Burn Bullock owners say cars will stay at Mitcham pub despite Merton enforcement notice

The owners of the Burn Bullock, the fire-damaged pub on Mitcham’s Cricket Green, say cars will stay parked behind the building until refurbishment starts, even though Merton Council has ordered them to stop.

The council served Phoenix Group Investments Limited, which owns the Grade II-listed pub, with an enforcement notice in February 2023. It told the firm to stop storing cars on the site and using it as a “makeshift scrapyard” and repair workshop, and to remove portable cabins used for storage. The deadline was April 2023. The notice is one of a series of enforcement actions against the owners stretching back a decade.

Why cars are still parked at the Burn Bullock

Numerous cars remain on the land at the rear. Kam Baig, of Phoenix Group Investments, said they had been gathered there to deter people from getting onto the site. “We had two or three incidents where people with caravans tried to park inside,” he said. He also said squatters had been in the pub and blamed them for the fire.

Mr Baig said a gate had been fitted on police advice. He and an associate, Abdul, said friends had been encouraged to leave their cars there as a deterrent. Abdul insisted no mechanical work is carried out on site.

Plans for a care home and pub refurbishment in Mitcham

The April 2024 fire caused extensive damage to the timber roof and interior. Much of the roof is still open to the weather, and a third winter since the blaze is now approaching. The pub is still listed on the Heritage at Risk Register. Mr Baig described the structure as “stable” but said it needed major work, mainly to the roof, windows and interior, at a cost he estimated could exceed £2million.

Phoenix’s 2016 proposals would have converted the building into flats above a ground-floor pub. Its current scheme is to restore the pub, put a care home on the land behind it and enlarge the adjoining Mitcham Cricket Club pavilion, which is locally listed, with mixed-gender showers and a cafeteria. Mr Baig said a pre-application for the pub and car park had been submitted and that Phoenix would comply with the notice once those works begin.

Tony Burton, secretary of Mitcham Cricket Green Community & Heritage, sees the cars as a failure by the council. He said Merton had “fallen short on enforcing its own enforcement” and called the abuse of the car park “just the latest chapter in a sorry tale”. In his view, compulsory purchase by the council is now the only way left to secure the pub’s future.

Merton Council’s position is that the owners, not the council, are responsible for the building. A council spokesperson said officers had acted against the owners again and again for more than ten years, including over vehicles being stored on the site.