A historic West London pub will finally be turned into housing more than 10 years after it shut down. The Royal Oak in Richmond closed in 2011 and has remained vacant since, except when it was occupied by social club the Ham Institute for less than three years between 2016 and 2019.

Developer NSEW Property Ltd applied to Richmond Council for permission to turn the venue into a home along with some external works, including a first-floor extension and small changes to the ground floor. There will be two off-street parking spaces for the property.

The council's planning committee heard on Wednesday night (June 15) that attempts to market the venue for other purposes had been unsuccessful due to its location and lack of parking and public transport connections. 

The pub almost halved in price after it was put on the market in 2019 for £1.1 million when Ham Institute left the premises. The price was slashed to £535,000 after being on the market for a year, according to Nicki Dale, team leader of development control at the council. 

Ms Dale said: "We're told that there was over 1,300 enquiries to the estate agent and there were over 100 viewings. After 100 failed viewings, they put it up to auction. It eventually sold at auction for £696,000 without the benefit of planning permission for residential use."

She said the property had been marketed since then for around £750,000 and that council officers were satisfied it hadn't been marketed at an "over-inflated price".

There is believed to have been a pub on the site since the 1820s, with the Royal Oak operating from the ground floor of the venue before closing in September 2011 due to declining trade. An application to turn the venue into a home was refused permission in 2012 and dismissed at appeal in 2013.

Ms Dale told the committee that the Ham Institute moved into the property in March 2016 to provide a social centre for locals. She said: "They, however, […] vacated the premises less than three years later in 2019 after going into receivership stating that it was unviable to run due to its location, lack of parking and limited public transport. The property has, again, remained vacant since that time." 

A member of the public speaking in favour of the application said changing the use of the building would "help to meet the growing housing need in the borough" and "help to prevent a property of heritage merit falling into further disuse and disrepair". He said: "The planning balance is clearly in favour of this change of use, bearing in mind the length and the number of times it has failed commercially due to its size, its location, lack of outside space, lack of parking and lack of public transport."

Councillor John Coombs agreed with officers' recommendation to approve the application with "some trepidation". He said: "It's very unfortunate when something like this comes up where it […] has been a pub for over 200 years and we have very strong policies to try and protect these premises from being bought and turned into housing." 

He continued: "But I think the evidence that has been explained to us tonight gives us enough information to be able to say that the owners definitely have attempted to market this building for either a pub or other uses – that although there was interest by many people or organisations none of those interests actually materialised." The committee unanimously voted to approve the plans.