A Brighton pub whose owners got permission to knock it down 18 years ago is finally being demolished.
Graderich successfully applied to replace The Hanover in Queens Park Road with nine houses in 2002 – but initially only built three houses on part of its garden and then let out the pub.
Since then, extra protections have been put in place by the council making it harder to close pubs.
But a planning loophole means that once work starts on part of a scheme, there is no time limit for a developer to carry out the rest of the scheme.
The pub successfully traded until March last year, when Graderich ended the pub company Indigo Leisure’s lease. It was subsequently put on the market for £1.2 million.
A sale has now concluded and last week, demolition crews moved in and started tearing down the pub.
Land Registry records have not yet been updated to show who the new owner of the pub is.
