London pub’s £4m National Lottery-funded transformation

03-Jun-2019 - Last updated on 03-Jun-2019 at 08:40 GMT

£4m investment: relaunching the Fellowship and Star

Historic south London pub the Fellowship and Star in Bellingham will reopen later this month following £4m makeover funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Owned by the Electric Star Group, which owns pubs including the Star of Bethnal Green, the Grade II-listed Fellowship and Star has been restored to its former glory as a community hub.

The pub was the first to open on a London housing estate as part of the Homes for Heroes initiative after World War One.

Following its initial opening decades back, the Fellowship and Star went on to become legendary, visited by the likes of British boxer Henry Cooper, who trained there prior to his fight against Muhammed Ali.

Lottery Heritage Fund

However, the pub fell into disrepair and eventually closed before the Phoenix Community Housing project successfully gained backing from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to the tune of £4m, to see it restored and reopened.

The investment includes a new interior, spruced-up outside and revamped indoor spaces, including a cinema, cafe and live music stage.

To celebrate its launch, live acts will include Bez from Happy Mondays, while This is England’s Thomas Turgoose will also provide entertainment and a Johnny Cash tribute band is set to join the line-up.

Local breweries will also form part of the relaunch, with the likes of Brockley and Ignition breweries providing beer.

The pub will also be serving coffee from independent and local roasters Volcano Coffee in it’s cafe, which will also be serving pastries, quiches, light bites and alcoholic refreshments.

‘Biggest venue to date’

Electric Star Group director Rob Star said: “I’m really excited to be opening a pub south of the river. I went to Goldsmiths College in the mid-90s and lived in the area for almost 10 years, so it’s great to come back and open what will be our biggest venue to date.

“The cinema is a really exciting project for me and it will be great to show amazing films alongside a cutting-edge programme of events in our beautiful function space."

Phoenix Community Housing project chief executive Jim Ripley said: “The restoration of the Fellowship is an amazing project that will transform Bellingham, and we’re very excited to be working with Electric Star Group on bringing the pub back as a thriving community venue.

“It’s going to be a fantastic new resource for the community and we can’t wait for the opening.”