Since the White Hart in Bratton Fleming closed in December 2012,
the village has not had a pub. This website is for everyone
who wants to see the White Hart re-opened as a pub
at the centre of the Bratton Fleming community.
To this end we have founded
The Bratton Fleming Community Benefit Society Ltd.
This company has been created with the help of the Plunkett Foundation to do all we can to get our pub back.
Due to the growing number of Firms that have generously decided to sponsor us, and in particular our POP UP PUB events, we now have a new page on this website to thank them properly called our support.
Back in April, we and the Parish Council submitted a joint planning application on The White Hart, seeking permission for a part change of use to provide a shared use Community Hub, incorporating the public house, community shop, Post Office, car parking, ancillary residential accommodation and other community facilities. This followed our joint community consultation on our shared Vision for The White Hart. We are very pleased to be able to tell you that this planning application was approved on Friday, which is great news 😀 Whilst we obviously cannot act on this at the moment, as we don't own the pub, it puts an important building block in place, which will enable us to move forwards swiftly when the time comes.
The Local Planning Authority (LPA) concluded that 'The provision of the proposed community uses in the village centre is critical to ensuring Bratton Fleming remains viable and vibrant. There are an ever decreasing level of services in the village and the LPA supports the community group in trying to provide these. The White Hart is currently redundant but could serve the community as it once did.'
Meanwhile, the Planning Inspectorate is still considering the owner's appeal against the refusal of planning permission to turn the whole site into housing. We expect to hear the outcome of the appeal within the next couple of weeks and remain optimistic the appeal will fail. Once the appeal has been decided, we are hopeful we will start to see some real movement towards re-establishing The White Hart as the Hub at the heart of our community, through a Compulsory Purchase Order, if necessary.
Update
