Friends of The White Lion

24/10/2025

WHITE LION UPDATE

We have been quiet for a while and although there is no big news it is worthwhile updating you about the current position of The White Lion.

Earlier this year the pub was put up for auction by the current owners with a view to selling the building for conversion into flats although there was no planning permission in place to enable this to happen. Despite being put up for auction twice, the building has so far failed to sell.

Although we were in no position to buy the building ourselves, we have remained open to work with anyone who may have an interest in securing the future of the building as a community asset. We were therefore fortunate in making a partnership with Art House Trust who have committed to working with us to buy the White Lion. Art House Trust (AHT) are a charitable organisation who specialise in bringing heritage buildings and cultural spaces back into use. (www.arthousetrust.org ) They are particularly interested in working with us to buy and develop the White Lion simply because it offers such a unique opportunity as both a heritage venue and a community asset.

Although the process of raising funds to buy a building like the White Lion is a slow one the first step along the way would be to secure the funding necessary to undertake a valuation and feasibility study. This feasibility study would then enable us to start process of raising the money to enable the purchase of the building.

Working with Art House Trust, we were given the go-ahead to apply for funding via the national charity for architectural heritage, The Architectural Heritage Fund, to apply for funding to enable the feasibility to go ahead. The only thing we needed from the current owners at this stage was a letter agreeing that we could access the building to undertake a survey and that they would be willing to consider an offer from us should we be in a position to buy the building at some time in the future should the building still be for sale by the time we have raised the money.
Unfortunately, the owners refused to give us a letter and said that they don’t want to work with us. We have heard from the owners via their estate agent that the building is not on the open market, and they would only be interested in selling it by auction to potential owners with the cash to make a direct purchase. If they can’t sell it by auction, they then intend to go ahead to seek planning permission to convert the pub into multiple flats themselves.

It has been very frustrating for us to watch the current owners treating the White Lion simply as an object of property speculation for the last 4 years and consequently letting the building rot. Although we cannot move forward with our plan at the moment, we are however not giving up and we remain committed to look for ways to secure the building’s future.

08/04/2025

IMPORTANT UPDATES

Despite being on the market since Christmas, and already going through one auction, the White Lion still remains up for sale. There is another auction tomorrow. As before, we would like to say that we would welcome any potential buyers for the pub who want to do something positive for the building and to honour its heritage. We would stress that we oppose any plans to convert the building into residential accommodation, and especially we would like to express our opposition to its conversion into a house of multiple occupation, which would be out of keeping with the area and the wishes and needs of the local residents .

We are at the moment, considering a number of options going forward should the building remain on the market after tomorrow’s auction.

Follow the auction live

Live stream of the Shonki Brothers (Granby Street) auction held on 09/04/2025 at Live Stream.

05/02/2025

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/victory-community-group-after-councils-30930484

Friends of The White Lion Group said it was a great achievement for the local community

01/02/2025

Pub, social hub, café, space for community activities, music venue, arts centre, social enterprise, bakery, food bank… These are only some of the ideas that you shared with us in the online survey last July about your vision for the the future of The White Lion. What they all have in common is a purpose that involves benefiting the local community.

The White Lion has been serving the local community for over 100 years. One of the aims of Friends of The White Lion is to protect its heritage as a community asset. We believe there is a viable future for the building that involves its use by the local community and we don’t accept it just becoming an object of property speculation.

We hope that the next owner of The White Lion will respect its heritage and its importance to the local community and we are very happy to support / work with anybody that would like to bring at least the part of the building back into community use.

We hope this message reaches all the potential participants of the auction on the 13th of February and may inspire them to create a positive vision for the future of the building.

22/01/2025

IMPORTANT UPDATES ON THE WHITE LION

We would like to inform you of a couple of important developments for The White Lion. Firstly, The White Lion has regained its Asset of Community Value Status and secondly the building is going up for sale at auction on the 13th of February.

THE WHITE LION REGAINS ITS ASSET OF COMMUNITY VALUE STATUS!

We reported before Christmas that our latest application for Asset of Community Value for the White Lion had been turned down and that we were reapplying to have The White Lion’s ACV reinstated. I am very pleased to say that we have now been successful in regaining Asset of Community Value status for another 5 years. Asset of Community Value status recognises its importance as a community building that supports the health and well-being of local people. This is a great achievement for the local community and reflects the hard work of our group as well as the continued support and effort of the local community to gain recognition for the contribution that The White Lion has made to the local community over the years and its continued importance as a heritage asset. A big thank you to everyone that helped in the process and a very special thanks to both the Walsall CAMRA group and CAMRA nationally for their support and advice.

THE WHITE LION IS COMING BACK ON THE MARKET

The current owners of the White Lion have just announced that they are putting the pub up for sale again on the 13th of February by auction. The Friends of the White Lion are interested in supporting or working with anyone who is interested in buying the pub and preserving its heritage and community use. Please spread the word if you know anyone who might be interested and encourage them to have a look at the sale. Please see link below.

https://www.shonkibrothers.com/new-auction-lots/White%20Lion

The owners are again advertising the building as potentially suitable for converting into 14 living spaces, subject to obtaining planning permission. As a group we oppose these plans as they present an approach which is all about maximising profit without considering the impact of the development on the area, local people or the heritage of the building. We will oppose any future planning applications which are destructive to the life of the local community or the building.

We would love more than anything to see the building back in use and for it to find a good new owner who could make it happen.

12/10/2024

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/camra-slams-council-over-perverse-30123937.amp

A community group aiming to preserve The White Lion in Caldmore suffered the setback last week

10/10/2024

We have just found out that our recent application to renew The White Lion’s status as an Asset of Community Value has been unsuccessful. We are very disappointed with the decision of Walsall Council, and we are not satisfied with the basis on which the decision was made. Therefore, we are in a process of reapplying.

The decision was largely based on the fact that The White Lion has been closed for over four years and therefore it hasn’t been furthering the “social wellbeing or interests of the local community” in the “recent” past. We would like to emphasise that the activity and hard work of Friends of The White Lion is evidence of how much value The White Lion holds for local people and of its ongoing importance in bringing people from community together and contributing to community wellbeing.

Even if it wasn’t for the social activities that have continued around the pub, despite it being closed by its owners against the wishes of the local community, the basis on which the Council’s decision was taken must be questioned as it all hinges of the definition of what they consider to be recent. In our view five years isn’t a long time in the history of a building with 170 years of unbroken service to the community.

The Council’s decision also stated that The White Lion is unlikely to promote the “social wellbeing or interests of the local community” in the near future. A statement which implies an assumption that there is no chance for The White Lion to reopen as a community venue. There has never been any planning decision made to change the use of the building. The group itself has been considering options to buy the building and even if we are not successful, the building will come back on a market as a pub and whoever buys it, will buy it as a pub.

We are concerned that the decision of the Council is like showing a green light to developers and property speculators to do what they like to The White Lion and other similar buildings. The Asset of Community Value is supposed to be a tool serving the community to enable them to protect buildings that have a special social and community importance. It hasn’t served this purpose for us.

We believe that neighbourhoods and their buildings should serve people living in them, and not be simply a subject of property speculation. Planning decisions should take into account the needs and aspirations of local communities, and not solely be dictated by profit and commercial interest.

The White Lion is a very special place. It’s been a very important part of the local landscape for many generations, it holds so many memories and histories, and it has huge value and importance for the community and local people. More than anything we would love to see this amazing building brought back into a use that honours its heritage and history and respects the needs of its neighbours and the local environment.

We know that forces that shape present towns are not particularly favourable to what we are trying to achieve. But we are still here and we are not giving up as we believe it is important and worth it to protect places like The White Lion.