From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Cara Simmonds, 23 July 2023.

Mystery over closure of the White Horse pub in Cranbrook High Street.

A well-known pub has been boarded-up without explanation.

The White Horse in Cranbrook High Street has shut suddenly. Picture: Cameron Cheesman.

A passer-by noticed it was shut last week although it has not been confirmed when it officially closed.

“It was big back in the 80s and 90s,” they said.

“You had to order a few drinks for the night because it was such a struggle to get to the front of the bar.”

Pictures now show the building’s groundfloor windows and doors obscured by metal screens.

The White Horse, which has been a pub since at least 1881, was also a bed and breakfast. (I have traced one back with this name to 1828. Paul Skelton)

All of the lower windows and doors have been boarded-up. Picture: Cameron Cheesman.

It is owned by Admiral Taverns, a company which runs more than 1,600 predominantly wet-led community pubs.

Residents have been speculating about the closure on a Facebook group – with some saying it might be turned into flats.

One person commented: “It is a huge shame that it had to close. So many pubs and hotels are closing down these days.”

Another said: “So terribly sad to see it closing! So many truly wonderful memories in there over the last 30-plus years.

“Back in the 90s it was the best pub for all the family. The darts, the charity events, the parties, the town tournaments and the hospitality!

“It has to remain as a pub, surely?”

In September 2021, council planners granted permission for two homes to be built on its car park.

The decision stunned residents and angered the parish council, which had objected to the scheme.

A spokesman from Admiral Taverns said: "We are currently reviewing all our options for the White Horse in Cranbrook and no final decision has been made.

“It wouldn't be appropriate to comment any further at this stage."

From the https://www.msn.com/en-gb Story by Mary Harris, 12 July 2024.

Pub in thriving Kent market town which shut last year could be converted into a shop or café.

 A pub in a thriving and pretty Kent market town which shut suddenly could be turned into a shop or café despite local objection. Proposals have been submitted to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council for the large pub which was once a bustling venue in the heart of the town.

The White Horse in Cranbrook shut last summer but many years ago, with its frontage on the High Street, it had been a popular spot, busy in the evening and lunchtimes. The red brick three-storey building, bearing a plaque of Kent's white horse or Invicta, is on the corner of the bend as you come into the town.

It was well placed to catch the eyes of passing trade and was a stunning sight when it used to be covered in colourful hanging baskets. Applicant Cordage 26 Ltd, a development company in Portsmouth, wants to convert the ground floor of the pub to commercial use, which could be a restaurant, café, shop and other Class E uses.

No alterations to the outside would be made, said Cordage's agents. But Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council wants the building to stay as a pub and wants the application refused.

It also refuted the viability and marketing study of the pub by Cordage. Papers from Cordage state during the tenanted pub's last four years of trading, its highest annual barrelage was 108 barrels, which equates to a turnover of around £140,000.

It said the pub was wet-led, which means by drink sales and not food. It also said the volume of beer and cider ordered showed "unsustainable turnover levels" and the pub had been marketed since April last year.

The late much-loved Phil Mummery, one of the most well known and cherished characters and honorary mayor of Cranbrook, speaking from the balcony of the White Horse Inn during the Cranbrook Apple and History Fair.

It said: "The proposed site is currently a vacant, non-viable public house, which currently makes no contribution to the local economy. The proposal for a new commercial unit would benefit the local economy as it will provide new job opportunities and an increase in the local authority’s revenue."

The agent also drove home its case for why it believed a pub could not be retained as part of the scheme, as this had been a reason for a previous refusal in April by the council of an application to make the ground floor into two flats. The council had said, as part of its reason for refusal, the pub had not been "sufficiently or adequately marketed" and it had not been "sufficiently demonstrated that the public house was unviable".

The council also said: "It has also not been sufficiently demonstrated that demand within the locality for the public house no longer exists or that suitable alternative provision is made elsewhere." For Cordage, the agent said its study showed "the White Horse pub was no longer financially viable in light of its unsustainable trading performance for the last four years and there has been a lack of interest in the pub itself during the extensive marketing period".

It said it was marketed for a year from April 2023 with "no party willing to take over the pub". It also said there were alternative pubs "within the locality that the local community would have access too". The application relates only to the ground floor. The proposal would affect 10sqm of flower bed in the car park at the back, said the applicant.

But the parish council said in its objection: "We recommended refusal for the following reasons. The impact on the community and other services; the parish council would like the building to be kept as a public house which is not included in use Class E; the applicant has used the same marketing and viability report as they used in their previous application, which both the parish council and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council refuted."

The council also said: "If Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Planning department are minded to approve this application, the Parish Council would like Use Class Sui Generis, which allows the premises to be used as a Public House. Adequate toilet facilities to meet this need should also be included to accommodate this use. When the property is subsequently marketed, it should be readily available to prospective local purchasers/renters preferable with a local estate agents."

Cordage, in its application gave information about the scale of interest in the pub: "Twenty-eight direct enquires were made and nine parties attended the viewing days organised in May and October 2023. Among these parties, two were looking at restaurants as an alternative use of the White Horse, with the other uses including residential, veterinary practice and retail. Although an offer was submitted for retail use, proof of funding was not provided, so the offer did not proceed."

The one resident who has so far officially objected to the plans, said: "Does this application do anything for the local community or maintain any type of social activity as a long standing Public House that would or should have been continued for the local people?

"In losing this type of establishment it reduces the availability of venue choice to one ale house, one hotel and one private members' club? When we have seen the decimation of our local community pubs for conversions to housing or coffee shops that then close? I do not believe any thought has gone into what the local community would benefit from this type of development in our High Street."

An earlier proposal to keep the pub and convert the upper floors and outbuilding to create flats and a home, along with changing the beer garden and car park was approved in January.