Rose Hill Tavern trade plummeted in decade before it was sold

Newly published figures show that business at the Rose Hill Tavern nosedived in the ten years before it was sold.

The 144-year-old pub was last year listed as an asset of community value (ACV) following a hard-fought campaign by locals who feared for its future after it was offloaded by Enterprise Inns.

New owner Evenden Estates unsucessfully appealed the ACV and is now attempting to overturn it in court – but in the meantime, has submitted an application to convert it into flats has been submitted.

Now, Evenden has hit back at the ACV listing with figures they say prove it was far from a community asset by the time it closed, with trade down 80% from 239 barrels of beer in 2004 to just 51 in 2013.

Using a set of industry assumptions, it uses the figures supplied by Enterprise Inn to calculate the pub would have therefore made a loss of more than £7,000 in 2013.

And with stiff competition in the neighbourhood,  it argues the pub could not be a viable business in the near future.

In a submission supporting its planning application, it says: “The trading figures provided by Enterprise Inns clearly define the business as being unviable.

“Even on a reduced rent and favourable supply terms the last tenants were in a loss-making situation and heavily subsidized by the landlords to keep the place open.”

It says the pub’s location away from the high footfall of London Road, plus its small size and lack of adequate kitchen, meant it could not adequately compete.

However, Dave Boyle of the Rose Hill Tavern Action Group said the test to become an asset of community value was not whether it could succeed as a pub, but whether it was possible the premises could be used for the benefit of the neighbourhood.

And he added: “Just because a pub has been run badly in the past, does that mean it will never be run well again? Brighton is absolutely chock full of great pubs which weren’t much cop five or ten years ago.

“It’s too early to call time on the Rose Hill Tavern yet.”

A tribunal will hear Evenden Estates’ case against the ACV next month. However, if planning permission is granted, the ACV will not stop the pub being converted.

An ACV’s main purpose is to give the community six months to raise money to buy premises if they go on the market – but by the time the Rose Hill Tavern was listed, Evenden Estates had already bought it.

However, it will delay any sale of a converted flat by six months.

The deadline for planning permission to be granted was November last year. It’s not yet known if it will be referred to the planning committee or decided by officers.