While one Victorian era pub building in Croydon faces continuing uncertainty, a residents’ campaign in Kenley has been successful in achieving Asset of Community Value status for what could become a community hub
‘An example of beutiful Victorian architecture’: The Kenley Hotel, closed for almost a year, with locals fearing for its fate
The Kenley Hotel, a grand Victorian pub building on the Godstone Road which served pints to RAF heroes and heroines during the Battle of Britain and which has a bar reputedly made for the doomed Titanic, has been given a reprieve from developers’ bulldozers, for now at least.
Croydon Council has granted an application from the local residents’ association to have the Kenley Hotel made an Asset of Community Value, or ACV.
Now “all” that KENDRA, the Kenley and District Residents’ Association, has to do is raise the money to buy the property.
ACV status gives locals first refusal on heritage buildings – but the process of acquiring the property can be long, arduous, potentially hugely expensive and, ultimately, fruitless, as the efforts to save The council granted ACV status to The Glamorgan on Cherry Orchard Road have demonstrated.
For now though, KENDRA officials and their supporters are celebrating the decision of a Town Hall pen-pusher to at least give them a chance of preserving the Kenley Hotel and giving their area the prospect of a community hub to enjoy for years to come.
The pub closed, “temporarily”, in July last year.
Success: how Kenley residents announced the granting of ACV status for the local pub building
After a series of meetings, task allocations, form-filling and a little fund-raising, the ACV bid for the Kenley Hotel was submitted on May 1. So today’s news that it has been granted represents a rapid turnaround by the usual standards of Croydon Council’s planning department.
Today, the ACV bid organisers said: “Now let’s shape the Kenley Hotel’s future together.” They called the granting of ACV status “a huge milestone, powered by the passion, persistence and pride” of locals.
“Our 1886 landmark is now formall recognised as a vital part of Kenley’s social fabric, giving the community the legal right to bid for it if it ever goes up for sale.
“This is just the beginning.”
The residents are establishing a Community Benefit Society, or CBS (like the world doesn’t have enough acronyms…), a not-for-profit organisation that will allow local people to become members and co‑owners of the project. “Once registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, the CBS will launch a Community Share Offer, giving residents the chance to invest directly in bringing the Kenley Hotel back to life as a vibrant, community‑run hub,” KENDRA says.
KENDRA will be hosting public meetings over the summer to, among other things, invite residents to join working groups on finance, governance, fundraising and community engagement.
“If the freeholder decides to sell, Kenley will be ready.”
Months after they approached owners Star Pub and Heineken to ask what their plans are for the building, KENDRA is still awaiting a reply.
“The ACV is step one. The real work is the bid and long‑term plan.”
Community-run pubs are a growing phenomenon, as pubcos and brewers are often exiting the pub business, cashing in their property assets. The beacon example of how a community-owned pub can grow and thrive is probably The Hope in Carshalton, named London’s Pub of the Year seven times since it became customer-owned in 2011.
If you want to find out more about the Kenley Hotel campaign, email kenleyacv21@outlook.com.
Read more: £1.45m Addiscombe landmark building withdrawn from auction
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
