Council announces temporary closure of Lewisham Library

Things are moving ahead with the Lewisham town centre improvement programme and we can now share some key dates around what’s happening.

After successfully bidding for money from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, we are investing £24m to help revitalise the town centre. This is made up of £19m of funding from the Government, and £5m of additional funding from the Council.

The money will be spent on refurbishing Lewisham Library, rejuvenating Lewisham Market and improving the high street. This investment will help to boost the local economy, provide new jobs and create a nicer town centre for people to enjoy.

Lewisham Library will be renovated to create a new Culture and Business hub and safeguard the future of this vital local venue, so the books and study space will remain. The refurbished library will include new community space, meeting rooms/ workspace for local businesses and students, a new café and more hospitality space.

It does mean we will have to close the library building temporarily, while works take place. We will be closing the library on Saturday 16 September. We expect to reopen the library in early 2026.

Some of the services will be relocated so they will still be accessible, just in different locations across the borough, but we have tried to keep them as close as possible. 

• The Archives and Local History service will be relocated to the first floor of Catford Library
• A Click & Collect service will operate out of the Glass Mill Leisure Centre
• The Home Library service will operate as usual.