Brighton pub to keep its ACV status
The First Tier Tribunal decision announced today is the second time there has been a ruling to keep the Rose Hill Tavern listed as an asset of community value. Last year owners Evenden Estates appealed Brighton & Hove City Council’s decision to list the Rose Hill Tavern as an ACV, but this was rejected by the authority.
The pub, which is over 130 years old and now one of two buildings in Brighton with the listing, has been closed since last May after Enterprise Inns sold it to the developers.
Tribunal judge Peter Lane said that evidence provided by Evenden Estates that the pub “could not run successfully” was “both narrow in time and somewhat self-assertive”, adding: “In any event, it comes at the end of a downward spiral in terms of the commercial operation of the Rose Hill Tavern and, as such, is not sufficiently indicative of what might be achieved by a genuine community-run organisation, operating the Rose Hill Tavern on a not-for-profit basis.”
He added: “A conversation with the last landlady of the Rose Hill Tavern suggested that she had been doing better than suggested by Evenden.”
Members of the Rose Hill Tavern Action Group said they are now seeking to persuade councillors to reject Evenden Estates’ application for planning permission, which has received a recommendation for approval.
Group chair Richard James said: “It’s great that an eminent Judge has agreed with the Council and with us that the pub is an asset of community value. The real battle is next Wednesday though, as today’s news will count for nothing if the local elected councillors decide that just because they agreed it has community value as a pub last year, doesn’t mean that they won’t let it be turned into flats later this year.”
