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Heritage Public Houses Bill 2026-27

The purpose of the bill is to protect historic public houses (pubs) in England and Wales from being demolished or converted to other uses. The bill would introduce a mandatory register, maintained by local authorities, which would keep a local record of all pubs which met the heritage public house definition set out in the bill.

The bill would introduce new provisions for the right to buy a heritage public house as a community asset. It would also provide for interim protection measures where a pub was considered for the National Heritage List for England. Planning measures would be introduced to enable additional checks to be made where a heritage public house was considered for development to an alternative use.

There is stakeholder support for the bill proposals from real ale campaigners and community groups representing heritage public houses, such as the Crooked House which was lost to demolition in 2023.

Historic England has a ‘pubs hub’ online resource which gives information on historic pubs and how to care for them. This includes details on protecting historic pubs.