Change of use and permitted development for pubs

From A4 to Sui Generis

For many years pubs and bars in England sat in use class A4, drinking establishments, under the planning use classes order. In September 2020 the use classes were reorganised and a broad new commercial class, class E, was created, but pubs, drinking establishments and drinking establishments with expanded food provision were deliberately left out of it. Instead they were made Sui Generis, a Latin term meaning of their own kind, so each sits in a class of its own with no automatic right to change to another use.

This guide explains how that planning status affects funding a pub project. It is not formal planning advice. Use classes and permitted development rights change, and they differ across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so always take advice from a planning consultant and confirm the current position with the local planning authority before you commit.

The practical effect of Sui Generis status is significant. Because a pub is not inside a flexible use class, you cannot simply switch it to a shop, an office or homes under permitted development the way some other commercial uses can move within class E. Almost any meaningful change of use, and certainly conversion to residential, normally needs a full planning application that the local authority can refuse. That was a deliberate policy choice to protect pubs from quiet conversion, and it is the single most important planning fact for anyone buying a pub with a change of use in mind.

Why permitted development is limited for pubs

Permitted development rights let some changes happen without a full application. For pubs those rights are deliberately narrow. The broad permitted development routes that allow, for example, offices or shops to convert to homes do not apply to a Sui Generis pub, so a developer cannot rely on them to turn a closed pub into flats. Minor works, internal alterations that do not change the use, and some changes that do not affect the planning use may not need permission, but a change of use away from a pub almost always does.

• A pub is Sui Generis, so it has no automatic permitted-development route to another use
• Converting a pub to homes normally requires a full planning application
• Internal alterations that keep the pub in use may not need planning permission
• Listed building consent is needed separately for works to a listed pub
• Always confirm the position with the local authority before relying on any right

Assets of Community Value and Article 4

Two further protections often sit over a pub. An Asset of Community Value, or ACV, is a listing under the Localism Act 2011 that a community group can apply for. Where a pub is listed as an ACV and the owner decides to sell, a moratorium period can be triggered that gives the community an opportunity to bid. An ACV listing is also a material planning consideration that makes a change of use or demolition harder to push through. Many community groups use an ACV listing precisely to slow or stop the conversion of a valued local pub.

Separately, a local authority can make an Article 4 direction that removes specified permitted development rights in an area, including some that might otherwise allow demolition or change, so that a planning application is required where it would not normally be. Between Sui Generis status, ACV listings and Article 4 directions, the planning system gives communities and councils real tools to keep a pub as a pub. For a buyer or developer these protections are not obstacles to ignore but facts to plan around from the outset.

Converting a pub to homes or another use

Converting a closed pub to residential, or to another commercial use, can be a sound project where the trade no longer supports the building and the planning case stacks up, but it is never automatic. You should expect to apply for planning permission, to address the loss of a community facility in your application, and to deal with any ACV listing. Local plans often include policies protecting pubs, requiring evidence that the pub has been genuinely marketed as a going concern before a change of use will be considered.

How planning shapes the finance

Planning status runs straight through the finance. A pub that will keep trading as a pub is funded on its going-concern value and its fair maintainable trade, and planning is rarely the issue. A pub bought to convert is funded as a development or conversion project, and the lender will want to see the planning position before advancing, because the value being created depends entirely on the consent. Where permission is not yet in place, a bridge can sometimes fund the purchase while consent is pursued, but at a higher cost and with the planning risk priced in.

We arrange both kinds of finance. For a trading pub we place a term commercial mortgage or a refinance. For a conversion or change-of-use scheme we arrange development or conversion finance, advanced in stages against the consented scheme, and we map the exit, usually a sale of the converted units or a refinance onto term debt. Because we understand how lenders read planning risk, we structure the funding so it follows the consent rather than running ahead of it.