Plans have been drawn up to build a fourteen-room hotel above the much-love grade-II listed Kennedy’s sausage shop in Walworth Road that opened 94 years ago.
A planning application submitted to Southwark Council shows the hotel would go above Kennedy’s, now an Italian restaurant.
Three storeys would be added above Kennedy’s, while the shopfront would remain the same.
A report accompanying the planning application described the shop as the last surviving branch of Kennedy’s, which started as a “ham and beef” dealers in Rye Lane in the 1870s.
The report goes on to say that Kennedy’s once had 20 branches dotted around south London.
“At the moment, many south London residents still fondly remember Kennedy’s pies and sausages, the piles of bacon and slabs of cheese, and the uniformed sales assistants. But within a few years those memories are likely to fade. So the survival of an original shop, complete with labelled display cabinets, is important,” it said.
The Walworth Road Kennedy’s branch opened in 1923, in what used to be a Victorian shoe shop.
The shop was also damaged by a bomb in World War Two.
Two neighbourhood groups, including the Walworth Society, were consulted before the application was made. Residents have until July 2 to reply to the online consultation.
The plans were submitted by the building’s landlord, Rozi Khan, of Peckham.
Please have a look my tribute website to Kennedys Sausages and pies. There are lots of nostalgic photos and personal memories.
http://www.routebus537.veryold.net/kennedystribute.html