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Latest Articles

The Derelict Farmer’s Pub Site: Progress at Last?

Samuel Bligh, farmer and inn-keeper of Sevenoaks, was a smart man, with an eye for the main chance. In 1852 when licensee of the Rose and Crown in the High Street, he bought a lease on the 16^th century farmhouse owned by the City of London parish of St Botolphs without Bishopsgate, turning it into Bligh’s Private Hotel. Once work had started on building a new railway line to Sevenoaks, he acquired another lease for 99 years from Bishopsgate on land opposite the building site for the new station at Tubs Hill and set about erecting another hotel. Publican and now also entrepreneur William Pawley had the same idea, on the other side of the road. The race was on. It was a dead heat. Both Pawley’s Railway Tavern (soon to be the Railway and Bicycle) and Bligh’s Sennocke Hotel (later the Farmers) were awarded a license in August 1868, just five months after the station opened - the magistrates concluding that the increase in traffic and need for respectable accommodation justified the presence of two establishments.

Indeed, both thrived: they were popular with travellers, locals, market-goers and families. But both are no more. A block of apartments and shops now occupies the site of the Railway and Bicycle, and the land on which the Farmers stood has been derelict since the pub was knocked down in 2006. Bishopsgate Foundation was eager to sell its last remaining property in the area, and an application to demolish the pub and build flats and retail units was granted on appeal in 2005. Despite strong opposition, the site was sold to developers, the pub closed and bulldozers moved in. The site lay empty but a second application for a larger scheme with 39 flats was submitted. Again it was refused by Sevenoaks District Council but in 2015 was again granted on appeal. The conspicuous plot still lies vacant and forlorn. As public concern at the lack of action intensified, in 2020 The Sevenoaks Society presented a petition of over 1,500 signatures to the Council, urging it to engage with the owners and consider issuing a Compulsory Purchase Order, arguing that the site is an embarrassing eye-sore at a main entrance to the town and if developed could help meet the chronic need for housing. But SDC’s view was that a CPO was not in local taxpayers’ interests.

However there is hope that after 20 years the site will be developed at last. In December the Council passed a resolution to grant a fresh planning permission in response to a renewed application (SDC reference 24/01339/FUL). The new proposal is for a car-free 6 storey building of 56 apartments and 697sqm of commercial ground floor space, with 3 disabled parking bays and landscaping. A Design and Access Statement on the Council’s web-site provides an overview of the scheme which in the developer’s words “respectfully benefits the local setting, creating a suitably contemporary celebration of this remarkable opportunity to enhance this important gateway into the town of Sevenoaks ..” . Planning permission will not be granted until there is a S106 agreement in place which requires the Council to work proactively with the developer to reach agreement on a number of detailed issues. Progress in this area appears to be slow and the Society hopes that this is not a precursor to more delays and continuing inaction by both parties.

It is often assumed that the Farmers took its name from the nearby live-stock market. This is only partly true. In May 1982 brothers Eddy and Johnny Farmer acquired the Watney’s house and chose the name as being doubly suitable.

KCC Local Transport Plan 5 - Striking the Balance Public Consultation

Response of the Sevenoaks Society

The Sevenoaks Society, which is the civic society for Sevenoaks Town, welcomes the opportunity to comment on KCC’s draft transport plan.

East facing slip roads to M26

The Society welcome these proposals, subject to design layout, and encourages KCC to maintain pressure on National Highways to reconsider the scheme, especially in the light of the extent of projected growth in and around the Sevenoaks town in the draft local plan options.

Improvements to the Bat and Ball junction

Given that this junction is already over-capacity, it is difficult to see the case for wating until after the first stage of Sevenoaks Quarry development is complete before making the necessary improvements. The Society believes that it should be a prerequisite that the improvements to this junction are completed before the occupation of houses in phase 1 of the Quarry development. This should be a firm and important element of KCC’s forward transport planning as it is not only the Quarry development which will lead to increased flows at the junction, but also proposed schemes at Cramptons Road, the Sevenoaks Gasworks site and further east at the proposed Borough Green Garden City.

In designing improvements to Bat and Ball junction particular attention should be paid to improving the ease and safety for those on foot or bicycle seeking to negotiate the junction, given the numbers who do, especially school children.

The Society is also concerned about congestion and overload at the two Riverhead junctions of the A25, which were identified as congestion blackspots in KCC’s 2010 transport plan ‘Growth without Gridlock.’ It is our understanding that when Bat and Ball junction is improved, this will increase the rate at which traffic arrives at these already overloaded roundabouts. The A25 into Riverhead is not only the main route into Sevenoaks from M25 but also serves villages and towns west of Sevenoaks (Sundridge, Brasted, Westerham etc) and is therefore an exceptionally busy road. When the junction is congested there are knock-on implications for flows of traffic in the Sevenoaks urban area between the town and Dunton Green/Tesco and from Bessels Green into the town. We accordingly believe that improvements to the Riverhead junctions should be considered together with the Bat and Ball junction, rather than in isolation. We further believe that the KCC should oppose any further proposed developments which will increase congestion at these junctions until such time as improvements are made.

Infrastructure improvements in advance of development

Following from the above, the Society endorses the general principle set out in bullet two of draft plan’s ‘Development Management Principles’ that an infrastructure-first approach should be pursued to secure necessary transport improvements before rather than after development has taken place. Given the fact that funding for new infrastructure is difficult to find, it is imperative that planning policies encourage development around existing infrastructure, particularly transport infrastructure.

In particular development should be encouraged around good growth corridors along the north Kent estuary such as those at Ebbsfleet, where the transport plan seeks an extension of the Elizabeth Line.

M25 and othertransport connections to Pedham Place

The Society would encourage KCC to seek a commitment from Government to fund transport connections to the potential development site at Pedham Place as well as creating other public transport connections between Swanley and Pedham Place.

Walking and cycling

The Society welcomes proposals for improving facilities for walking and cycling. It has welcomed the proposals for new cycleways in Sevenoaks Town subject to the safety of detailed designs. In addition to new facilities, the Society believes it is important that transport plans seek to improve the facility of pedestrians and cyclists to cross and negotiate existing highways.

At present it takes far too long for reported problems on public rights of way to be addressed, even where matters of walkers’ safety are concerned. There should be more emphasis and urgency attached to getting landowners to put right problems with styles, fallen trees and other footpath hazards.

Highway signage

The Society would welcome a substantial improvement in the quality and accuracy of signage for highway improvement works. All too often road closure signs are put up where there is no road closure or works have been completed. And road diversion signs can point anywhere and lead nowhere.

Bus service improvement plan

The Society welcomes proposals to seek to improve bus services. An obvious way to reduce carbon and emissions harmful to air quality would be for all buses in Kent to be required to comply with the highest environmental air quality standards and for old polluting vehicles to be removed from Kent’s roads at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Society is delighted that the old millpond at Greatness has been restored to something of its former glory. We have been pressing the owners, Sevenoaks District Council, to renovate the pond, which had been neglected so that silt, vegetation and rubbish had accumulated. As well as being a local amenity and haven for wildlife, the site is a reminder of both the silk and corn mills that used to flourish here, and also the fun had by many when it was a lido and boating pool. Click below to read the full story

Greatness Millpond Mag Article

Before Restoration