15 2026

southwarknews.co.uk

GREEN WAVE SOUTHWARK ON A

Editor: Kevin Quinn Reporters: Issy Clarke, Evie Flynn Sports Editor: John Kelly Sports reporter: Will Scott Arts Correspondent: Michael Holland Digital Transformation Editor: Katherine Johnston Media Partnerships: Anthony Phillips Advertising: Clarry Frewin, Mandy Stong Design: Dan Martin, Ann Gravesen Finance: Em Zeki - Tel: 0779 883 3758 em@cm-media.co.uk Subscriptions/Announcements: Katie Boyd Managing & Commercial Director: Chris Mullany Managing & Editorial Director: Kevin Quinn Published weekly on a Thursday at: Community Matters Media Ltd 1 Bermondsey Square, London SE1 3UN. News and Sport: 020 7231 5258 Advertising: 020 7232 1639 News: news@southwarknews.co.uk Advertising: hello@cm-media.co.uk Printed by Iliffe Print. Tel: 01223 656500 www.iliffeprint.co.uk

COBURN KEEN TO KICK ON AFTER INJURY SPELL See page 8

BUT WILL THE VOTES COME FLOODING IN AT ELECTION TIME? See pages 6-7

HELP POLICE FIND GUNMEN who shot at and hit a mother in her

LOCALS WARNED OVER DEADLY ICE IN DULWICH See pages 12-13

WINTER REFUGE IS ON OFFER See page 5

home with baby son on Christmas Eve VICTORY FOR ELEPHANT See page 4

& CASTLE LEASEHOLDERS

Though passenger income is set to rise by £302mn to £5.91bn, the cost of operating the London Underground, buses and other TfL services will rise by £541m. Despite a Government grant of £91m, City Hall has deemed the necessary council tax requirement to fill the budget gap as £251.9m. In other transport news, £400,000 has been set aside to progress the business case for the proposed West London Orbital rail line.

FREE SCHOOLS MEALS TO CONTINUE – FOR CHEAPER THAN EXPECTED

The Mayor has previously said he will not end his policy of Universal Free School Meals for all primary school children in London’s state schools while he is still in office. This is confirmed by the draft budget, which suggests the Government’s commitment to give free school meals to all children in households on Universal Credit will reduce the funding needed from City Hall. The draft document says: “It is estimated that there will be a reduction in the academic year cost of the Mayor’s Universal Free School Meals programme compared

to previous assumptions of £50.6 million in 2026-27, £59.0 million in 2027-28 and £61.5 million in 202829.”

WHAT HAS SADIQ KHAN SAID?

The Mayor’s Draft Budget covers the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), which includes the Metropolitan Police Service and the Violence Reduction Unit, TfL, the LFB, the London Legacy Development Corporation (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park), the OPDC, the Oxford Street Development Corporation and the core GLA, including the London Assembly. Sir Sadiq said: “Bearing down on crime and keeping Londoners safe is my top priority as Mayor. That’s why I’m taking the difficult decision to increase council tax to provide crucial funding for the police. “This will help to implement a major crackdown on phone theft – with more resources to smash the phone theft gangs – as well as to ensure we can build on the significant progress we’re making to reduce knife crime, gun crime, homicides and burglary in the capital. “In total, I plan to invest a recordbreaking £1.22bn from City Hall on policing so that we can continue building a safer London for everyone.” Neil Garratt, the Budget spokesperson for the City Hall Conservatives, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Today’s budget is Sadiq Khan being forced to admit that the Conservatives were completely right about his priorities and spending habits. “When a phone is stolen in London every six minutes, that it has taken the Mayor more than a year since I first raised the issue of phone thefts with him to actually take action is appalling. “And with cuts to City Hall mooted, as a result of his bloated, inefficient spending sprees, now Londoners who work for the Mayor are left in jeopardy about their futures because of his behaviour. “He can keep coming out to tell us how amazing his tenure has been, but the figures in that draft budget reveal the extent to which the Mayor’s legacy needs rose-tinted glasses to look good.”

The Southwark News is proud to be the only independent, paid for newspaper in London Southwark News started life as the Bermondsey News in 1987, as an A-4 photocopied sheet of paper and rapidly grew to cover the entire borough and the surrounding area. As the borough grew, so did the newspaper. It is owned and run by Chris Mullany and Kevin Quinn. Former reporters for Southwark News, they bought the title in 2002, after the founder Dave Clark died suddenly from cancer four years earlier. A dedicated team of staff work tirelessly to cover as much of what is going on as possible and strive to ensure that a community-led, independent newspaper can survive and excel in a market dominated by national and multinational media groups.

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NEWS 3

EXCLUSIVE

By Rich Brann WILD SWIMMING may be coming to the Old Kent Road at Southwark’s Grade II listed gasworks.

Plans outlined at the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee described the proposal as unlike anything else seen in Europe, creating an accessible freshwater swimming experience with health benefits at the development site in Old Kent Road, to be renamed Livesey Park. The project would divide the historic gasworks in two, building a cold water swimming pool in one half and a natural reed-based filtration system in the other half, keeping water for the pool fresh, while a café, shop, and changing rooms would provide refreshment opportunities and pay for the pool’s upkeep. Southwark Labour Councillor Helen Dennis said: “The idea for a wild swimming pond in the planned Livesey Park is at an early stage but would transform the area with such an exciting and unique offer, and is a good example of what can be made possible through investment and contributions from developers. “We are determined for the Old Kent Road regeneration to deliver a greener and healthier neighbourhood, ensuring that development results in new and improved parks and community facilities.” The gasworks at Livesey Park forms part

An early CGI concept of Livesey Park, complete with swimming pool of the major Old Kent Road regeneration scheme, projected to deliver as many as 20,000 homes across Southwark and south-east London, as well as two other parks for the neighbourhood. Briefly the largest gasworks in the world, they were originally built by engineer Sir George Livesey from 187981, but have been disused since 1953 before being bought by Southwark Council in 2017 for £15m. Wild swimming at the historic site would allow the Grade II-listed outer structure to remain in place while utilising the former deep-water tank at the site for the project, and is expected to be the only wild swimming opportunity at a gasworks in the world. Cllr Dennis clarified that once detailed

proposals were in place, there would be community consultation on the project, after which it could expect to begin development in 2027 or 2028, though she stressed that the project remained in a very early stage. Wild swimming has become a popular hobby in the last decade, defined as swimming in outdoor freshwater spaces, and lidos and outdoor swimming pools are one form of the hobby, though typically ponds, lakes and rivers are popular destinations. The gasworks project follows Greenland Dock being turned into a wild swimming area in 2024, where people can book 400m swimming sessions with Southwark Council around the historic pools, while Beckenham Place Park’s

Concepts for the swimming pool at Gasholder 13 pool remains a popular spot in South East London for freshwater swimming. Other health swimming opportunities in the borough in the last couple of years have included community sauna and cold plunge sessions in Burgess Park, with Community Sauna Baths opening one permanent spot in Ruskin Park last year and plans for another in Denmark Hill submitted in January 2024. The wider Old Kent Road development, of which the gasworks form a part, is expected to take the better part of 20 years to deliver in full, with consultation on the plans taking place last year. Omer Weinberge, the CEO of the site developers Avanton, who are expected to deliver 700 new homes as well as the wild swimming project, said: “We are

delighted to hear the positive response to the emerging plans for the former Gasworks site on Old Kent Road. “We see this as a chance to offer the community something genuinely new, while retaining The Grade II listed gasholder frame. Our focus is on long term investment in this part of Southwark, not only enhancing the local environment but also providing much needed new homes. “Avanton’s Ruby Triangle masterplan will deliver over 1,600 homes, with THE BeCa as the first phase completing in Q1 2027. Alongside Southwark Council’s aspirations for the Gasworks site, this reflects a shared ambition for the area’s future, where investment in homes goes hand in hand with meaningful places.”

By Kumail Jaffer

Local Democracy Reporter

The animals would be brought to South Norwood Country Park as part of a rewilding project designed to enhance the park’s wildlife and attract more visitors to the nature reserve. Plans for the park would also see its visitors centre bought back to life as an education hub, after six years of closure. The beaver proposals, backed by Croydon Council, are being developed in partnership with urban rewilding experts Citizen Zoo. The organisation, alongside the Ealing Beaver Project, was behind London’s first openly accessible urban beaver population, launched in Ealing in 2023. Elliot Newton, Director of Rewilding at Citizen Zoo, said: “Following the success of the Ealing Beaver Project, we have been eager to identify new sites where these incredible ecosystem engineers can bring benefits; from boosting biodiversity and cleaning waterways to mitigating climate change impacts.” He added: “South Norwood Country Park has huge potential, and we are excited to see how this project could positively impact the local environment and community.” Citizen Zoo is now undertaking a feasibility study to assess whether South

ONE OF South London’s largest parks could soon welcome some unusual new residents, as plans to introduce a colony of beavers are unveiled.

Norwood Country Park is a suitable habitat for the beavers before any are introduced. South Norwood Country Park is one of Croydon’s larger green spaces, featuring a pond and a play area on land that was once a former sewage site. Eurasian beavers are known as “ecosystem engineers” because of the wetlands and dams they create. These mammals were once a familiar sight

across Britain and the capital before being hunted to extinction centuries ago. It is hoped that their reintroduction would improve water quality, reduce flooding, and provide habitats for fish, birds, insects, and other mammals around the park’s ponds and wetland areas. Approval would see the beavers housed in London’s largest secure enclosure, which would be fully accessible to the

public, including local dog walkers. However, the project would also require additional funding and licences from Natural England if it is to progress. Croydon’s plans for the park also include rebuilding its visitor centre and restoring it as a hub for nature education. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) previously reported that the visitor centre, damaged in an arson attack in

2020, remains closed despite repeated promises to reopen it. This delay has led to frustration among residents and members of the team who run the kiosk next to the visitors centre. Their members told the LDRS: “We’re delighted to see Croydon Council’s commitment to reopening the visitor centre at South Norwood Country Park as part of the beaver rewilding project. “The beaver initiative is genuinely exciting and will undoubtedly enhance the park’s biodiversity and appeal.” However, the team believes the council still has work to do to make the centre “a thriving, self-sufficient community hub.” They warn that transforming it solely for educational use risks turning it into “a one-time visit destination” rather than a space that people want to visit week after week. The council has planned a public consultation for February, allowing residents to share their views on the proposals. This will include a questionnaire, community talks and local nature walks. In an announcement made today (January 14), Croydon Council’s Executive Mayor, Jason Perry told the LDRS: “The introduction of beavers in South Norwood Country Park would benefit local wildlife and be a massive boost for the borough. “It would support the park’s biodiversity, and residents and visitors will benefit from investment in a revitalised visitor centre. I look forward to hearing what residents think about these exciting proposals.”

Pictures supplied by Southwark Council.

WILD SWIMMING ON THE OLD KENT ROAD?

4 NEWS By Issy Clarke TWO PUBLICANS have claimed the industry is the ‘worst it has been in 20 years’ with pubs ‘clobbered by taxes’ and struggling to compete with cheaper supermarket booze, and amid growing numbers of young people choosing to forgo alcohol altogether.

Landlords of pubs in Southwark spoke out about the challenges facing the sector days before Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to U-turn on a hike to business rates, after facing a furious wave of opposition. They warned the rates increase was just one of a series of blows which had crippled the trade in recent years, along with increases to employer national insurance contributions and the minimum wage. Garry Phibbs, who manages a small chain of pubs in south London including the Copper Tap and the Duke of Sussex in Peckham, said taxes were the “single biggest challenge” facing his business. Garry said he had seen his overheads increase by around 40 per cent over the last few years, forcing him to “tighten the belts” and lay off staff and cut shifts. “It is taxes on everything that are affecting us - the actual product we’re selling and taxes on the staffing and business rates. Most of the price of a pint of beer is just tax.” According to research by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), beer duty makes up at least £0.49 of each pint of beer sold. That is followed by VAT (£0.80), other taxes like business rates (£0.23) and ‘other costs’ like staff wages and energy bills (£3.28). Days ago, it was reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves was poised to abandon an impending business rates hike on pubs announced in the November budget, which would have involved cutting a discount introduced during the pandemic from 75 per cent to 40 per cent. The planned increase was met with fury in the sector, with more than a thousand publicans banning Labour MPs from entering their premises. UK Hospitality said the increase could leave the average pub facing a 15% rise in business rates next year, increasing to £7,000 more by 2028/29. The British Institute of Inkeeping, [BII] which represents those working in hospitality, has welcomed the climbdown, but warned the lack of detail at this stage meant the ‘scale of the potential positive impact remains to be seen.’ They said that pubs were already struggling with ‘huge challenges around increased overheads, unfair taxation and the direct impact of the 2024 budget as well as ongoing Covid debts.’ CEO of the BII, Steve Alton, added the rates cut was “welcome as a starting point, however we must have a reduction in the overall unfair tax burden our members have been facing, in order to safeguard the future of pubs, high streets and communities across the whole of the UK.” He said when the minimum wage and business rates increase was announced in November it meant that only “1in 10” businesses would be profitable unless they axed staff and services. Alton continued: “The lack of understanding from the Government, and specifically the Treasury, about the incredible pressure pubs have been under, with huge challenges they have faced since the pandemic, has caused incredible frustration, anger and worry for our members.” The Chancellor increased the

EXCLUSIVE

‘IT’S THE WORST IT’S BEEN IN 20 YEARS’ - SOUTHWARK PUB LANDLORDS ‘TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS’ AMID TAX HIKES AND DRY JANUARY Garry

Phibbs

The Grange pub on Grange Road minimum wage in the budget last year by 85p to £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds. It will go up by 50p to £12.71 for over 21s from spring 2026. And since April of last year, employers have had to pay national insurance on all salaries above £5,000, whereas before it only kicked in on earnings higher of more than £9,100. Garry said: “It means even though the minimum wage has gone up, staff are coming away with less pay because I’m having to cut their hours. “We used to hire students for casual work because taxes wouldn’t have to be paid. Now they are at the threshold where we have to pay national insurance, so we’ve stopped hiring them.” Looking ahead to 2026, Garry said the strategy would be just to “try and power through it. A lot of pubs are struggling, a lot have gone bust. We’re just doing our best to survive it as long as possible.” Roughly one pub in England and Wales was forced to close every day in 2025, amounting to 5,600 direct job losses, according to the British Beer and

Pat McKenna Pub Association. “The more pubs that do go bust, it means you’re one of the few around that are still there for people. Our pubs aren’t beside offices or big universities. We just have local communities coming to us rather than workers.” Pat McKenna, the owner of the familyrun Victoria Pub on Page’s Walk in Bermondsey, said he “wouldn’t like to be starting out in the indsutry today. I’ve been doing this 20 years and things have never been this difficult.” He highlighted the “astronomical cost” of heating an old pub, and admitted he had now stopped showing Sky Sports due to the cost and because “you’ve got to have a packed pub to make those things financially worth it now.” With sobriety on the rise among younger generations and many people opting to drink at home, Pat said times at the moment were “very tough. People really seem to have taken to Dry January this year. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, now people have started doing Sober October. “A friend said to me recently: I’m a

social drinker, I come out so I don’t drink at home. But he said: it’s pointless for me to go out because all my mates are doing Dry January.” The number of adults in the UK who report drinking alcohol once a week has steadily declined in recent years, from 61 per cent in 2012 to 56 per cent in 2022. That decline has been driven in large part by a fall-off in alcohol consumption among younger people, with almost half (46 per cent) of those aged 25-34 reporting last year that they regularly forgo booze in favour of alcohol-free alternatives, compared to 37 per cent in 2023. That may be partly related to the increased cost of booze, with the price of the average pint in the UK up from around £3.90 before the pandemic to £5.17 at the end of 2025. In London the average cost is much higher at £6.75, making it the most expensive city to purchase a pint in the UK. Matt Downie, who runs the Grange pub on Grange Road in Bermondsey, said that since the national insurance

Michelle Tempest of the Raven on Tower Bridge Road increase kicked in last April, he had been forced to cut staff and work longer hours himself. “The main problem is that people don’t have enough money. Footfall and turnover is down, we’re not selling as much as we used to. People I used to see once a week, now I see once or twice a month.” He said that during the pandemic people got into the habit of drinking cheaper supermarket booze, whereas “our overheads mean we can’t sell a can of beer for £1.50.” Government plans floated at the end of last year to loosen licensing restrictions to enable pubs to stay open later, he added, failed to respond to the nature of the challenges faced by the industry. “People don’t stay out as late as they used to. My kitchen is open until 10, but it is rare for me to take an order before 9. Increasing trading hours to increase turnover is for the birds.” However, Michelle Tempest who runs The Raven Pub on Tower Bridge Road, painted a rosier picture, claiming that while “everything in the news is true”

NEWS 5

Matt Downie

about the challenges facing the sector, her experience has been “a different story.” Since purchasing The Raven with her husband in 2022, Michelle, who owns a small chain of seven pubs across England, says she has seen numbers go “up and up and up” although around ‘80 per cent’ of those customers are tourists. In fact, business at the Raven is so good that it’s one of Michelle’s best-performing pubs. “We’ve been blessed because of our location: we rely on our position. It’s very different for us compared to talking to someone who has a truly local pub, because we rely on tourists. “ On a typical day the Raven - which also hosts a comedy club upstairs and a cocktail bar in the basement - will sell around 180 portions of fish and chips alone to tourists eager to sample traditional British cuisine.

It’s thanks to the surge in customer numbers that she’s been able to grapple with a huge increase in her energy bills which is the “main killer.” Her bills have gone up by 50 per cent since she purchased the Raven, with water now costing £1,000 a month and electricity costing £2,500, and she’s had to stop heating the fourth floor of the building to curb costs. However she added: “The Raven is lucky because it is delivering. It’s the seaside pubs I’m more concerned about. I’m upbeat overall, but I don’t think it’s going to get any easier. “Once bills are up they’re not going to come down very much, and with the minimum wage going up in April... it’s going to be harder to make a living.” The government was contacted for a comment but had not responded by the time we went to press.

The Victoria Pub on Page’s Walk

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