Zaibatsu Returns

by | Oct 5, 2025 | Business, Community, Eating Out, Restaurant, Uncategorized

 

Zaibatsu Returns

The return of Zaibatsu is something that some people in Greenwich have been looking forward to, much like the second coming of Christ. However, unlike Jesus, Zaibatsu is actually returning to the people.

Some of you may be thinking, Who or what is Zaibatsu. Zaibatsu was one of the best Japanese Pan-Asian restaurants in Greenwich, which was forcibly shut down due to underhanded business practices.

Two years ago, Zaibatsu was a thriving business, providing the people of Greenwich with excellent and affordable Japanese and pan-Asian cuisine. However, out of the blue, their landlord decided to evict them, for what people assumed was no ethical reason.

There was a reason, you see. It was alleged that the landlord’s son wanted to get into the restaurant business, so the landlord and his family thought they would evict the thriving business, set up a small restaurant selling virtually the same cuisine, and steal all their loyal customer base. Unfortunately, they seemed to misinterpret the word “loyal”, and many of the loyal customers boycotted the new restaurant.

Some of the reviews gave the Cuckoo restaurant good reviews, but at the end of the day, even if you have fantastic reviews, what they did behind the scenes to achieve them was sneaky, underhanded, and diabolical.

Well, two years later, the Cuckoo restaurant seems to have closed down, and the original Zaibatsu has risen like a phoenix from the flames and will soon reopen at 242 Woolwich Road, in what was, until earlier this year, Peter’s Café.

I refused to review the new restaurant as I thought the way the landlord treated Zaibatsu was shocking. I had a review of Zaibatsu, but had to remove it when Zaibatsu closed. Never fear, a new review will appear as soon as they reopen and settle in.

Admittedly, the location is not as good as the old restaurant, and it will not attract as much foot traffic as it did when it was on Trafalgar Road. The new place is similar in size to the original site, so it’s still cosy and small, and booking in advance will once again be a must in the evening. The wife and I used to go to Zaibatsu after a workout in the gym in the afternoon, so usually they had space so booking was not necessary.

On social media, even some of its loyal followers are saying that it is too far or that there is nowhere to park, despite the large car park of the Greenwich shopping park being nearby, and the 177 bus route running just a short distance from the original shop to the new one.

Luckily for me, I live near the new site, so I plan to frequent it more regularly this time.

 

Rock Leopard Brewing Co

Rock Leopard Brewing Co

by | Jul 11, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub, Uncategorized

 

The Royal London Borough of Greenwich has a new pub. Well, sort of.

It’s actually a brewery taproom,  located at the Rock Leopard Brewing Company in Thamesmead.

The Rock Leopard Brewing Company was set up in 2017 by Stacey Ayeh, who by then had nearly twenty years of experience in the brewing industry.

Initially, he used the spare brewing capacity of other small brewing companies, such as Cloudwater and Drop Project, which is a method of brewing called cuckoo brewing.

By 2022, the Company had built up a good reputation and business brand, so the next step was to find a permanent brewing home of their own,  and to do this, they used crowdfunding.

They now have a permanent home for a brewing operation in Thamesmead and a community hub taproom called Bouldr Bar, which at the moment is only open at weekends.

Friday 09:00 – 22:30

Saturday 12:00 – 22:30

Sunday  12:00 – 22:00

Location: 13 Wagtail Walk, Cygnet Square, London, SE2 9FE.

Being a taproom, it will obviously be selling their own beers, but it looks like they will probably in future have rotating guest beers, as most tap rooms do.

At the moment, they only have outside seating, which is great for a sunny day but not so when the British weather is being its usual dreary and cold self.

I first heard about this place from a YouTube channel that I follow called John Rogers Walks, and it follows an ex-radio broadcaster called John Rogers who walks all over London whilst giving an educational history about all the places he visits or walks past.

On this one particular episode, he was following the River Wogebourne (No. I had never heard of it either) from its source in Oxleas Woods by Shooters Hill to its ending in the River Thames.

But just before it reaches the Thames, it flows to a large pond in Thamesmead called South Mere, and the Bouldr Bar just happens to be located on a square on South Mere.

John Rogers noticed the Bouldr Bar, sat outside with a drink and gave a summary of his days walk.  If I hadn’t seen the YouTube video I probably  wouldn’t have found out about the Rock Leopard Brewing Company or the Bouldr Bar.

On Saturday (12/07/25) I was on my way to the Ealing beer festival and thought, why not kill two birds with one stone? The Bouldr Bar is only about 11 minutes from Abbey Wood Station, and I can get to Ealing direct from the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood.

When I got to the Bouldr Bar it had already been opened for about half an hour, and there was a young couple with a child just leaving and for a while I was the only customer until another young family was curious about the place and stopped for a drink.

Stacey Ayeh was serving the Rock Leopard Brewing beers, snacks, and soft drinks from the doorway to the new premises. The inside looked like it was filled with building and decorating stuff.

I asked him when did he think the premises will be up and running as a proper pub. He said they should be installing a kitchen in a few weeks with new interior furniture also to be installed, so they will be doing hot food as well as selling beers, but he hoped to be opening in about three to four months as a fully functioning pub.

Eventually they will be also brewing from the premises.  The Bouldr Bar is set in deeply residential area, and gathering from the hurdles the Green Goddess at the Blackheath Standard had to go through to get a licence to brew on their pub premises I fear Stacey will have a hard time convincing Greenwich Council to agree to it without strict stipulations added.

One of the council’s main worries was the smell of the brewing upon the local residents,  but I for one can say the Green Goddess does not exude any Brewing smells.

He has already been through one block after another with the council so far, just to get where he has now.

He has only been selling his beers from the doorway for the last month or two and already has a  following from some of the locals.

I personally wish him well and can’t wait to finally see the Bouldr Bar open as a proper pub, hopefully by October.

 

 

 

 

Urban Village Fete 2025 promotion

Urban Village Fete 2025 promotion

by | Apr 9, 2025 | Community, Street Food

 

Urban Village Fete 2025

Don’t miss it. I went to the Urban Village Fete for the first time last year and wondered why on earth I had never bothered visiting it before.

An annual event that, although designed to bring the Greenwich Peninsula community together, brings visitors from far outside the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

From a variety of different DJs blasting music from several areas around Central Park, you have everything you could ask for on a great family day out.

There are Workshops and demonstrations, some of which are ticketed and must be booked and paid for in advance. There are children’s sports activities, street food stalls of various world cuisines, and a number of bars dotted around the field.

This year will be the 10th year of this amazing community extravaganza, and I personally will make sure I am there again this year.

To see what last year’s Fete was like, including a small video, go to last year’s blog entry: Urban Village Fete 2024 | Greenwich Review

Come along on 18th May 2025 from 11:00 – 19:00 Urban Village Fete | Greenwich Events | Greenwich Peninsula

 

 

 

 

The Anchor and Hope closure

by | Apr 2, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub

 

The Anchor and Hope closure.

The Anchor and Hope pub on Riverside, Charlton, closed unexpectedly in March. After some basic investigating, it would appear that the landlord, Mark Brooker, died recently after a short illness.

It would seem his brother owns and runs The Bull and the Red Lion on Shooters Hill, and his late father ran the Anchor and Hope before him, so we are talking of a bit of a publican dynasty. Hopefully, the pub will be back up and running again soon. On one local forum, someone has said that they relinquished the lease back to the brewery.

With its outside area overlooking the River Thames. I especially loved going here in the summer when the sun was shining.  Unfortunately, so did everyone else, and it can get very popular when the weather is nice.

It is also within a short walk of the Valley football ground, which makes it very popular with Charlton fans on a match day.

The Riverside area redevelopment is also due to start soon, I hope it doesn’t affect this great boozer. It’s heartbreaking, the number of good pubs we have lost in Greenwich over the last few years.

 

 

 

The Guardhouse Mystery

by | Apr 2, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub

 

The Guardhouse Mystery

Is it a prank, a joke or a scam? Surely it can’t be for real.

There have been rumours that the Guardhouse in Woolwich is too close or that the Young’s brewery is selling the lease off.

This I can understand, as although the Guardhouse is a great pub, it just doesn’t have the same attraction as the Dial Arch pub, which is another Young’s pub just 50 meters away.

The pub has a lease that expires on 14th April 2139, and they pay a peppercorn fixed rent.

Last December, the local newspaper, the News Shopper, published an article saying the Guardhouse  is up for sale at the exclusive  Savilles estate agents for £1 million, and it had the viewing instructions as follows:

Viewings:

Staff are unaware of our client’s intention to dispose of this property.  Consequently, all customer visits must be carried out discreetly and under no circumstances should any direct approach be made to any members of staff.  Should you wish to view the property, then make a prior appointment via the sole selling agents, Savills.

The News Shopper then added at the end of the report that the pub itself had been asked for a comment,  so they obviously know about it by now. 

I cannot believe this is seriously how Young’s go about treating their staff,  if it is true then shame on them.

The fact that this viewing instruction is still up on the Savills website months later makes me wonder if this is really all a prank

As I have said, it would not surprise me if the lease is sold on, but to do it like this is underhanded and ridiculously impractical.

How on earth is a speculative client possibly  able to view the property  without the staff being suspicious  about strangers who are wondering  about the place going into places the public have no place being.

Whilst looking at the Guard House lease on the Savills website, I also found that the lease for the Old Mill on Plumstead Common is also up for sale. I hope they have told their staff.

Come on, Savills, the game’s up; everyone knows about the lease sale by now. Take the sneaky wording down from your website. It doesn’t look very professional.

 

 

The missing Irish element

The missing Irish element

by | Mar 14, 2025 | Business, Community, Pub, Uncategorized

 

The missing Irish element

..

Well, here we are,  it’s almost St Patrick’s day. Unfortunately, Greenwich is missing two vital establishments essential in celebrating St Paddy’s day: a good, genuine Irish pub.

Greenwich, up until last year, had just two Irish pubs. It now has none.

I’m not suggesting for one minute that St. Paddy’s Day can not be celebrated in anything but an Irish pub, but the atmosphere would just not be the same.

Sticking on a green foam hat and strongly pushing Guinness as the only thing that should be drunk that night doesn’t cut it.

In June last year, the bailiffs took repossession of the Old Gun Pit in  Woolwich, which was touted as Southeast London’s oldest Irish pub and is currently being refurbished and awaiting reopening.

Last month, reconstruction also started on Hardy’s Free House in Trafalgar Road to upgrade the bar to a restaurant and increase the capacity of its hotel section by building upwards.

Both these establishments are the only Irish pubs in the Borough of Greenwich, and both are, at the moment, undergoing major building works.

When they reopen, there is no guarantee that they will still be Irish pubs.

The make-up of any pub is directed in part by its clientele. If the old regular Irish clientele returns, then the pub will be re-established as an Irish pub. If the pubs are trying to push for a rather upmarket clientele, then the old regulars will not return, and they will end up like other touristy places throughout the borough, charging overpriced drinks to people who have more money than sense.

To be fair, neither of these pubs is within a catchment area for tourists, so I’m fairly confident that the Irish influence will still prevail at both pubs but in nicer surroundings, and I hope this time next year they will both be celebrating St Paddy’s Day.

I never got the chance to do a pub review on the Old Gun Pit, but I have done a review on the Hardy, so after they reopen and clientele adjustment has settled, I will do an update review on this pub and review on the Old Gun Pit.

I am assuming that it will still be called the Old Gun Pit. Upon reopening, it may be called something completely different.