conservationworks:licensed leisure
Pubs, breweries, clubs, hotels and restaurants
The Pub Scout
Scores of pubs are coming onto the market every month. Some, bought by independent free house pub operators or breweries with cast-iron courage and imagination, will be relaunched; a proportion will be usefully converted to other purposes and the remainder bought for redevelopment.
The Pub Scout is a new service developed by ConservationWorks to answer some of the dilemmas facing investing/divesting owners, potential investors and developers.
But first, we'd like to ask you a few questions.
PubCo and Brewery owners: Are you making the best of your existing property portfolio? If you're looking to divest properties, are you getting the best price? Understanding the development potential of your sites means maximising sales receipts on divestments on the one hand, or rescuing those on the margins of profitability through investment in trade diversification on the other.
Potential investors: Is the property you're considering worth what the seller is looking for? Do you have a proper handle on the limits or opportunities attached to a listed building, for example? Have you investigated the site's full potential and pitfalls, including not only planning issues but repair and alteration costs and feasibility?
If you can't answer with certainty, there's a real risk that the site you have in mind isn't living up to its fullest potential, or may never deliver the returns you're looking for.
Contain your risk. In financial markets where raising funds is hard work, don't tie up valuable equity in projects that could take years instead of months to pull off, or worse, not come off at all.
ConservationWorks:PubScout can deliver the information and advice you need to inject security into your plans for a pub site. As specialists in the field of town planning and the historic environment specifically relating to pubs and brewing, we can identify and then neutralise some of the key risks involved. Here are some of the services you might need:
Site planning assessment. The Pub Scout will investigate and advise on local, regional and national planning policies to ensure you don't get tripped up by the planning system. We can provide the full range of written documents required by historic buildings rules (PPS5) to support your application for consent. We'll liaise with the relevant authorities early in the process to contain your investment risk. If necessary, we can provide representation at planning appeals and public inquiries.
2.Site heritage assessment. We'll research and assess the site for its historic value and interest, if necessary making a pre-emptive 'certificate of immunity from listing' application to the authorities. We'll identify tricky conservation repair and alteration issues as well as opportunities to add value, for example through the conversion of redundant or disused building or spaces.
3.Site market assessment. Through our ConservationWorks: Talk service, we can research and canvass communities to evaluate the strength of local feeling, and identify the nature of the local competition. Successful pubs and troublesome development projects share a common human element: a strong, loyal, local attachment.
Our Principal Consultant, Dale Ingram, is a niche market pubs and brewing specialist in the field of heritage conservation and planning. As a management consultant, a graduate of Reading University's Masters degree in Conservation, a member of national conservation bodies such as the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and the Institute of Historic Buildings Conservation (IHBC), as well as the Brewery History Society and CAMRA's London Pubs and Pubs Heritage Groups, she's well placed to make sure you're getting exactly the right advice.
Your first consultation appointment is free. You can make first contact by email through our enquiry page , at dale.ingram@conservationworks.co.uk , or by phone on 020 8672 7877 or 07958 641154.
Cheers!