Pub planning trends
Councils received 701 pub applications in the 12 months to September 2026: 575 to change or demolish a pub, 126 to open one.
Pub applications since 2016
Pub applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredAbout 8 in 10 propose changing or demolishing a pub
Of the 701 pub applications in the 12 months to September 2026, 575 proposed changing a pub to another use or demolishing it. The other 126 would open a pub or bar, or reopen one.
Over three years, a smaller count but a bigger share
Pub applications fell from 1,175 in 2016 to 723 in 2025, and the pub planning index is 86. Total applications fell too: over 12 months the count is 6% down on three years earlier, but the share is 9% higher.
Highest in the North West and the North East
From 2023 to 2025, the North West had 29 pub applications in every 10,000 and the North East 27, against 15 across the UK. London had 7.1, the lowest.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 161 pub applications in Q3 2026: 16 in every 10,000 applications, against 18 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 12% lower than a year earlier.
Pub applications each quarter
161 in Q3 2026, against 195 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 16 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 18 a year earlier.
Where pub applications concentrate
By region
Pub applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Birmingham
West Midlands · 25 in every 10,000 162 -
Leeds
Yorkshire and Humber · 25 in every 10,000 150 -
City of Bradford
Yorkshire and Humber · 36 in every 10,000 144 -
Kirklees
Yorkshire and Humber · 37 in every 10,000 110 -
Somerset
South West · 19 in every 10,000 110 -
Durham
North East · 40 in every 10,000 109 -
Manchester
North West · 40 in every 10,000 108 -
Liverpool
North West · 39 in every 10,000 106 -
Shropshire
West Midlands · 32 in every 10,000 103 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 15 in every 10,000 102
Latest pub applications
- Y Cantreff Inn 61 Brecon Road Abergavenny Monmouthshire Proposed change of use of existing Public House to single residential dwelling with proposed new rear 2 storey extension.
- The Fox And Hounds, 110 Chiswick Lane South, Chiswick, London Listed building consent for the change of use of the existing ground floor public house to one self contained flat, including the installation of new windows to the side elevation, with associated car parking, refuse and cycle storage.
- The Fox And Hounds, 110 Chiswick Lane South, Chiswick, London Change of use of the existing ground floor public house to one self contained flat, including the installation of new windows to the side elevation, with associated car parking, refuse and cycle storage. Listed Building Consent: P/2026/3145.
- 2 Main Street Gorebridge Change of use from public house (sui generis) to 4 flatted dwellings (sui generis); removal of window bars; installation of replacement doors and windows; infill of windows; formation of new window openings; erection of canopy; replacement of rainwater goods; and associated works
- 3 To 5 Main Street Barrhead East Renfrewshire Change of use of public house to hot food takeaway and retail unit on the ground floor and studio/office on the lower ground floor with the installation of new shopfronts at ground floor level and installation of a flue at the rear (corrected description)
- Cherry Tree Inn Crawley Road Faygate West Sussex Change of Use from Public House (A4) to Hot Food Takeaway (A5). Demolition of existing single storey rear extension. Erection of rear extension, including internal and external alterations, with associated parking and landscaping (listed building consent)
Questions
How many pub planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 9,860 since January 2016, 701 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to November 2019.
Which councils receive the most pub applications?
Birmingham, Leeds and City of Bradford have received the most since 2016.
Does closing a pub need planning permission?
In England, yes. Since 23 May 2017, changing the use of a pub or demolishing one has needed planning permission. Since 1 September 2020, pubs and other drinking establishments have been sui generis, outside every use class.
Can a council refuse to let a pub close?
Policy HC6 of England's 2026 National Planning Policy Framework counts pubs as key community facilities, not to be lost unless the use cannot be kept, is replaced, or has enough alternatives nearby. Where viability is the reason, 12 months of marketing comes first.
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 count pubs opened and pubs changed to another use or demolished. Works at a pub that keeps trading are left out, and so are micropubs, which have their own page.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names pubs 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.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent pub applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- 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 pub 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 9 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 General Permitted Development (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2017, in force 23 May 2017, removed the permitted development rights to change the use of a drinking establishment or demolish one. legislation.gov.uk
- The Use Classes (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020, in force 1 September 2020, made pubs, wine bars and drinking establishments sui generis. legislation.gov.uk
- Policy HC6 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2026) names public houses among key community facilities and asks for at least 12 months of marketing where viability is the issue. gov.uk