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Underused shops, pubs and offices are increasingly being turned into private homes, suggests a report, which says our changing relationship with town centres is forcing landlords to seek more ‘sustainable’ rent.
Senior reporter Lauren Abbott looks at the picture in Kent and why owners of commercial buildings might seek to future-proof investments by turning them into houses and the impact it’s having on where we live.
When celebrity baker Paul Hollywood’s wife Melissa wanted to turn her historic Kent pub into a house it sparked outcry among locals who feared their local watering hold would be ‘lost forever’.
Mrs Hollywood had told a council hearing how she and the Great British Bake Off judge had pumped more than £80,000 into trying to save The Chequers Inn in Smarden but that it was suffering from a “drastic lack of footfall”.
The controversial plan for the watering hole near Ashford was narrowly approved by councillors but hasn’t come to fruition thanks to another family snapping up the pub, which they took over and reopened last November.
But The Chequers Inn is not the first business to come before council planners where people want to turn it into a home instead.
As the future of The Chequers was being thrashed out last year, plans went into neighbouring Dover council to turn The Three Compasses in Deal into two properties.
It has been a familiar site in Beach Street, Deal, since 1661 when it first opened as the New Inn but bosses behind the Grade II-listed building, which has in recent years been run more as a restaurant, initially hoped to convert the main bar area on the ground floor into two separate flats.
This plan has since been revised to turn the bar into holiday lets instead.
Also on the list of pubs to have sought new life as a home in recent years is The Wrong Turn micropub in Barefrestone, which closed in 2022; The Little Black Dog pub in Great Chart which first sought permission to convert into a three-bedroom semi-detached home in 2021 but remains on hold due to long-running environmental issues at Stodmarsh; and the closed Amazon and Tiger in Harvel, which attracted 150 letters of objection, when plans - which were later turned down - were submitted to Gravesham council last May.
The Monarch in Gillingham, which closed last July, has also reportedly been snapped up by property developers.
‘Worth more as private premises’
It can be a business approach that’s sometimes hard to argue with, explains Canterbury-based historian Rory Kehoe but it’s a pattern he describes as “scary” with many villages in Kent now without a single public house.
He said: “The buildings are going to be worth more as a private premises.
“I can think of no example where the pub is worth more than it would be as a private property.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a retail business, a store, a pub or restaurant. It’s an attractive opportunity for those who look at the money coming through.
“But it’s not the fault of the developers necessarily, as they are in the business of developing property to put food on their table.”
Rory worries too about the impact on communities, which he says are fast losing their “social hubs”.
And he suggests the rising popularity of food delivery firms now bringing restaurant meals to doorsteps also means we eat and drink out less.
“There’s not going to be a happy ending to this.
“It may not be in my lifetime but it’s rather frightening to think about a society that retreats into its burrow.”
A rise in change of use requests
Between 2021 and 2023 there has been a 63% rise in commercial-to-residential property change-of-use applications across England according to analysis of council data.
Direct Line landlord insurance - which is behind the study - says the increase indicates a steady “growth of opportunity” for landlords wanting to convert their commercial buildings into more sustainable rental properties.
Lifestyle changes are said to explain the rise - including more of us working remotely and using the internet to shop, which is leaving once healthy commercial spaces drastically underused.
An ever-increasing demand for more homes and an undersupply of housing in many areas also adds to the pressure - and the temptation.
Jonny McHugh, head of landlord at Direct Line business insurance, said: “The property market is constantly evolving and as demand for residential property continues to soar, it has increased the attractiveness of converting commercial units for domestic use.”
Last year, Gravesham received seven prior change-of-use applications to move from a commercial property to a residential dwelling compared to two in 2023 and four applications in 2022.
In Sevenoaks, the figure was three last year compared to one the year before.
Over in Maidstone, two separate change-of-use applications to utilise unwanted space were recently submitted for the same town centre street.
The former Save The Children charity shop in Union Street is being proposed for conversion into a home, having sat empty for four years, while further along at number 19 is a separate application to convert a commercial property, currently occupied by the tanning company Tantastic, into mixed commercial and residential use.
Here, the applicant Rzgar Property Ltd proposes some commercial use on the ground floor, while the rear of the ground floor and two upper floors would form a two-bedroom flat.
A “significant reduction” in demand for retail space was behind an application to Ashford council last March to turn a listed building in Tenterden High Street into a home.
Open as a gallery between 2005 and 2019 - before the pandemic cancelled exhibitions which left the site empty - the applicant sought permission for a change of use to a residential dwelling, which was agreed.
Here too, people’s changing shopping habits were among the reasons put forward.
In planning documents, agent Hobbs Parker wrote: “Officers will be aware that there is a significant reduction in demand for retail floorspace as a result of changes in retail operations, the rise of e-commerce further advanced by the pandemic all have changed how people shop and as a result have significantly reduced the overall demand for retail floorspace.
“In this instance the retail offer which extends to approximately 18 m² in its location away from the town centre has no commercial attraction and returning the premises to a single dwelling best secures the future use of this listed building.”
Unwanted retail space is calculated at about 40%, says town centre enthusiast Graham Galpin from Kent, who is a fellow at the Institute of Place Management.
He explained: “In towns, we hope to see shops filled with independent traders but we are realistic when we see online sales at about 30%.
“You feel sorry for some landlords that they have tenants up against the headwinds of increased costs.
“People need places to live and there’s pressure on local authorities to construct living units.
“I’m disappointed we are in this position. It’s a difficult circle to square.”
Graham says the institute has identified 25 key issues which are among the barriers to high streets being viable.
“Every town has the same problems but every town is different” he added.
A need for more homes
When a Dover veterinary practice moved premises last summer plans to transform the vacant building into six homes were submitted to the council.
Maison Dieu Vets left the building in Maison Dieu Road in June and moved into a new state-of-the-art practice in a former Carpetright showroom nearby.
A planning application was then submitted by applicant Jas Hayre to convert the old building into four flats - with two maisonettes already existing within the large venue - which the council approved.
The application was among at least seven commercial-to-residential change of use requests it received last year.
Graham Margery is vice chairman of Dover Society and chairperson of its planning committee.
The organisation - with 500 members - was founded in 1988 and lists “promoting high standards of planning and architecture” among its many roles.
Well versed in Dover’s changing landscape, Graham studies many of the applications to come before the district council.
“Despite its very famous name it’s now a very small town” he explains. “In its heyday it was a big thriving town.
“You have shops and premises away from the heart of the town centre but now they are smaller and not needed.
“The town is less prosperous.
“People travel out of town and people shop online.”
While the society is fiercely protective about what happens in the heart of Dover, and particularly its conservation area, it is more pragmatic about development on its fringes.
There, it is how any change is implemented and to what standard more than the switch itself which interests the Society.
Where shops or offices don’t require the amount of space they once did, the Society is noticing a trend towards converting upper floors into residential spaces.
But Graham worries a demand for housing - and a desire by landlords to get as much of a return as they can per square metre - is resulting in living accommodation being squeezed into increasingly tiny spaces.
“But sometimes, the quality of these flats is poor” said Graham.
“But the need for housing outweighs this sometimes.”
There are other problems too, fears the society, particularly with applications that seek to fit a large number of people into one property - known as houses in multiple occupation - where they share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities.
While it can enable those feeling the pinch to find affordable accommodation, Graham believes it’s a move “not conducive to developing a high quality, prosperous town centre”.
Battle lines were drawn last year in the town when plans to revamp an old lawyers’ building into a nine-bedroom home first came before the council.
Concerns over rubbish, refuse collections and parking were raised by those living nearby in Castle Street as well as the loss of the building as commercial space.
In paperwork produced at the time, applicant HLPhomes said it was offering badly needed and affordable accommodation.
Its document commented: “It is thought that this proposal solves the issue of this property being left vacant for a couple of years, due to lack of demand for commercial buildings in this road.”