Castle pub first in Wandsworth on community asset list

26-Mar-2013 - Last updated on 26-Mar-2013 at 09:25 GMT

A popular pub in Battersea, south London, that is now closed has become the first in the borough of Wandsworth to be registered as a community asset.

Campaigners will have the right to bid for the Castle, which closed on New Year’s Eve, after what they call a “14-month planning roller-coaster”.

Developer Languard Investments secured planning consent to demolish the pub last year. It has placed the Castle on the market for £2.25m, having bought it from Young’s for £1.1m in 2011. Proposals include putting in a replacement pub on the ground floor legally protected by a planning condition, with nine flats above.

However, last year Languard Investments was forced to withdraw one planning application after Wandsworth Council received 800 objections from residents. A second application was refused in September.

The campaign has had backing from chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group Greg Mulholland, local MP Jane Ellison and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

A statement on the Castle website said: “Delighted to report on behalf of our Community Interest Group that the Castle was registered yesterday by Wandsworth Council as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), the first ACV for the borough.

“The application was supported by a petition of over 900 names, chiefly local residents who objected last year to the developer Languard's proposal to demolish it and replace it with a block of flats. If yours was one of them, thank you very much.”

Last week, the Publican’s Morning Advertiser reported that CAMRA is looking to put 300 pubs on ACV lists this year.