Turning a pub into a restaurant: what permission is needed

A pub to restaurant change of use needs a full planning application, and that has been the position since permitted development rights allowing pubs to change to shop, financial services or restaurant use were removed in 2017. The 2020 reorganisation of the Use Classes Order then placed drinking establishments outside the class system altogether, as a sui generis use, so there is no class based flexibility to fall back on. You are applying for a change of use from a sui generis use to Class E(b), and the application will be judged against community facility policy as much as against amenity.

That framing matters because the objections you get will mostly be about losing the pub, not about gaining the restaurant.

Why a pub sits outside the use classes

The Use Classes Order was amended in 2020 to create the broad commercial, business and service Class E, and at the same time drinking establishments, hot food takeaways, cinemas, live music venues and several other uses were taken out of the class system and made sui generis. A use that is sui generis is in a class of its own, so any change to or from it is development requiring permission.

A pub that serves substantial food is still sui generis. The former distinction between a drinking establishment and a drinking establishment with expanded food provision does not create a route into Class E, and a pub with a busy dining room remains a pub in planning terms.

The practical consequence is that you cannot change the use lawfully by simply changing the offer. Reducing the bar, adding covers and describing the premises as a restaurant does not alter the planning unit's lawful use, and if the change is material it needs permission whether or not anyone applies for it.

The application you need and how to describe it

A full planning application for change of use, with a description that states the existing lawful use and the proposed use in class terms. Something on the lines of change of use from public house (sui generis) to restaurant (Class E(b)), together with any external alterations, is what officers expect.

Get the description right, because the description binds the permission. Two errors recur. Describing the proposal as change of use to restaurant and cafe without a class reference leaves the scope arguable. And describing it as change of use to Class E, without limiting it to E(b), invites the council either to refuse or to impose a condition restricting the use, since a bare Class E permission would allow a subsequent move to a shop, a gym or an office without any further application.

Include the external works in the same application. A new flue, an altered shopfront, a new bin store and any external seating structure are all development, and applying for them separately doubles the fee and the determination periods.

Community value and the policy tests

Pubs attract policy protection at both national and local level.

National policy resists the unnecessary loss of valued facilities and services, particularly where the loss would reduce the community's ability to meet its day to day needs. Local plans routinely carry a policy on community facilities that requires an applicant to demonstrate the facility is no longer needed or no longer viable before its loss is accepted, and many authorities have a supplementary planning document setting out what evidence they expect.

Read the adopted policy and any supporting document before you commission anything, because the evidence burden varies considerably between authorities. What most policies look for is some combination of marketing evidence over a defined period at a realistic price, financial information on the trading position, and an assessment of alternative provision within a reasonable distance.

Two arguments help more than most applicants expect. First, that a restaurant remains a community facility of a kind, keeping the building in active use and retaining employment, which is materially different from a loss to residential use. Second, that the alternative to the change is a vacant building, where that is the actual position and can be evidenced.

Where the pub is listed as an asset of community value, expect the listing to feature in objections and in the officer's report. Listing does not prevent a change of use, and it is a material consideration rather than a veto, but it is good evidence that the community regards the building as valued.

Extraction and plant for a larger kitchen

A restaurant kitchen is a step change from a pub kitchen, and extraction is usually the single most contentious technical issue.

The submission needs to show the extraction system, the filtration and odour control proposed, the route and termination height of the flue, and the predicted noise from the fan and any external plant at the nearest noise sensitive receptor. Government guidance on the control of odour and noise from commercial kitchen exhaust systems is the reference point environmental health officers use, and a submission that follows its approach on discharge height and filtration selection has a much easier passage.

Three points that decide these applications:

1. Discharge at or above eaves or roof level, terminating away from openable windows, is far more likely to be accepted than a wall mounted grille.
2. Odour control has to be proportionate to the cooking type. A high odour operation needs more than a grease filter.
3. Noise from the fan, the refrigeration and any air conditioning needs assessing together, not one at a time.

The document that pulls this together is a Ventilation and Extraction Statement, and where the building has flats above or adjoining, a Noise Impact Assessment will usually be expected alongside it.

Parking, servicing and refuse

Pubs and restaurants generate different patterns of activity, and the assessment should address the difference rather than the absolute numbers.

On parking, a restaurant typically draws a higher proportion of car borne trips earlier in the evening, with a sharper arrival and departure pattern than a pub. Where the site has no off street parking and sits in a controlled parking zone, that is often manageable. Where it sits in an unrestricted residential street, expect objections and consider a Transport Statement addressing trip generation and parking stress.

On servicing, restaurants take more frequent deliveries. Show where a delivery vehicle stops, how long it stops for, and whether it blocks anything. On refuse, show the store, its capacity, its ventilation and the route to the collection point, and remember that food waste needs separate provision.

The detail here is worth getting right because these are the matters a highway authority and an environmental health officer can object to on technical grounds, and a technical objection is harder to overcome than a policy argument.

Evidence about the pub's trading position

Where the local policy requires viability or marketing evidence, prepare it properly and early.

Marketing evidence normally means the premises offered as a pub, at a price or rent supported by valuation advice, through channels a pub operator would actually use, for the period the policy specifies, with the enquiries received and the reasons they did not proceed. Marketing at an unrealistic figure is the most common reason this evidence fails.

Financial evidence normally means trading accounts over a period long enough to show a trend, with an explanation of the factors behind it. Be straightforward about what the figures show. Officers read these documents frequently and a selective presentation is usually noticed.

One honest caution. Some authorities apply their community facility policy strictly and will refuse a change of use from a pub that is still trading, whatever the margin. If that is the local position, the planning case has to be built on the benefits of the proposed use and the condition of the building rather than on trading performance alone.

Conditions that limit reversion to a pub

If permission is granted, the lawful use becomes E(b), and that has two consequences worth planning for.

Movement within Class E would then be possible without permission, so the occupier could later become a shop, a gym, a nursery or an office. Councils frequently impose a condition restricting the use to E(b) only, precisely to prevent that. Whether to resist such a condition depends on your intentions: for an operator committed to the restaurant, accepting it costs nothing and removes an objection, while for an investor it reduces flexibility and value. Our note on change of use within Class E sets out what that flexibility is worth.

Reversion to a pub would need a fresh application, because the pub use is sui generis and would have been abandoned. That cuts both ways in the planning argument, and objectors will raise it.

Finally, keep the licensing route separate. A premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 is granted by the licensing authority on different tests, and neither consent implies the other. Apply for both, and do not assume that an existing premises licence supports a planning case. Where the food offer would be mainly hot food to take away, the use falls outside Class E entirely, as our note on hot food takeaway as a sui generis use explains.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

PlanScope can draft the Planning Statement and supporting documents for a change of use application, structured to UK planning policy, marking clearly where local policy evidence is still needed. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.