Plaxtol's Historic Papermakers Arms Still Shut as Village's Bid to Buy It Awaits an Answer

The Papermakers Arms, a period pub at the heart of Plaxtol, has been shut since July - and while Plaxtol Parish Council has put in its own offer to buy it for the community, the outcome is still unknown, and the pub remains openly on the market.

The detached, late-1800s pub on The Street closed on 6 July 2026 after its operating company, GMP Property Holdings Ltd, went into administration. Leisure property specialists Fleurets were appointed to handle the sale and brought it to market on 21 July with a guide price of £495,000 for the freehold. The property has bar and dining areas seating around 45, a trade kitchen, a self-contained flat, separate staff accommodation, a beer garden and parking for about 20 cars.

Plaxtol Parish Council has been trying to secure the pub for the community since well before the administration, and confirmed on its website that it submitted a formal bid to Fleurets, acting for the administrators, ahead of an August deadline - alongside, by the council's own account, "a good number" of other interested parties, including several pub operators. Minutes of the parish council's meeting on 7 September record that "an offer had been made to the administrators" and that "the outcome was awaited". Separately, Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council approved the renewal of the Papermakers Arms' Asset of Community Value listing on 21 August 2026 - a status that gives the community a right to bid if the pub is ever put up for sale again in future, and which the parish council had already secured once before for the village's shop and Post Office.

As of now, the Papermakers Arms remains listed for sale with Fleurets at £495,000 OIRO, freehold, reference LA-625075. Sources: Fleurets, Plaxtol Parish Council, Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council