Former customers make renewed bid to safeguard the future of former Builders Arms pub in New Barnet which is now up for sale

Continuing uncertainty about the fate of the Builders Arms – and with no sign of a new owner – a group of former regulars have nominated the vacant New Barnet pub to be declared an asset of community value.

In the immediate aftermath of its closure in mid-April a petition was launched in the hope of collecting sufficient support for an ACV application but this stalled due to the difficulty in finding a community group to make the nomination.

Greg Allam (above), who once worked behind the bar at the Builders Arms, is lead organiser of a renewed bid to safeguard the future of the former Greene King pub which is now on the market for £595,000.

“Our aim is to secure as much protection for as long as possible to see if there is a chance of someone coming forward to re-open the pub.”

Mr Allan submitted the application for an ACV to Barnet Council in the name of an unincorporated organisation which requires the backing of 21 individuals whose names and addresses are on the electoral roll.

Greene King put the Builders Arms on the market soon after it ceased trading along with another 300 of its tenanted and managed pubs. It paid £920,000 for the pub in 2008.

Prospects might seem bleak at present given the number of pub closures across the country, but the Builders Arms is well placed in Albert Road to benefit from the completion of the massive Park Quarter development on the site of the former New Barnet gas works.

Fairview Homes are building eleven high-rise blocks of flats which will offer 420 new homes.

Disruption in Albert Road caused by construction work, which began in 2024, proved too much for the Builders Arms’ landlady Silva.

Trade was so badly affected that she did not renew her tenancy as she could not afford to wait for the completion of the Park Quarter estate.

Mr Allam believes the completion of the flats will offer a fresh opportunity for a new owner to come forward.

If the nomination of the Builders Arms is accepted by Barnet Council, ACV protection allows a community organisation to make an expression as a potential bidder. This would trigger a six-month moratorium preventing the sale of the asset on the open market.

ACV status has to be taken into consideration by local councils and inspectors and could be a factor in refusing planning permission for a change of use or demolition.

If the Builders Arms is not sold off and re-opened, Mr Allam believes there would be support for a community-owned pub in New Barnet.

“I have known the Builders Arms for the last eight years. I spent a year behind the bar serving customers, so I know how much it was appreciated by the locals.

“If we could re-open it is a community pub, perhaps it could specialise in selling craft beers. There are all sorts of ideas being considered and if Barnet Council approves the AVC nomination we will get the time to think through the possible options.”

In recent years several vacant pubs in and around High Barnet have been protected by ACV nominations.

When in early 2024 the Stonegate group announced the closure of the Prince of Wales – the one and only pub in East Barnet village – a petition was launched attracting 2,000 signatures.

An ACV nomination was approved within weeks – a safeguard which in the event was not needed because new owners took on the property and refurbished the premises.

More recently ACV protection strengthened the hand of three former regulars of the Black Horse in High Barnet who succeeded in securing a one-year tenancy for a new community-led business, Barnet Community Pubs Ltd.

The Black Horse re-opened in late June after its sudden closure in September 2025.