Pubs and drinking establishments outside the use classes

A pub has no use class. Since 1 September 2020, drinking establishments have sat outside the Use Classes Order altogether as a sui generis use, which means every change of use into or out of a pub needs planning permission. There is no permitted development route, and the flexibility that lets a shop become a gym under Class E does not touch pubs at all.

That single fact explains most of what follows. Pub use class questions almost always resolve into the same answer: apply, and expect the council to test whether losing the pub is acceptable before it looks at anything else.

Why pubs and bars are sui generis after the 2020 changes

The 2020 amendment to the Use Classes Order swept most town centre uses into the new Class E and left a short list outside it. Drinking establishments, hot food takeaways, cinemas, live music venues and a few others became sui generis, each standing alone.

Before that, pubs sat in Class A4. The practical difference is that a use inside a class can change to any other use in the same class without permission, while a sui generis use has no such freedom. A pub cannot become a restaurant, a shop, a nail bar or an office without an application, and a Class E unit cannot become a pub without one either.

The 2020 changes also removed the permitted development rights that once allowed a pub to convert to other town centre uses. Those had already been stripped out in 2017 in response to pub closures, and nothing has replaced them.

One consequence catches landlords out. A pub that has closed and stood empty has not lost its lawful use, and reopening it as a pub needs no permission. Converting it to two flats does.

Drinking establishments with expanded food provision

The Order recognises a variation on the pub: the drinking establishment with expanded food provision. It describes a venue that remains a drinking establishment but serves substantial food, which is where most gastropubs sit.

This is a sui generis use in its own right, and it matters because moving between it and a plain drinking establishment can itself be a change of use. In practice councils rarely pursue a pub that starts serving more food. They do pursue a pub that has become, in reality, a restaurant with a small bar, because the character of the use, the delivery pattern, the extraction requirement and the hours have all changed.

The test is character rather than turnover percentages. A useful question: if a stranger walked in at 8pm on a Friday, would they say they were in a pub or in a restaurant. Officers apply something close to that, backed by evidence about layout, bookings, bar area and trading hours.

Permission needed to change a pub to any other use

Assume you need permission and plan the evidence accordingly. Councils assess these applications in two stages: whether the loss of the pub is acceptable in principle, and only then whether the replacement use is acceptable in its own right.

The first stage is where applications fail. Many adopted local plans carry a policy protecting public houses, and the usual requirements are marketing evidence over a defined period at a realistic price, evidence that the business is not viable as a pub under any reasonable operating model, and evidence that the community retains adequate alternative provision within a walkable distance.

Marketing evidence has to be genuine. A price set well above the going rate for a trading pub, or an agent's particulars that never appeared on a trade website, will be picked apart by the parish council and by the case officer. Twelve months of marketing at an independently valued price is a common local requirement, but the period and the terms vary by authority, so read the policy and its supporting text before you start rather than after.

The Planning Statement carries this argument, and on a contested pub application it is the document that decides the case.

Local policy protecting public houses

Neighbourhood plans have become the sharpest instrument here. A made neighbourhood plan forms part of the development plan, and many rural plans include a policy resisting the loss of the last pub in the settlement.

Where the pub is the only remaining community facility, that policy usually requires evidence of community consultation as well as marketing. Where two pubs remain, the argument shifts to whether the surviving one meets the same need, including accessibility for older residents and space for community groups.

Read the plan alongside the local plan, and check the date it was made. A plan more than five years old carries less weight on housing supply matters but retains full weight on facility protection policies.

Assets of community value and the moratorium

Under the Localism Act 2011, a community group can nominate a pub for listing as an asset of community value. Listing does not stop a sale or a change of use, and it is often misunderstood on both sides of the counter.

What it does is trigger a moratorium when the owner wants to sell. An interim period of six weeks lets a community group express an interest in bidding, and if one does, a full moratorium of six months follows during which the owner cannot sell on the open market. At the end of it the owner may sell to whoever they choose.

The planning effect is indirect but real. Listing is a material consideration in a change of use application, and it provides documented evidence that the community values the building. Where a pub is listed and a community group has expressed interest, expect the officer to weigh that heavily.

Noise, hours and outdoor drinking areas

Assume the second stage of the assessment is about neighbours. Pub applications, including new ones and extensions to existing premises, turn on noise from people rather than noise from plant.

Fixed plant is assessed with a Noise Impact Assessment using the BS 4142 method, comparing the rating level of the plant against the background sound level at the nearest noise sensitive receptor. Cellar cooling condensers and kitchen extract fans are the usual culprits, and they are also the easiest to fix at design stage with attenuators and a sensible location.

Patrons are harder. Beer gardens, smoking areas and pavement seating generate voices, and voices at 11pm carry further than the daytime measurements suggest. Councils control this with hours conditions on the outdoor area, a management plan, acoustic fencing and sometimes a limit on the number of covers outside. Offer the controls in the application rather than waiting to have them imposed.

Kitchen extraction is a separate document. A Ventilation and Extraction Statement covering duct route, termination height, filtration and odour control is expected wherever cooking is introduced or increased, and a flue terminating below the eaves of a neighbouring flat will be refused.

Remember that the premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 is a separate regime with a separate committee. Planning conditions and licensing conditions can differ, and the tighter of the two governs what you can actually do.

Evidence for a pub change of use application

A workable pack for a change of use out of a pub:

1. Planning statement covering the protective policy, marketing, viability and the merits of the new use.
2. Marketing report with dates, price, agent, particulars and a schedule of enquiries.
3. Viability evidence from someone with trade experience, not a residential valuer.
4. Community facility audit showing what else exists within a defined walking distance.
5. Noise assessment where the new use introduces plant or evening activity.
6. A Transport Statement where parking demand or servicing changes materially.

For applications into a pub use, drop the marketing and viability material and add the noise, extraction, hours and management detail. Then talk to the environmental health officer before you submit. A pre-application conversation about hours and outdoor areas costs a few hundred pounds and routinely saves a refusal.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.