Kent pub group WH Pubs has applied to restore and extend The Old Jail on Jail Lane, shut since early 2023. Comments close 16 and 27 October.
The Old Jail on Jail Lane, the 18th-century pub near Biggin Hill that has been shut since early 2023, is set to reopen. Its new owner, the Kent pub group WH Pubs, has applied to Bromley Council to restore and extend the Grade II listed building.
“It’s been locked up for a while, but we’ve now got the key!” the company says on its Old Jail page. It says the building “is being transformed into a fantastic new pub in Biggin Hill” and asks residents to support the application. Its group site lists The Old Jail alongside five Kent pubs it already runs, including The Bull at Otford and The Little Brown Jug at Chiddingstone Causeway.
The pub sits in Darwin ward, under a mile east of Biggin Hill and about six and a half miles south of Bromley town centre.
What the plans include
Two applications went in on 17 September, under one Planning Portal submission. Both are in the name of WH The Old Jail Pub Ltd, according to Bromley’s planning register. The council describes the work as:
- demolition of the existing extensions and outbuildings
- internal and external alterations to the listed building
- a new extension
- a car park
- hard and soft landscaping
The full planning application is 26/03640/FPA and the listed building consent is 26/03691/LBC. Neither description mentions a change of use, and the owner says it will run the building as a pub. The register shows 61 documents on the planning file.
Both applications will be decided by planning officers under delegated powers, not by a committee, unless a councillor calls them in. The register shows no call-in on either file so far.
Why it closed
The pub closed in early 2023 after a flood, according to the London branch of CAMRA. Its then owner, Star Pubs & Bars, part of Heineken UK, started repairs. CAMRA says the work ran into trouble because of the listing, and because of earlier works by a previous tenant that never had permission.
Star then put the pub up for sale. The agent Fleurets marketed the freehold in December 2024 at a guide price of £495,000 plus VAT. Its listing said the building needed a complete refurbishment. It also pointed buyers to “the possibility for change of use”, which is the outcome many closed rural pubs end up with.
The register names the applicant as WH The Old Jail Pub Ltd. The matching company at Companies House, WH The Old Jail Limited, was incorporated on 7 August 2025. Its registered office is The Little Brown Jug, the address WH Pubs gives as its head office.
The building
Historic England’s list entry records The Old Jail as two 18th-century buildings with a slate roof. The upper floor is weatherboarded over a painted brick ground floor, with a 19th-century chimney and a first-floor stable door. It was listed at Grade II on 29 June 1973.
The list entry does not explain the name. The selling agent’s listing says it is believed to come from the building’s use “as an overnight stop for prisoners being transported from London to Maidstone Prison”.
The rear garden has been an issue before. In 2019 the council refused planning permission for decking, a pergola and an awning behind the pub (19/01131/FULL1), though it granted listed building consent for the same works (PlanIt record).
What it means for you
If you want a pub back on Jail Lane, or you have concerns about the extension, the car park or traffic on a narrow country lane, this is the window to say so.
- Listed building consent (26/03691/LBC): comments close on Friday 16 October. The earliest decision date is 28 October.
- Planning permission (26/03640/FPA): comments close on Tuesday 27 October. The earliest decision date is 4 November.
- The council’s scheduled decision dates are 12 November for the listed building consent and 26 November for planning permission.
Search either reference on Bromley’s planning register to read the drawings and leave a comment. Our guide to Bromley planning applications explains how comments are weighed. The register does not publish a running count of comments, so we cannot say how many have been made.
WH Pubs has not published an opening date. We will report the decision when it is made.
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