Permission granted on 18 August turns the old library floors by the Churchill Theatre into shops, cafes, gyms, clinics or offices, and reclads the facade.
The building that housed Bromley Central Library until June now has planning permission to become shops, cafes, a gym, a clinic, a nursery or offices.
Permission was granted on 18 August 2026 under application 26/00393/FPA. It covers two things:
- recladding the building’s facades across the ground floor, and at second floor level and above
- changing the use of the library across the ground, first and second floors to Use Class E, with the offices and administrative space in the tower continuing in flexible Class E use
The decision was taken by officers under delegated authority rather than by councillors on the Plans Sub-Committee, and the council’s news feed carried no announcement of it. The application had been sitting since 2 February 2026, was validated on 19 May, and closed for public comment on 18 June.
The library itself moved out on Tuesday 30 June 2026, and the council says the building next to the Churchill Theatre is “now closed to prepare for the new library opening on the High Street later this year”.
Where the record is, and why it is awkward to check
Bromley’s public register is a Salesforce application that will not open without JavaScript, so it cannot be read by a plain browser request or an archive service. The register entry for 26/00393/FPA, including the decision, dates and the description quoted above, is published in PlanIt’s copy of the Bromley register, which scrapes the council’s own data. The council’s own page for the application sits behind the Public Register.
The register records 34 documents on the file, a target decision date of 1 July 2026, and a decision issued 43 statutory days later, in the ward of Bromley Town. Where an application is decided under delegated authority, the council says the delegated report is added to the online file once the decision is made.
What Class E actually allows
Class E is the broad commercial class introduced in 2020. Under the Use Classes Order, it covers use for:
- retail sale of goods, other than hot food
- food and drink eaten mostly on the premises
- financial and professional services, and other services suited to a commercial locality
- indoor sport, recreation or fitness, including a swimming pool or skating rink
- medical or health services
- a creche, day nursery or day centre
- offices, research and development, and light industrial processes
The practical consequence matters more than the list. Moving from one Class E use to another is not a change of use in planning terms, so it needs no further application. Once the floors are in Class E, a shop can become a gym, or a gym a clinic, without a fresh decision and without another consultation.
What the permission does not do is settle who takes the space or when. No occupier is named in the register entry.
How the library got here
The new Central Library is going into 145 High Street, the former Top Shop unit. That application, 24/04416/FULL3, was submitted on 25 November 2024 and permitted on 18 March 2025. It changed the unit from retail, Class E(a), to a public library, Class F.1(d), with facade and shopfront alterations, a rooftop pergola, an external seating area, a sedum roof and solar panels.
Worth noting: that one went to the Plans Sub-Committee, so councillors decided it in public. The conversion of the building the library is leaving was signed off by officers.
Works are being delivered by Fado Construction, and the library will be run by Greenwich Leisure Limited, the social enterprise that operates every Bromley library. In March 2026 the council reported that the roof skylight was in, the internal structure was largely finished, and structural strengthening had been done to carry the weight of the book stock.
Councillor Yvonne Bear, the executive councillor for renewal, recreation and housing, said then that the council was “working hard to ensure this will be a welcoming home for our busiest library”.
The new library is promised an expanded children’s library with a storytelling snug, modern study areas, IT facilities, an enhanced local history centre, meeting rooms for hire, and accessible toilets including a Changing Places toilet. The council says over 1,300 responses came in on the layout.
The Bromley Historic Collections have gone into temporary storage. They are due to move into a replacement archive and museum store on the old depot next to Priory Gardens in Orpington, which got planning approval in February 2026.
What it means for you
- The old building is shut and is not coming back as a library. It closed on 30 June 2026.
- There is no published opening date for the new one, only “late 2026”. Treat any firmer date you see as unconfirmed until the council names one.
- The archive is appointment only while the collections are in storage. Do not turn up expecting to browse.
- Temporary library provision has been running across the town centre, at the Pavilion Leisure Centre and in the Glades, and reading groups were moved and members contacted directly. Check the council’s Central Library page for what is running now rather than relying on the summer timetable.
- If you object to what the old building becomes, the window has closed. Consultation on 26/00393/FPA ended on 18 June, the decision was made on 18 August, and swapping between Class E uses afterwards needs no permission at all.
Other borough libraries are unaffected. When the move began, the council said refurbishment works were underway at Chislehurst, Mottingham and Orpington libraries, with a rebuilt West Wickham library due to reopen.
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