Micropub planning trends
The micropub planning index stands at 28, the lowest since 2016, on 26 applications in the 12 months to September 2026.
Micropub applications since 2016
Micropub applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredFrom 172 a year to 26
Councils received 26 micropub applications in the 12 months to September 2026, against 172 at the peak, in the 12 months to May 2018. Micropubs' share of all applications is 33% lower than three years earlier.
Closures and removals
In the same 12 months a further 9 applications would close a micropub or turn one to another use. They are left out of these figures, which follow micropubs that open or change.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 8 micropub applications in Q3 2026, too few to compare their share with a year earlier.
Micropub applications each quarter
8 in Q3 2026, against 15 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 0.8 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 1.4 a year earlier.
Where micropub applications concentrate
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Redcar and Cleveland
North East · 50 in every 10,000 35 -
Sheffield
Yorkshire and Humber · 8.5 in every 10,000 25 -
Barnsley
Yorkshire and Humber · 21 in every 10,000 23 -
Stockton-on-Tees
North East · 20 in every 10,000 22 -
Ashfield
East Midlands · 31 in every 10,000 21 -
Broxtowe
East Midlands · 24 in every 10,000 20 -
Bexley
London · 7.5 in every 10,000 19 -
City of Bradford
Yorkshire and Humber · 4.6 in every 10,000 19 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 2.3 in every 10,000 17 -
Rotherham
Yorkshire and Humber · 12 in every 10,000 16
Latest micropub applications
- 46 Steynton Avenue Bexley Kent Change of Use of Ground Floor Unit from Pet shop (Class E(a)) to Micro Pub (Class Sui Generis) including installation of canopy awning, small forecourt seating area and alterations to front fenestration.
- 37 - 39 Hawes Lane Rowley Regis Retrospective change of use from bed shop to micro bar with fenestration alterations and associated works.
- 17 Westgate Patrington East Riding Of Yorkshire Erection of a detached micropub building (sui generis use) with paving and ramp and partial change of use of residential garden land to form a drinking establishment
- 37 Long Acre Bingham Nottinghamshire Proposed change of use from yoga studio (Class E) to a micropub (Sui Generis)
- Hare And Hounds The Street Northbourne Change of use of and conversion of public house to residential dwelling to include single storey rear and first floor rear extensions, alterations to doors/windows, erection of micro pub and associated parking (existing side extension to be demolished)
- 157 - 159 Queens Drive, Liverpool, Wavertree Change of use from retail unit (Use Class E) to micropub with food with associated external drinking area (Sui Generis) and minor Alterations to Facade.
Questions
How many micropub planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 876 since January 2016, 26 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to May 2018.
Which councils receive the most micropub applications?
Redcar and Cleveland, Sheffield and Barnsley have received the most since 2016.
Are micropub planning applications falling?
Yes. Councils received 26 in the 12 months to September 2026. The yearly count fell from 155 in 2018 to 44 in 2025. The micropub planning index stands at 28, about a fifth of its May 2018 peak of 132.
How many micropubs are there in the UK?
Plota counts applications, not premises. The Morning Advertiser put the UK at more than 800 micropubs in December 2021. The directory Pubs Galore listed 953 when checked in August 2026, without giving a date for its count.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
These figures cover applications that open or alter a micropub or micro bar. An application that would close one, or turn it to another use, is left out.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names micropubs or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- Removals are taken out: every matching application is classified, and those that would remove or demolish micropubs, or change them to another use, are not counted. The figures follow applications that add, extend or alter them.
- How matches are checked: we read a random sample of the micropub applications counted here against what the topic's name means, and compare the counts with published figures where they exist.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. The micropub planning index sets the 2016 share at 100, so 200 means twice as common as in 2016.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 11 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- The Morning Advertiser estimated more than 800 micropubs in the UK in December 2021. morningadvertiser.co.uk
- Pubs Galore listed 953 micropubs when checked in August 2026, with no stated date for the count. pubsgalore.co.uk