The Battle of Britain was a public house in Northfleet, Gravesend, Kent, originally established in 1947 as a wooden hut built by RAF personnel on the former Gravesend airfield. In 1961, the nearby Shears Green House was converted into a permanent pub, serving as both a social venue and a living memorial to GravesendâÂÂs wartime aviation heritage. RAF Gravesend, a key fighter station during the Second World War, was the first RAF base to operate the PâÂÂ51 Mustang and saw action during the 1940 Battle of Britain. In October 2016, the pub was illegally demolished by Putnam Construction Services, on behalf of landowners Brakspear brewery and their consultants, the Caldecotte Group.
The Battle of Britain began life in 1947 as a small wooden hut built by RAF personnel on the former Gravesend airfield. In 1961 the nearby Shears Green House was converted into a permanent pub and renamed the Battle of Britain. The pub was a large ex-Charringtons estate pub with multiple bars, function rooms and a big garden with a childrenâÂÂs play area. It also served as a living memorial to GravesendâÂÂs wartime aviation heritage. (RAF Gravesend was a key fighter station in the Second World War â in fact it was the first RAF base to operate the American PâÂÂ51 Mustang fighter -and it saw action during the 1940 Battle of Britain.)
The pub operated for almost 70 years as a local landmark and community hub. Its landlord often hosted family events and charity gatherings, and the friendly atmosphere made it a multiâÂÂgenerational meeting place.
Suddenly in October 2016 the Battle of Britain pub closed, and shortly afterward it was illegally demolished by Putnam Construction Services, on behalf of landowners Brakspear brewery and their consultants, the Caldecotte Group. Gravesham Borough Council later confirmed that the building was taken down âÂÂaround 11 October 2016â without planning permission, even though a formal demolition notice was still under review (and had in fact been refused). In other words, the pub was torn down before any permission was granted. The council therefore refused the developerâÂÂs retrospective demolition application.
Local residents and pub campaigners immediately protested. Groups like CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) called on the council to use its powers to require a rebuild, citing the Carlton Tavern case in London (2015) as precedent. In that case the developers had illegally demolished a pub and were later ordered by a public inquiry to rebuild it âÂÂbrick by brickâÂÂ. However, in Gravesham the campaign met resistance. By late 2023 CAMRA noted that the council had still taken no enforcement action to restore the pub; in fact the local branch commented that the authority had âÂÂeffectively endorsed the criminal demolitionâ by declining to compel a rebuild. Councillors said the site was privately owned land, not a listed building, and that buying or rebuilding the pub was not financially viable. The campaigners eventually acknowledged that forcing a full reconstruction was unlikely to succeed.
In December 2016, Gravesham Borough Council refused to designate the Battle of Britain pub site in Northfleet as a community asset following its unlawful demolition. It had also refused to issue an order protecting local pubs on a "wholesale basis."
In December 2016, the site of the former Battle of Britain pub on Coldharbour Road, Northfleet, was the target of a large-scale waste dump. Subsequently, in October 2018, two men were fined thousands of pounds after large amounts of waste were dumped at the site - more than two years after the building had been illegally demolished. The rubbish was unloaded at the site and elsewhere, leading to prosecutions and fines for flyâÂÂtipping offences.
After several years of the site lying empty (and after some deferred housing proposals), the former pub site was sold for redevelopment. In 2024 it was announced that Frontier Estates had sold the 1.16âÂÂacre plot (formerly the Battle of Britain pub) for a new care home project. Planning permission was granted to build a 75âÂÂbedroom care home on the site. The new facility â named Squadron Manor â is being developed by Morar Living and is expected to open in 2026. Thus the historic pub itself was not rebuilt; instead, the site is now being repurposed for an elderly care home, with the redevelopment acknowledging but not restoring the former pub.