A group of Charlton residents have renewed their appeal for donations to save their beloved local as the end of their Crowdfunder campaign draws near, writes Maya Sgaravato-Grant…
The White Swan Music and Arts charity launched their crowdfunding drive on 3 December 2025 with the goal of being able to re-open the 19-century White Swan pub, and transform it into a community arts space and bar.
The campaign seeks to raise £360,000, and the preliminary cut-off point for donations was set for Friday 27 February. However, spokesperson Paul Chapman told South London Weekly that this deadline will likely be extended for a few weeks.
Chapman highlighted the role of the White Swan in fostering a sense of local community in the area, as well as the opportunities it gave to up-and-coming local musicians at a time where live music is becoming ever more rare.
He said: “They had a real can-do community vibe – if they could help you do something they would, and it just built up this really beautiful feel over the years.
“It was just quite a unique place, and the people who love it just absolutely loved it”.
A number of incentives are on offer for donors, including tickets to an exclusive concert to be performed by iconic Squeeze frontman Glenn Tillbrook.
The charity hopes to raise enough money to be able to access a charitable mortgage which would then permit them to buy the building outright in a sum to be decided in a meeting with the owner.
However, according to Chapman, “there’s a feeling in the campaign team that it’s probably not enough to have a pub that’s just a pub”. Alongside the restoration of a bar, the group also intends to establish a music rehearsal space and ‘creative content studio’ in the venue.
“There’s a lot of very musical and arty people in Charlton, and those people are really keen to put on different acts and just basically give something back for young people,” he said.
This is the latest endeavour on the part of White Swan Music and Arts, which in 2024 campaigned against attempts on the part of developers to transform the site into a Tesco’s, with this attempt eventually being blocked by the Planning Inspectorate in June of that year.
Chapman said that this experience, alongside discoveries such as that the basement of the venue was being used as a cannabis farm, created a sense of urgency around the need to save the pub.
He said: “This wouldn’t just be about saving a pub for the pub’s sake, it would also be about the knock-on benefits it would have for Charlton as a whole.
“What Charlton Village does not need is a third local supermarket, whereas the Swan really brings footfall to the village, it would help everyone and help all the businesses too.”
“It’s just that saying, the total is greater than the sum of its parts,” he added.
As of the time of writing, the campaign had raised £90,000 of its intended £360,000. However, this discrepancy should not dissuade donors, Chapman argued.
He said: “We have got some sort of biggish donors floating around having conversations with us, and what really matters to those people is if they see momentum, if they see that communities are getting behind it.
“Now is the time where people really do need to really come in and chip in, and show that momentum, show that sort of the community is really there and the people want this to happen.”
