River passengers in Woolwich have lost their Thames boarding point for now, after weekend storms left part of the roof at Woolwich Arsenal Pier damaged and the pier closed to the public.
Greenwich Council confirmed the closure on Monday, saying the pier will stay shut until the affected section of the roof can be made safe. No reopening date has been given, and the council has not said how extensive the damage is.
The pier, on the south bank of the Thames at Woolwich, is served by the RB1 and RB6 River Bus routes, which link Woolwich with other stops along the river. With the pier closed, that Woolwich boarding point is out of use until the repair work is finished.
A council spokesperson said: “The Woolwich Arsenal Pier is currently closed due to storm damage sustained to the roof over the weekend. The pier will remain closed until the impacted section of the roof can be made safe to the public. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, and we’re grateful for your patience while we fix the issue.”
The closure follows a bruising few days of weather across the country. Storm Austen brought the first spell of disruptive conditions towards the end of last week, and Storm Boelo followed over the weekend with further strong winds and heavy rain. It was during that weekend weather that the pier roof was damaged.
The timing is frustrating for regular river users. The pier had new lighting installed less than a year ago, work intended to make it safer and easier to use on darker winter evenings. That improvement now sits behind a closed gate while the roof is dealt with.
For now, the picture is a waiting game. The council has said only that the damaged section must be made safe before the public can return, and has given no indication of whether that means days or longer. Passengers who would normally board at Woolwich will need to make other plans until the pier reopens.
The closure lands in a week already full of disruption on London’s transport network. Twenty-nine overnight closures are scheduled on the M25 across four nights this week, while the Elizabeth line faces a ten-day shutdown over Christmas for engineering work. The pier closure is smaller in scale than either, but it removes a well-used river link in the south-east of the capital at a time when alternatives are already stretched.
Woolwich itself has seen major change along the riverfront in recent years, and the wider area continues to develop. Nearby Thamesmead, once billed as the town of tomorrow, is itself set for a second act as new homes and infrastructure arrive. The pier is part of that riverside fabric, connecting the area to the rest of the Thames by boat.
The back-to-back arrival of two named storms in the space of a few days left little breathing room for riverside structures. Austen set the pattern towards the end of last week, and Boelo then brought a second round of wet and windy weather across the weekend, the period in which the pier roof was damaged. For a pier that stands exposed on the Thames, that kind of repeated battering is exactly the test its roof and walkways have to withstand.
River services have become a bigger part of everyday travel in this stretch of south-east London, with the RB1 and RB6 routes giving Woolwich a direct link to other Thames piers without the need to cross the river by road or rail. Losing the Woolwich stop, even temporarily, takes that option away for people who rely on the boat, and it underlines how a single damaged roof section can close an entire boarding point. Passengers planning to use the pier should check before travelling until the council confirms it has reopened.
What happens next depends on the repair assessment. Once the damaged roof section is made safe, the council is expected to reopen the pier, but until then the gates stay shut and the RB1 and RB6 boats will pass Woolwich without stopping there. The council has thanked passengers for their patience while the fix is carried out.
