by Tony Halstead
New planning regulations are threatening to place thousands of gastro pubs into a virtual planners' "no man's land," property experts warn.
The changes will see pubs and restaurants split into different use categories, with new requirements for operators wishing to convert restaurants, gastro pubs or café bars into fully-fledged drinking pubs.
From 21 April, full change-of-use consent will be required for premises wishing to change their status to pubs. But the regulations do not so far contain any guidance as to what officially constitutes a pub, restaurant or café bar.
The new Use Classes Order creates a new A4 Class for on-trade pubs. Restaurants and cafés remain in the existing A3 category.
Under the new rules there will be no automatic change-of-use consent for premises that want to convert from A3 to A4 status.
The Government has admitted that one of the main aims of the changes is to restrict the number of new pubs and "drinking dens" opening. Converting A4-status pubs to A3-category restaurants or café bars will not require change-of-use consent.
Property experts say the sheer number of licensed premises that have become "hybrid" means their status under the new system cannot easily be determined.
Nigel Ball, partner at property consultant Fuller Peiser saida test case might be needed to sort out the problem.
"There is no proper guidance, so there's nothing to help distinguish what is officially a pub and what is a restaurant.
"There are a huge number of outlets that sit in the middle and everything is up in the air.
"How do you classify a premises that is food-led during the day but reverts to a drinks-only operation at night?"
Letting values could be hit'
Stephen Owens, senior associate director at surveyor and valuer Fleurets, said the grey area in planning was set to pose major problems for both property agents and the licensed trade.
"There will be problems deciding at what point pub premises officially become a gastro pub or a restaurant," he said. "The uncertainty could well affect letting values, depending on the exact classification a premises is given."
The prospect of smoking being banned in food pubs in 2008 adds further significance to the official designated category into which premises fall.