Always on
This project successfully funded on 31st March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Let's Buy Our Swan - The White Swan, Charlton
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Crowdfunder is secure
Your payment details are protected
Aim
Let's remake Charlton's history and buy the derelict White Swan. Restore the pub, to create a live music venue and community arts hub.
Our mission
Buy our pub - restore our community space - create a music and arts hub
Our story
The White Swan sits in the heart of Charlton, an urban village in South East London. It's where you would go on a Friday night to listen to local bands, before they broke through to the bigger music venue scene. On a Wednesday you might bump into the Pilates group, sit in the garden and catch the film festival. It was the place you'd have your christening, or birthday party or simply go because your flat was too small to accommodate your family when they visited.
Image: Having half a pint in The White Swan the day before it closed March 2020.
Alice says it best:
"As a single mother, the White Swan community pub was more than just a place to grab a drink or a meal. It was a haven for me and my family, a place where we could feel welcomed, supported, and connected to our local community...
... the benefits of the White Swan went beyond just a feeling of safety and belonging. The pub was a place where we could socialise and connect with others in our community. It was a hub for local events and activities, from quiz nights to live music performances, and we always felt like we were part of something bigger than ourselves. We met so many amazing people at the White Swan, from other families to local business owners, and we forged lasting friendships and connections."
Image: White Swan Beer Garden, Life of Brian, Charlton and Woolwich Film Festival.
Today
The White Swan has been derelict for over five years, used only by squatters and illicit activity. It has become an eyesore in the middle of our village.
As a community it is hard to describe the sense of loss and feeling of sadness when looking at the empty shell of The Swan every time we go to the local shops and parks of Charlton Village.
Be part of our future
Our vision is simple - raise the cash to buy back The White Swan, restore the pub and live music venue and plough the money it generates back into community facilities and a whole host of music and arts activities for young people.
The White Swan history
The White Swan in its current incarnation has been at the centre of Charlton Village since the Victorian era (around the 1840s), though even before that, a pub on the site was at Charlton’s civic heart. As with many big old inns it used to house stables, hotel rooms and at times the local magistrate court. It's big and beautiful, with a bar on the ground floor, what used to be function rooms upstairs, a cellar that stretches beyond the building's footprint and a beautiful walled beer garden where a willow tree provides shade on sunny days.
Image: London Marathon Day jazz band (Red Route)
The White Swan's closure means fewer people come to Charlton to socialise, to have Sunday lunch or to come to events. This in turn leads to less trade for the local shops that used to supply it, like the vegetables purchased from the greengrocer for the menu, or punters grabbing a cheeky kebab from the takeaway on the way home.
We're a neighbourhood hollowed out, but your support can bring the pints and performers back to Charlton Village.
Image: Young musicians at White Swan Music and Arts campaign stall
From pints to performers - how it works.
1) We need £360k to meet the deposit on a social finance loan to buy The White Swan.
2) A mixture of your donations, loans and grants will restore the upstairs into multi-purpose arts and community space and digital arts content creation spaces in part of the cellar.
3) The profits from the pub will maintain our loan repayments for the building.
4) We will take any surplus to contribute the support of local up and coming artists.
5) We will encourage young artists to use the space and perform - so you come and buy a pint and watch them.
Even though The White Swan lost a floor in the war - it's still huge - our plan will turn the building, into a multi use self sustaining arts hub and putting every inch of space to use.
Your donation will shape future generations
We are a team of locals who over the last three years have spoken to over 1,500 of our neighbours and former White Swan drinkers.
The message is clear: we are more than just a pub. We live in an area where 60% of kids live in poverty - it's not enough to provide a bar and a stage. Together we can do more.
With your support we can be the small neighbourhood venue that brings together the football crowd, the music crowd, the drinking crowd and be the venue where young people take their first steps as performers.
Image: Young local musician on a pub stage
Village Greengrocers has provided £400 of match funding
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made