Kenilworth
Nub News Logo
Nub News

Council serves enforcement notice after Kenilworth pub painted without permission

Local News by James Smith 1st May 2026  
The Royal Oak was painted red (image via planning application)
The Royal Oak was painted red (image via planning application)
advertisement

A Kenilworth pub has been served a notice by the council after the outside of the building was painted without permission.

Warwick District Council sent the enforcement letter to The Royal Oak on New Street earlier this year after the front of the grade II listed building was painted red.

Landlord Admiral Taverns has now applied for permission from the local authority to repaint it olive green.

"The enforcement notice considered that a breach of listed building consent had occurred which affected the character of the building as one of special architectural or historic interest without the benefit of listed building consent, through the painting of the external fascia from white to brick red," plans revealed.

"The notice stated that the painting of the building to brick red introduced an alien feature that is both harmful to the character of the grade II listed building and visually intrusive to the wider Kenilworth conservation area."

Admiral said olive green was chosen after "careful consideration" arguing it was previously painted a similar colour.

Repainting plans for The Royal Oak (image via planning application)

Before being painted red, The Royal Oak was white.

"The applicants have sought through a design process to re-paint the exterior frontage in a colour which aesthetically respects and enhances the heritage significance of the property and its conservation area setting to return the property back to a visually appropriate, welcoming and attractive public house building," the application said.

Download our Nub News App!

- It’s FREE and available now
- Breaking news notifications
- Your Town in Your Pocket

"In light of this, the applicants have chosen olive green as it is considered to be a similar heritage colour scheme to that previously used on the external fascia, ensuring that the proposal leads to less than substantial harm to the listed building and the conservation area to which the property is located."

The enforcement notice is not the first time The Royal Oak has ended up in a planning battle with the council, having submitted multiple applications to keep a barbeque shed which was also installed without permission.

Download our Nub News App: - It’s FREE and available now
- Breaking news notifications
- Your Town in Your Pocket

     

Join the 1% Less than one percent of our regular readers pay to support our work.

We send messages like this because, honestly, we need to.
We believe the kind of journalism we produce is important.
That’s why we rely on readers like you.

Please consider joining that 1% today.
Monthly supporters will enjoy:
Ad-free experience
advertisement

Share:


advertisement

Downdload our Nub News App:
- It’s FREE and available now
- Breaking news notifications
- Your Town in Your Pocket