Plan to demolish west London pub and replace it with six-storey apartment block

A vacant pub in west London could soon be demolished and replaced with a six-storey residential block, after developers submitted a planning application to the local authority.

The Old Oak pub is situated on North End Road, West Kensington, and the building dates to around 1960. The pub was boarded up in April 2024 after its operator Redcat went into administration.

Now, an application has been submitted on behalf of The Old Oak Kensington Ltd, seeking to build nine flats within the proposed building plus a commercial unit on the ground floor.

The Old Oak is a short walk from West Kensington Tube station and it has previously been marketed online by SloaneGable seeking a new owner for the “mixed-use building”, which it said had permission for residential conversion above.

According to planning documents, the nine flats would consist of four one-beds, four two-beds and one three-bed.

The submission is looking “to demolish the existing vacant public house and accommodation over, and replace with much needed residential units to utilise the site in a more practical way”.

The Old Oak is described as “unused and in need of major refurbishment” and despite “intensive marketing” has been vacant since it shut.

Today it remains boarded up, with various events posters stuck to its covered windows.

There is also a sign indicating it has been, or may still be, occupied by property guardians, who live in empty or unused buildings to protect them from vandalism.

A public consultation is to run on the proposal until October 29.