Heritage Public Houses Bill
This private member’s bill was prompted by the infamous case of the Crooked House in Himley. It was proposed by the then MP for Dudley South, Marco Longhi, and was intended to offer greater legal protection for heritage pubs. In short it requires local authorities to ‘maintain a register of heritage public houses in their area, to place restrictions on the sale of heritage public houses, to make provision relating to the nomination of heritage public houses as assets of community value and to make provision about the listing of heritage public houses; and for connected purposes’. Mr Longhi lost his seat at the last election and so sponsorship of the bill was taken over by Mike Wood, the MP for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire. It was due to have its second reading in March but this has been postponed until 12 September, even though the House of Commons is not due to be sitting on that date. The bill’s future appears to be uncertain.
Meanwhile, CAMRA’s staff and volunteers continue to meet with government ministers to discuss improvements to the planning system in England to improve protection for all pubs. There have however been no developments on the Crooked House case itself.
Heritage Revival Fund
Readers will recall that, earlier this year, the Government prematurely closed the Community Ownership Fund. There have however been developments. The Government is setting up a Heritage Revival Fund that aims to rescue and find new uses for neglected historic buildings. £15 million has been made available for grants and the scheme will run until 31 March 2026. It is not, of course, exclusively for pubs. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s press release also mentioned shops, parks, and town halls. The minister responsible, Sir Chris Bryant, said, “It is so important to communities across the country that we preserve local heritage that helps us to tell our national story.” I think that we can all agree with that. There is a problem however, as highlighted by the chair of CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group, Paul Ainsworth. While welcoming the new funding, he pointed out that many of the pubs that people are campaigning to save for their communities are not heritage sites. This measure does not help them.
More recently, it has been announced that changes are being made to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, which will give community groups first refusal when community hubs are put up for sale. Once again, this is very welcome in principle but it needs funding. In theory, community owned pubs, along with privately owned micropubs and similar, are the way forward. They are not tied to the big pub owning companies and can buy their beer and cider from local small breweries, thus circulating money in the local community. Similarly, not having to fund dividends and management bonuses, they should be able to offer affordable beer. If, however, the community don’t have the means to buy the pub, it is little more than a gesture.
Sad news. Reigate and Banstead Council have granted permission for this hidden gem of a pub, just on the other side of the M25 in Surrey, to be converted to a single residence. Known locally as the Rat, the pub rates three stars on CAMRA’s inventory of historic pub interiors because of its unspoiled two room interior. It dates from 1854 and has been largely unchanged since it was rebuilt around 1955. It consists of an end-of-terrace cottage with a red brick extension dating from the rebuild.
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Originally a Page & Overton’s house and licensed only as a beer house until around 1950, it was owned by Charrington’s for many years. It was an entry in the Good Beer Guide as early as 1975. The Council say that there are three other pubs within walking distance but these are all food-led. The Bell is the only traditional wet-led pub in the area. Campaigners have expressed doubts as to the efforts of the owners, Brakspears, to market the pub as a going concern in line with the requirements of the council’s local plan.
Further to the report in our April/May 2025 edition, this Grade II-listed Arts and Crafts style pub dating from 1898 is now set to reopen in the autumn as home to a private members’ club, a boutique hotel and a community dining and entertainment space. There will also be a co-working lounge with a fitness studio. Operators, the Belle Collective, have invested £10 million in the project. In a way, it is good to see the site return to use since it closed as a pub in 2008 but it is a shame that the new project cannot cater, even in part, for its original use.
Ye Olde Cherry Tree, Southgate
This attractive Grade II-listed pub, dating from 1695, was operated until recently by the Vintage Inns division of Mitchells & Butlers. It closed earlier this year for refurbishment and has reopened as ‘Browns Brasserie and Bar at Ye Olde Cherry Tree Inn’.
In its new guise it appears, to all intents and purposes, to be a restaurant. That said, while planning permission has been obtained for a rear storage area to house a chiller/freezer unit, new signage and minor works, no planning permission has been sought for a change of use. This raises a curious point. Is it better that none has? So long as it remains a sui generis pub then, should the restaurant not be a success, it can easily be turned back into a pub. This is another illustration of the complexities of our planning system.