Future of The Black Horse Raised in Parliament

James Murray secures adjournment debate on Greenford pub campaign

Ealing North MP James Murray (left) with other campaigners

December 15, 2022

A debate has been held in the House of Commons about the future of a pub in Greenford.

Ealing North MP, James Murray, secured an adjournment debate on Friday, December 2, on the community campaign to protect the Black Horse pub in Greenford, in his constituency.

The community campaign began in June 2021 after rumours started concerning the pub’s future and the MP launched a petition to urge Fuller’s not to convert it into flats.

A public meeting held in March 2022 gave impetus to a move to have the pub successfully listed as an ‘asset of community’ value by Ealing Council in August 2022.

The application for the listing was submitted by Mr Murray on behalf of the ‘Protect the Black Horse’ community group, which was established at the meeting.

The management committee of the group was invited to watch the debate from the House of Commons public gallery.

During the debate, Mr Murray said, “Over the last year-and-a-half, local people in Greenford have made their view clear that they want to protect the Black Horse pub from being sold off and turned into flats. The comments and actions of the pub’s owners have given us cause for concern, and so I am very
grateful to Sarita, Brian, Sindy, Mel, and James – my fellow members of the ‘Protect the Black Horse’ committee – for their help in applying to Ealing Council to get the pub listed as an asset of community value.

“We are very glad to have been successful in getting the Black Horse listed, but our experience has exposed some of the difficulties others may face in making a similar application.

“We are also aware of the limits to the protection such a listing offers, and so we would urge the Government to help give us and people across the country greater control over what happens to pubs and other important places in our local communities.”

Lee Rowley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government and Building Safety, replied, “Pubs are an incredibly important part of community life and I absolutely concur with him that we should protect them where we are able to do so. I am grateful for his feedback. I will absolutely look further into the letter and the statements that he highlighted. I wish him and all members of the Save the Black Horse committee all the best in ensuring that the Black Horse, which has been part of the community for the last 350 years, is saved for another 350 years.”

Fuller’s has remained non-committal on the future of the pub saying that it has no plans to close it but telling Mr Murray in a letter, “if we can see a strong future, particularly around strong local community engagement, we like to invest for the long term. If not we do look at alternatives.”

The pub chain appointed solicitors to try to persuade Ealing Council not to list The Black Horse as an Asset of Community Value.