The former Barclays on Walworth Road is set to become a kebab shop with one local branding it an ‘utter mess’.
Restaurant chain German Doner Kebab plans to install extractor fans and illuminated signage.
The unit, at 258 to 260 Walworth Road, has been vacant since the bank left in April 2023.
Barclays, which has axed over 5,000 branches in the last nine years, claimed only fifteen customers regularly used the Walworth branch.
Peter Wisby, a local resident who raged when Barclays closed the Tower Bridge Road outlet last year, said the situation was an “utter mess”.
The 85-year-old, who uses a mobility scooter, said: “We had a Barclays in the Blue [Bermondsey] about five years ago. They said they wouldn’t shut it down and they did.
“In my day, it was so simple. My generation is fighting a losing battle.”
Whenever the Bermondsey pensioner wants to send money to his daughter, he now has to withdraw cash from the Post Office.
Now, even the Post Office is set to become a Popeyes chicken shop. In March, the Walworth Marks & Spencer announced it would close this summer.
Peter said: “What are we gonna do? We’re knackered aren’t we?” Turning the Barclays into a kebab shop just about sums it up.
“I think about what a thriving city this once was and now it’s just a sheer and utter mess.”
The Walworth Road Barclays building was purpose-built between the late 19th and early 20th century.
The Jacobean-revival style building’s gabled roof was severely damaged by bombing in WWII.
The new restaurant would see a new glazed entrance door and illuminated signs installed.
The applicant, KDG E&C Limited, has said the shop would create 30 new jobs.
A separate planning permission, submitted by a different developer, has been lodged to build two flats above the building.
Changes to planning law in 2020 have made it easier for shops to become takeaway restaurants.
Such conversions are now often classified as ‘permitted developments’ meaning they do not require planning permission.