Nottingham canal pub 'should be kept for the public', but estate agents say space could suit flats

Under offer signs have appeared at the former Waterfront bar in Castle Wharf
-Credit:Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC


A Nottingham pub overlooking the canal "should be kept for the public", a Nottingham Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) member has said. The Waterfront, on Castle Wharf, suddenly closed in spring 2023 and is currently listed for £600,000.

The listing has revealed that the premises would suit offices, flats, including for students, Airbnbs, or a new bar or restaurant, and "under offer" signs have now appeared on the building. But Nottingham CAMRA secretary, Andrew Ludlow, said the pub closure was a mistake.

This comes as The Company Inn Wetherspoon pub at Castle Wharf, also on Canal Street, shut its doors permanently in November 2021 after it stood closed for some time. Nearby Via Fossa also closed its doors for a final time on October 19, last year, and has since been boarded up.

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The Fellows, Morton and Clayton has just reopened at the end of 2024, following a "tough history" of closures. Mr Ludlow said: "The Waterfront looks out over the canal, it's a beautiful area for leisure activities and it should be kept for the public, rather than for a small number of people who have the money to buy these properties.

"All the pubs closing by the canal is a mistake. We have The Fellows, Morton and Clayton which has just reopened, you have the Canal House that's doing an exceptionally good trade and you have the Navigation Inn a little further down which is also extremely popular.

"It seems to me that, ideally, you need to have a number of places together so that the area becomes one where you can walk from one pub to another quite easily. It would be a shame to lose another pub in that area."

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The Waterfront was placed on the market by its owner, the Canal and River Trust, in November 2024. The trust, which manages 2,000 miles of historic waterways across England and Wales including those in Nottingham, said it would use the income from the sale to maintain its large network - amid a £300 million funding gap.

A spokesperson for the charity, which is currently turning the nearby British Waterways building into flats as part of ongoing change at the wharf, said: "The income from the sale will be re-invested to help fund the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of our 200-year-old network of waterways so they can continue to be enjoyed by local communities."