Greg Mulholland, director of the Campaign for Pubs and James Watson, pub protection adviser of the Campaign for Pubs argue that the case of the Crooked House Pub should prompt a rethink of the planning system.
The sudden fire and subsequent demolition of the famous Crooked House pub in Himley resulted in international dismay. Politicians, historians and pub lovers expressed outrage after this extraordinarily unique building was reduced to a pile of rubble. The Great British Pub, as iconic as the Royal Family and Big Ben, has proved too easy to destroy.
While the case of the Crooked House is extreme, the reality is that owners seeking to convert or demolish pubs, against the wishes of local communities, are able to do so with little deterrent and often with impunity. Despite a National Planning Policy Framework which recognises pubs as community social infrastructure, planning authorities are conflicted, with ambitious housing targets imposed by central government.
In cases where councils have defended pubs under threat, developers succeed via appeal, the localism agenda being trumped by national officials.
There are exceptions, like the much-cited Carlton Tavern which Westminster City Council ordered to be rebuilt brick by brick following unauthorised demolition, but most councils meekly acquiesce to developers, too readily accepting pleas of ‘unviability’. Thousands of viable pubs have closed because their owners could make more money from the land. These owners are not the publicans who run the pubs and serve their communities, but the offshore hedge funds, pub estate companies and global brewers who possess the freehold of Britain’s pub stock, exploiting the outdated beer tie, to churn tenants and asset strip their estates.
An important change happened in 2017, with removal of permitted development rights which previously allowed the conversion of pubs to retail or office use, without planning consent. This came too late for the several thousand pubs converted to ‘local’ supermarkets or betting shops. The closure of this loophole was welcomed, but much more needs to be done to stop the deliberate targeting of pubs as development opportunities. The Assets of Community Value (ACV) system is flawed for pubs as it only allows community groups to bid, not commercial bidders, who are the most likely to buy and save a pub, but also because once either of the moratoria are triggered, it actually prevents the pub being sold as a pub, which is absurd. When their local closes, all the community wants is for it to remain a pub, rather than feeling obligated to run it themselves.
ACVs must be renewed every five years, benefitting vexatious owners playing the land banking waiting game. There are also restrictions on eligible groups which can trigger a moratorium. Triggering gives only six months to organise and raise funds, which is unrealistic. ACV status merely creates a right to bid, not a right to buy, and an owner can refuse it and instead sell for redevelopment. The majority of pubs are important to their local communities yet it is wholly impractical for more than a very small proportion to be listed, and an even smaller proportion to succeed in community ownership.
There are scandalous cases where existing owners refuse a bid from pub operators, instead selling off a viable pub for redevelopment. Predatory developers are buying profitable pubs just to close them, knowing that the planning cards are usually stacked in their favour. Tactics exploited include letting a pub become derelict until it is a wreck, ripping out the bar to make it more costly to refit and relaunch under new operators, damaging roofs to let the weather do the destruction over time, and suspicious fires. Another practice is to deliberately run a pub down then claim unviability. Pubcos have done this for decades but increasingly it is used by owners who want to turn pubs into homes. This cultural vandalism is supported by planning consultants who boast that they can circumnavigate planning rules to achieve conversion.
What is needed is a framework which does not impose unrealistic duties on communities but enables potential operators to acquire the freehold at the lawful planning value, rather than bid against developers. A simple change to planning law would achieve this. The Campaign for Pubs ‘Give Pubs Protection’ policy would ensure that historic pubs could only be converted or demolished if there was no interest in continuing pub use. Any time a pre-1975 pub is put up for sale, it must be marketed at its lawful planning value for at least a year, before it could be converted or demolished. The present Government remains confused, claiming to value pubs, while pushing for further deregulation which would make it even easier for pubs to be converted and redeveloped. Society would not stand by and watch castles, old houses and stately homes bulldozed. Yet this laissez-faire attitude to a cherished part of our culture allows speculators to destroy historic pubs. Unless ministers take meaningful action, we will see many more historic pubs lost for a fast developer buck.
The Crooked House must be rebuilt but must also be the catalyst for change to stop the cynical asset-stripping of our historic pubs for development. Our planning system is failing our pubs, our communities and our nation. It is time that changed.
