Canterbury City Council has refused to let the Eight Bells on London Road become a shop. 318 people objected, and an offer to keep it as a pub was turned down.

The Eight Bells on London Road will not become a shop, for now. Canterbury City Council refused planning permission on Tuesday 3 November to change the closed pub’s ground floor to retail.

The application drew 318 objections, according to the planning officer’s report on the decision. All 318 representations it lists were objections.

We reported the plan in September, when the council’s planning portal was down and the documents could not be read. They are now on the register under CA/26/01470.

Why it was refused

The decision notice gives two reasons:

  • Loss of a community facility. The applicant did not show there was no need for the pub locally, or that no other community use could run from the building.
  • A shop in the wrong place. The pub is about 575m from Canterbury’s main shopping area. No sequential test was submitted to show there was nowhere more central for a new shop.

The officer did not refuse it on heritage grounds. The report judged that a shop, with no change to the outside, would have a neutral effect on the St Dunstan’s conservation area.

The offer that was turned down

The applicant’s marketing evidence did much to sink the case. The pub was marketed for 14 months, from 3 July 2025 to early September 2026, the report says. Over that time there were:

  • 43 direct enquiries
  • 26 viewings, mostly from people wanting to keep it as a pub or turn it into a home
  • 5 offers, between £200,000 and £230,000

An offer of £200,000 to keep the Eight Bells as a pub was rejected as too low. The marketing report valued the building at £200,000 plus VAT, with repairs estimated at £120,000. The asking price was first set at £265,000.

The officer concluded the interest showed the pub could still work. The report quotes the marketing agent, Everard Cole: “due to the high level of interest…there is still some viability there.”

What objectors said

The report groups the 318 objections. The main points were:

  • the loss of a social meeting place used by residents, students and visitors
  • harm to a historic building in a conservation area
  • no need for another vape or convenience shop nearby
  • deliveries and parking on a busy road with narrow pavements
  • doubts about how hard the pub had been marketed

The Canterbury Heritage Design Forum neither objected nor supported it. It regretted the loss of the pub and said the ground-floor windows must be kept.

A note on the community listing

The officer’s report describes the Eight Bells as registered as an asset of community value. The council’s own register of assets of community value, which we checked on 7 November, says otherwise. It records CAMRA’s nomination, ACVNF78, as refused on 1 October 2025.

The report also dates the present building to 1898 and 1899, on the foundations of an inn first built in 1708. CAMRA’s pub database gives 1902 for the rebuilding.

What it means for you

  • The pub stays a pub in planning terms. Any other use needs a fresh application, which you can comment on.
  • The applicant can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The time limits are set out on the decision notice.
  • If you want it reopened, the report records that buyers came forward to run it as a pub. Whether it sells is now up to the owner.

New applications near you are on our Canterbury planning applications page.

The application was made in a private individual’s name, so we have not named the applicant.