Save The Royal Oak Pub, Crawley Down

Save The Royal Oak Pub, Crawley Down Please join this group to show your SUPPORT to save the pub from development as a shop or residential housing. This page is ONLY about supporting the pub.

The Royal Oak pub, Station Road, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4HZ was closed at the end of February 2015 by the owner who is a property developer & who apparently did not wish to see the pub viable. On 20th March 2015 it was put up for sale for possible conversion of the premises into a supermarket. The Pub is listed as an Asset of Community Value and an Article 4 Direction was placed on it by M

SDC on 20.2.15. It was apparent from the Crawley Down Village page that there is a lot of strong feeling in the community that it should remain a pub at the heart of the village. This page was created to find as many supporters who use Facebook to show any future developer how strongly we wish to oppose any development and that, as a community, we intend to keep The Royal Oak running as a viable business. The Save the Pub Team are: Alan Brooks, Dave Hook, Jane Summers, Tony Summers, Hannah Billings, Mark Dixon, John Sullivan, Tim Burberry, Ian Gibson and John Plank. We also can call upon the expertise of many specialists. If you wish to contact any of the above team members, please Private Message this page. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Royal+Oak+Cottages,+Station+Rd,+Crawley+Down,+Crawley,+West+Sussex+RH10+4HZ/@51.1209291,-0.077631,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x4875f6c68c2f4adf:0x513554b093d54a1f

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.12076,-0.077335,3a,75y,31.15h,84.67t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sxq6OSA3ZDbWsE8syu9anuw!2e0

24/09/2025

UPDATE : September 2025
Worth Parish Council have published the statement below. Unfortunately - AND YET AGAIN - the volunteers comprising the Save the Pub Team who have worked tirelessly for the last 11 years trying hard to SAVE our only village pub - were neither invited to, nor even informed of, ANY OF THESE THREE meetings. Those in attendance were Cllr Peter Bingle, Cllr Liz Bingle/Williams and Cllr Phillip Coote, Cllr Claire Pointer.
MINUTES of the 4.8.25 meeting with Miranda Khadr (the owner of The Royal Oak) are included in the comments below.
____________________________________________________
Members of the Crawley Down Working Party have met with the owner of the Royal Oak three times in this past year to discuss the building and find out what plans there are to improve it.
The building is in a poor state of repair and in a prominent position on Station Road, so local councillors are keen to ensure the building is made safe and brought back into use.
The owner intends to bring forward a planning application for the site which is likely to include flats on the first floor with a community space on the ground floor, and a retail unit at the rear of the site.
The owner was encouraged to do early community engagement on any plans so that local residents can have their say.
The full notes of this meeting were published with the agenda for the Planning & Highways Committee meeting on 1st September.

18/12/2024

A huge thanks to all the villagers who came along to Monday's Worth Parish Council meeting, as well as so many members of the STROP team - it was quite a crowd!
The Team are trying to work with both MSDC and WPC to find a way forward that is compatible with Neighbourhood Plan and any Village Centre proposals.
We desire - and need - to get involved in any discussions and the Team were very disappointed to hear that Cllr Peter Bingle, Cllr Liz Williams (Peter's wife) and Cllr Phillip Coote had met with the pub owner earlier that day, WITHOUT advising the STROP team beforehand. It will be interesting to see any resulting report and have the opportunity to comment.
Given the many and varied planning applications made (and refused) in the past, any claims of commercial confidentiality in relation to future options could hardly be classed as commercially confidential. With that in mind, it was surprising that a verbal report was not made to the meeting.
Strong emotions were evident in the meeting with some associated acrimonious comments that the Chair may have been inclined to rebuke. These comments were not at all constructive, or in accord with the intent of the meeting. We ALL need to cooperate but mutual trust is essential to progress.
We are sure that WPC understands the strength of feeling and support there is in the village and hope that they will ignore any internal conflicts to cooperate in pushing forward to implement residents expressed wishes.
PLEASE WILL EVERYONE keep sharing their views with councillors by contacting them personally. Their email addresses are in this link
https://www.worth-pc.gov.uk/Councillors__and__Council_Officers_20107.aspx
The STROP Team understand that there is likely to be a new housing survey in support of a Neighbourhood Plan review soon and would ask residents to submit their views. IT IS IMPORTANT. The Neighbourhood Plan has been severely neglected over the past 4 years and the effect weakened as a result.

15/12/2024

GOOD NEWS - since the earlier posts this week, the Save the Pub Team have been informed that - following their last presentation to the Crawley Down Working Party earlier this year - WPC have agreed to appeal against MSDCs refusal to renew the Asset of Community Value status on the pub. WPC are using the detailed and FACTUAL information the Team gave them.
The Team will STILL be making a presentation at the Assets and Amenities meeting on Monday 16th December, where it will also be a good opportunity to ask questions to the Sub-committee.

DECEMBER 2024 UPDATEHave you ever wondered if there was anything YOU could do to help SAVE OUR PUB … this could be your ...
12/12/2024

DECEMBER 2024 UPDATE

Have you ever wondered if there was anything YOU could do to help SAVE OUR PUB … this could be your moment …

On Monday 16th December 2024 the Save the Royal Oak team will be making a presentation to Worth Parish Council to ask them to appeal MSDC’s recent refusal to renew the Asset of Community Value status of the Royal Oak Pub.

The Team will also request that they develop the Neighbourhood Plan to INCLUDE A DEVELOPMENT OF THE VILLAGE CENTRE to meet the needs of the community - for community and commercial requirements - and NOT for high density housing.

Without the ACV status, the owner is free to develop the site as it wishes without concern for the community, the area around the shops or the townscape character of the current buildings.

In-person support will show the council the strength of feeling in the village to support this. PLEASE COME ALONG AND BE COUNTED. You do not need to speak, just to be a visible presence. We cannot do this on our own!

The meeting starts at 7.30pm, but it is likely the Team’s presentation will be at just after 8pm.

1st Floor, The Parish Hub, Borers Arms Road, Copthorne, RH10 3ZQ

09/09/2024

SEP 2024 UPDATE:
The Team have been in touch with the pub owner to advise her that there are more holes in the roof and the aerial is in danger of falling down. There have been rumours circling in the village to the effect that the purchase price of the pub has been reduced. This is NOT the case and the owner maintains her current position of £1m+ which is unviable.

27 MARCH 2024 : this is the letter sent to all WPC Councillors in response to their reply (below) of 21st March 2024:
27/03/2024

27 MARCH 2024 : this is the letter sent to all WPC Councillors in response to their reply (below) of 21st March 2024:

This was WPC's response to the Team's 18th March 2024 email posted below:
27/03/2024

This was WPC's response to the Team's 18th March 2024 email posted below:

18 MARCH 2024 : this is the letter sent to all WPC Councillors following the results of the recent Facebook Poll.
27/03/2024

18 MARCH 2024 : this is the letter sent to all WPC Councillors following the results of the recent Facebook Poll.

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO VOTED IN THE ROYAL OAK PUB POLL OVER THE WEEKEND.The result was overwhelmingly in favour of g...
19/03/2024

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO VOTED IN THE ROYAL OAK PUB POLL OVER THE WEEKEND.
The result was overwhelmingly in favour of getting a new pub in the village.
The Save the Royal Oak Pub Team have sent the results to ALL the WPC Councillors, along with a detailed case for the renewal of the Asset of Community Value (ACV) status, in order to push for a proper redevelopment of our village centre which will meet the wishes of the majority of residents.
It was made clear that high density residential dwellings are NOT what is wanted on the site of The Royal Oak Pub and the development should be commercial.
If you still wish to vote in the Poll, you will find it still open on the Crawley Down Village page.

MARCH 2024 : THE ROYAL OAK PUB - POLL VOTEPlease head over to the Crawley Down Village page to record your vote.
15/03/2024

MARCH 2024 : THE ROYAL OAK PUB - POLL VOTE
Please head over to the Crawley Down Village page to record your vote.

Address

Station Road
Crawley
RH104HZ

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