The final piece of a Brighton pub’s facade was knocked down today as the future of the site remains a mystery.
No new planning applications have yet been put in for the site of the Hanover pub on Queens Park Road, and Land Registry has still not been updated with details of the land’s new owner.
The previous owner, Graderich successfully applied to replace the pub 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 planning 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.
It was sold in early August.
Very sad to see this happen. Greedy developers getting their way as normal. Losing all our Brighton History.
The problem is that people do not use pubs as much these days. The smoking ban was the first nail in the coffin, followed by pricing increases as a result of many different increases in costs (rates, energy, wages, wholesale costs etc etc) . Why pay £7.50 for a pint when you can get a 500ml can for a quid ?
As a lifelong avid user of pubs I agree it is a shame but this is the issue that pubs face. Only a few will survive.
It is not a loophole in the planning law. Each approval states that it must be started within 3 years from the date of approval, It is not a loophole!
16 pubs a day close, I heard on the news today. Obviously there are too many pubs, now. It’s sa
d but it’s the changing times and we can’t live in the past. We now have so many closed pubs in the Brighton area remaining empty , falling apart because of out of date planning restrictions. There is a desperate need for affordable homes and rental flats, so why not convert them into homes. Such a waste.
All overpriced houses and depleting culture in this city, with the homeless and drugged up vagrants treating the place like their own festival and toilet. It won’t be a place people will be happy to live in soon