We have relaunched the Save the Cabinet Fighting Fund to help save the beautiful, 400-year old Grade II listed Cabinet pub in Reed, Hertfordshire, being turned permanently into a house.

The campaign has now been running for nearly 4 years.

The building has been subjected to one planning application after another. In 2016, the owner, a property developer, turned the pub into a house without planning permission or listed building consent, only applying for these retrospectively.

Change of use was refused following an appeal dealt with as a public inquiry in 2018, and an enforcement notice was issued to stop the pub being used as a residence. That notice is due to come into force in August 2020.

In 2019 the owner sought to subdivide the pub and live in the main part of it, opening up the smaller, single-story section as what is known as a "stub pub". Planning permission was refused.

Now, under cover of the Covid--19 pandemic lockdown, in 2020 he has sudivided it anyway, applying retrospectively for planning permission and listed building consent, and opening a small Indian "bar, restaurant and takeaway" in the single storey section. He has applied for planning permission and listed building consent retrospectively once again.

Make no mistake: this is a cynical ploy to turn the whole of The Cabinet into a house forever. The owner doesn't expect the new takeaway to be successful, and if he succeeds in changing the use of the main part of the building the way will be clear to him achieving his aim of keeping the entire building as a house.

He must not be allowed to get away with it.

The Save the Cabinet Action Group will once again co-ordinate resistance to these deeply unwelcome applications. We need to raise money to help fund the professional expert help we need to do so as effectively as we can.

Please visit our web site to learn more about the campaign to save The Cabinet.