London borough wins planning battle over pub conversion

The owner of a former pub must reinstate it as such following enforcement action by the London Borough of Southwark.

Southwark last year issued a planning enforcement notice for the unauthorised conversion of the China Hall pub in Rotherhithe into two flats.

Its owners then unsuccessfully appealed to a planning inspector, and it must now be restored as a pub.

Enforcement officers visited in January 2022 and found the bar had been removed, beer lines cut and fixtures, fittings and carpets stripped out, following which the enforcement notice was issued.

Michael Rhimes, of Francis Taylor Building Chambers, represented Southwark at the appeal.

The set said developer Hamna Wakaf had planning permission to extend the pub on the ground floor and convert the first and second floors into residential accommodation.

But it then replaced the pub use on the ground floor with flats without planning permission. 

FTB said the inspector essentially upheld Southwark’s enforcement notice based on both the Southwark Plan and the London Plan, which guard against the loss of pubs unless it can be shown through two years’ marketing evidence that the loss is justified. 

The set said in a statement: “The inspector, after a three day inquiry, considered that whilst Hamna Wakaf had marketed the pub through two leading agents, the marketing evidence was inadequate and insufficiently particularised.

“In particular, the ground floor bar had been taken out in January 2022 but this did not appear to have been reflected in the marketing efforts (and, indeed, one agent appeared, seven months later, to not be aware that the bar had been removed).” 

FTB said the inspector disagreed with Hamna Wakaf’s claim that the pub did not have social, community or economic value and was not therefore protected by council policy

The inspector also said the relevant period of two years for the marketing evidence should be from the date the planning application was made.

Helen Dennis, Southwark's cabinet member for new homes and sustainable development, said: “This is a huge win for our planning enforcement team and local residents who worked together to save the China Hall as a functioning pub.

“Pubs are specifically protected by planning policy and for good reason. I’m thrilled that such an important piece of Rotherhithe’s history and community has been protected. It serves as a warning that it is never acceptable for works for go ahead before a planning application has been approved.”

Gabriel Nelson of FTB represented the Rule 6 Party, The China Hall Community Group.

Mark Smulian