From the http://www.kentlive.news.  6 March, 2010.

East Peckham homes threatened by pub blaze.

The "Rose and Crown" pub in East Peckham on Monday morning after a fire on Saturday night.

TERRIFIED residents feared they would lose their homes when a historic pub burst into flames at the weekend.

The fire, which has been blamed on faulty wiring, gutted the disused "Rose and Crown" in Branbridges Road, East Peckham, on Saturday night.

Crews from Paddock Wood, Matfield and Tonbridge fire stations spent five hours battling the blaze after the alarm was raised at 9.30pm by Old Road residents Valerie Holmes and Chris Butcher.

Mrs Holmes said: "We were sitting in the front room and Chris smelled smoke.

"We opened the window and the smoke started coming in."

Mr Butcher alerted his neighbour, Gordon Bryant, whose house stands a mere 15ft from the rear of the pub.

With the fire brigade yet to arrive, Mr Bryant sprayed water onto the building from a hosepipe in his back garden in a bid to protect his property.

He said: "It was too close for comfort – I've got a shed, a caravan down the side and two cars here and I was frightened about it spreading across this way.

"There was a lot of smoke and it choked you. I was very worried."

Mrs Holmes added: "At first we could only see smoke but then the flames came up through the roof. I thought I was going to lose my house – I was more worried about that than anything else. I wasn't very happy for a couple of hours."

The 18th-century listed building, which has been boarded up since closing before Christmas, was severely damaged in the incident which saw 70 per cent of the roof and 30 per cent of the first floor destroyed.

A turntable ladder was sent from Maidstone to enable firefighters to remove roof tiles and spray water into the structure from above, while engineers were called in to deal with a ruptured gas pipe.

It took just under two hours to bring the fire under control with officers finally able to leave the scene at around 3am.

A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said officers initially considered the blaze suspicious, but an investigation found an electrical fault in the roof space to be the source of ignition.

A spokesman for pub owners Enterprise Inns refused to comment on the incident.

From the http://www.kentlive.news. By Lucy Clarke-Billings, 19 July, 2013.

East Peckham pub told to clean up its act by borough council.

A DERELICT pub in East Peckham has been told to clean up its act after villagers described its grounds as "absolutely disgusting".

The "Rose and Crown," in Branbridges Road, sits at the entrance to the village and has been empty since Christmas 2009.

After ongoing complaints from disgruntled homeowners, Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council last week issued the landowners with an order to clean up the site.

The once-popular watering hole went up in flames in February 2010 and bricks, metal and rubbish has lay strewn across the land ever since.

Emma Wilkinson, 61, of Pound Lane, said: "It is absolutely disgusting. I am appalled.

"I am an able-bodied person and when I take a walk I am constantly falling over rubble and rocks. It's so unsafe."

This is not the first time an undesirable pub has outraged villagers.

The "Harp Inn," in Hale Street, provoked anger among neighbours when it began to host saucy night-time entertainment. After some 43 objections, it closed on June 30, 2013.

"Imagine what people would think when they drive through the village and there is that pub at one end and a crumbled-down shack at the other," said Mrs Wilkinson. "I have lived for 17 years in this lovely little village.

"Why a building as beautiful as that has been left in such a hideous state is beyond me."

The land is owned by Konuralp Investments Limited in London, a company that buys and sells old real estate. A spokesman said: "We intend to comply with the notice but we have no plans for the site at the moment."

East Peckham Parish Council has approached the borough council with residents' complaints.

Chairman Peter Street said: "It is a constant source of concern for the people of East Peckham. Walls have crumbled down and the worse it gets, the more everyone complains.

"It really is a dreadful eyesore for the village. It is an issue and I'm glad the borough council have made a decision to get it sorted out. My fingers are crossed."

From the http://www.kentlive.news. By Mary Harris, 27 May, 2016.

East Peckham pub the Rose and Crown demolished.

An eyesore pub in East Peckham has been reduced to rubble – and the developer behind it now faces enforcement action.

Building materials and waste have been left piled up on the site of the "Rose and Crown," and villagers were stunned to see it partly bulldozed on Friday.

It had been empty since Christmas 2009 and went up in flames twice.

Residents were desperate to see something done with the site in Branbridges Road and were pleased to see the start of bulldozing.

But the company behind its part demolition, Baxter Homes (South East) Ltd, did not seek permission to carry out the work, said Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council in an enforcement report.

When council chiefs realised the wrecking had started, it ordered the company to stop.

But on Monday, when officers inspected the site, it "was clear the works were continuing," said the report.

In 2013 Maidstone-based Baxter Homes (South East) Ltd found itself in hot water with the Health and Safety Executive.

An HSE spokesman said during a visit on May 22, 2013, inspectors served four enforcement notices after 13 breaches of the law were found. The HSE told us this week there were no prosecutions as a result of these breaches.

The council used emergency powers to slap an enforcement notice on the company on Wednesday, which forces it to finish demolition, clear the site and fence it off.

If the company does not appeal against the decision, the notice becomes effective on June 27 and must be complied with in seven days, or legal action could follow.

A spokesman for Baxter Homes (South East) Ltd denied the breaches and also denied there was no demolition notice.

She said: "Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council have been writing to us since we served the demolition notice in September last year. I have the paper trail. They are absolutely wrong. I know nothing about an enforcement notice."

Asked about the breaches, she added: "I am not aware of that and I would be aware of that and take it very seriously."

From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Claire McWethy, 28 October 2016.

East Peckham: Plans for homes on site of The Rose and Crown in Branbridges Road which was flooded and fire damaged.

Plans have been put forward for houses to be built on the site of a former pub, which has lain derelict for six years.

Time was called on The Rose and Crown in East Peckham in January 2010 and since then it has fallen victim to several disasters.

As well as going up in flames twice – the first of which destroyed the upper floors just a month after it closed – the Branbridges Road pub was also hit by the Christmas floods of 2013.

But now Baxter Homes (South East) is seeking permission from Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council to build eight three-bedroom town houses and 20 car parking spaces on the plot.

However, the Environment Agency has objected to the proposals, saying the land is within a high-risk area for flooding.

Planning specialist Jennifer Wilson said: “The majority of the site lies within the functional flood plain. We recommend that the application should be refused on this basis.”

But East Peckham Parish Council did not oppose the plans in principle, provided the developer considered the height difference between the proposed three-storey homes and neighbouring two-storey houses.

The site has previously been the source of some planning controversy.

Branbridges Road was flooded at Christmas 2013.

Work to tear it down was started by the developers in May. But when it emerged they had not been given permission, the borough council ordered the demolition be stopped.

However, due to the appearance of the site, they were later served an enforcement notice ordering that the remainder of the building be razed and fenced off.

The pub dated back to the 18th century but had its listed building status rescinded due to damage caused by the fires.