Push to save The Butler pub in Reading from flats risk

The Butler pub in Chatham Street has stood in various guises as a place where alcohol has been sold since the 1830s making it nearly 200 years old. It has previously served as a wine vault, and has decades of pedigree as a music venue.

The building is Grade II listed owing to its age and colourful frontage. But there are fears that The Butler could be at risk due to a plan for 15 flats directly behind the pub at Eaton Place.

Although the project was refused by Reading Borough Council's planning applications committee, developer Hamble Residential has appealed to the government's planning inspectorate to get the project approved.

A petition calling for the pub to be saved has received 1,793 signatures on Change.org.

A CGI of Hamble Residential's plan for 15 flats behind The Butler. The plan relates to the building in white. Credit: Anomaly

Councillor Karen Rowland, who represents Abbey ward, is involved with other Labour colleagues in efforts to ensure The Butler remains a viable music venue. She has called for The Butler to be listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), which could grant the pub an additional layer of protection.

Cllr Rowland said: "The most important and valuable thing the public can do would be to make The Butler an ACV, and some people are already trying to do that."

Other nearby pubs in Reading which are ACVs include the Nag's Head and The Rose & Thistle.

READ MORE: The Reading pubs which are assets to the communities they are in 

Cllr Rowland is one of the people who'll be defending the council's decision during the appeal hearing on Tuesday, September 17. She said: "If an ACV application is made it will help me in the appeal, I think we can do it fairly quickly.

"When people talk about saving it, there's that factor, which will be our strong side going into the appeal."

Cllr Rowland is aware that Reading Civic Society is pursuing an application to list The Butler as an ACV, which will require 20 signatures to validate.

Separately, she cited government legislation in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) called the 'Agent of Change' principle.

The principle places the burden on the new development ( the 'agent of change') to ensure that they absorb the cost and impact of any mitigation needed so that the existing venue does not suffer or is forced to close as a result of complaints or issues.

Cllr Rowland said: "The noise level has the right to exist exactly as it is, the onus is on the developer, the person coming in and causing a potential problem.

"The developer would be the agent of change, because they are causing a change in the environment. The NPPF created these rules."

During discussion of plans for flats near The Butler, councillors argued that noise mitigation measures need to be strong enough to shield future occupants from disturbance without hampering the music venue.

You can view the application on the council's old planning website fastweb using reference 201104, and find the appeal on the planning inspectorate website using reference APP/E0345/W/24/3343524.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted pub owner Steve Stanton but is yet receive a response to requests.

A plan to add a 19-room hotel to The Butler was submitted last year but withdrawn in December.