The London Road pub, shut since its landlady retired in 2025, could become a shop. Comments on the change of use close on Friday 9 October 2026.
The Eight Bells on London Road could become a shop. An application to change the use of the pub’s ground floor from a public house to retail is now with Canterbury City Council.
The council listed it as application CA/26/01470 in its weekly planning list of 18 September 2026. The address is 34 London Road, CT2 8LN, near St Dunstan’s. It is advertised because the building sits in a conservation area. Comments must reach the council on or before Friday 9 October 2026.
A pub since the early 1700s
The Campaign for Real Ale’s pub database describes the Eight Bells as a small, traditional local dating from 1708. It was rebuilt in brick in 1902 and kept its original embossed windows. One door still has a “Private Bar” etched window, from the years when the pub had two rooms. CAMRA says it became one L-shaped room in the mid 1980s.
CAMRA records the pub as closed long term since October 2025, “on retirement of long standing landlady”. It lists Admiral Taverns as the freehold owner.
The community listing was refused
CAMRA tried to protect the pub before it closed. It nominated the Eight Bells as an asset of community value, case ACVNF78. The council’s assets of community value register shows the nomination was refused on 1 October 2025. The register gives no reason.
That matters now. An asset of community value can be put on hold for up to six months when it comes up for sale, so a community group has time to raise the money to buy it. Without a listing, that route was not open to anyone at the Eight Bells.
Other Canterbury pubs have been listed. The same register shows:
- the Phoenix on Old Dover Road, listed on 11 February 2026 after a CAMRA nomination
- the King’s Head on Wincheap, listed on 22 March 2023, also nominated by CAMRA
- the Old Coach and Horses at Harbledown, refused twice, on 30 October 2025 and 26 May 2026
What the application says, and what we could not check
The weekly list describes the proposal in one line: “Change of use of ground floor from public house to retail.” It does not say what kind of shop is planned, or what happens to the upper floors.
The drawings and supporting statement sit on the council’s Idox planning portal. On Sunday 27 September the portal’s search returned “Unable to run your search at this time” for every query, including the application number, so we could not read them. We will update this story once the documents can be opened.
Pubs have needed full planning permission to change use since September 2020, when the Use Classes Order was amended and drinking establishments were placed outside the use classes. So the council has to decide this one, and it has to consider comments made in time.
What it means for you
- If you want to comment, for or against, do it on the council’s planning portal using reference CA/26/01470, by Friday 9 October 2026.
- Comments that count are about planning matters. Examples include the loss of a community facility, the look of the building in the conservation area, and parking or deliveries on London Road. The previous owner’s business choices are not a planning matter.
- To follow other schemes near you, see our guide to Canterbury planning applications.
The application was made in a private individual’s name, so we have not named the applicant.
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