Is Walham Green Launch Part of Fulham Pub Renaissance?
Openings and refurbs outnumber closures for first time since Covid
The grand opening of Walham Green is on Tuesday 8 July
July 7, 2025
The new Walham Green pub is set to have its grand opening this Tuesday (8 July) following a £3million investment by JD Wetherspoons.
The name harks back to Fulham past recalling the original village that used to where The Broadway is now and there are hopes that the local pub trade is also turning the clock back to more prosperous times.
For the first time since the pandemic, new openings, relaunches and refurbishment of pubs and bars in SW6 have outweighed closures raising the possibility, that despite exceptionally tough trading conditions, the local hospitality sector has started to grow again.
90 new jobs have been promised at the new Walham Green which will be managed by Ryan Way, previously the manager at The Watchman in New Malden.
The new pub is on two floors and features an outside roof terrace on the first floor. The venue comprises the Grade II listed former entrance building and ticket hall of Fulham Broadway tube station. Designed by the railway company architect Harry W Ford, the Edwardian baroque-style entrance was built in 1910 on the site of the original station entrance, which first opened on 1 March 1880.
It will specialise in real ales and traditional ciders, as well as craft and world beers, serving a wide range of different draught ales, as well as bottled beers, including those from local and regional brewers.
Ryan said, “Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into Walham Green and we are confident that the pub will be a great addition to Fulham’s social scene.”
It will be open from 8am until 11.30pm Sunday to Thursday and from 8am until 12.30am on Friday and Saturday and serve food every day up until 11pm.
2025 has already seen other openings in the area including the launch of The Broadway, a pub backed by a number of sports stars.
There has also been investment in the existing pub estate with the Durell Arms also having a launch event this Friday (11 July) after getting a makeover.
Fabrizio Niniano, General Manager at The Durell, says, “We’re so excited to welcome everyone back to the newly refreshed Durell. It’s been great seeing familiar faces – and plenty of new ones – already enjoying the space. We’re kicking things off with a proper celebration at our launch party, and we’re looking forward to plenty of good times ahead, from Trivia Nights to live music on the weekends. Our food menu still features all the favourites like pie of the day and the Prix-Fixe menu – and our Sunday roasts have had a serious glow-up and aren’t to be missed.”
The Goat also seems to be poised for a reopening soon with substantial works taking place to refit it. Recently set up company, Aldrich Inns Ltd is understood to have taken on the lease from Stonegate. It says it is on a “mission to breathe life back into heritage-rich pubs that might otherwise fall by the wayside”. There has been a pub or inn on this site since the 1670s and it has been known as The Goat or The Goat in Boots since 1725 and owes its current fame to occasional appearances on Made in Chelsea.
Pubs like The Fulham Arms, The Brown Cow, and The Punch Bowl have also seen recent refurbishments.
Another local publican told us, “There is no doubt that the rise in employer’s National Insurance Contributions and the minimum wage is a hammer blow for the pub sector in general but Fulham’s great advantage is that there will be about 25 days a year in which you are guaranteed exceptionally high turnover and, as long as you can staff those days, you probably make all your profit then as long as you can just about break even the rest of the time. The way this works makes us much less vulnerable to the tax and wage changes because staff costs are variable. Tim Martin is no fool, the Walham Green’s location close to Stamford Bridge is no coincidence. Fulham also is strong at the top end of the pub market, so it participates in the areas that have been the most robust.”
Rising costs including wages, NI, energy, are squeezing margins and forcing price hikes, with customers now forced to pay an average of £6.10 in London. Over one thousand pubs are expected to close across the UK this year with many of them in London but perhaps there is a chance that Fulham will not be contributing to that number.
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