A Kilburn gaming centre has been refused on appeal after an Inspector concluded it would breach policies restricting the concentration of gambling-related businesses on a busy London high street. The decision, issued on 11 November 2026, concerns converting a former bank into an adult gaming centre.
The proposed 24-hour premises would occupy the basement and ground floor of a corner building at Kilburn High Road and Victoria Road, with flats above. The developer, Sunni-Ed Limited, argued that the vacant unit could be brought back into use and that nearby noise impacts could be managed.
The Kilburn gaming centre appeal, however, turned chiefly on the combined frontage occupied by gaming centres, pawnbrokers and payday loan premises, rather than a blanket objection to bringing a vacant bank back into commercial use. Inspector N Perrins dismissed appeal 6011515 against Brent Council’s refusal.
Why the Kilburn gaming centre was refused
The proposal sought a change of use from a vacant bank to an adult gaming centre at the junction of Kilburn High Road and Victoria Road. The bank closed in June 2025, leaving a prominent ground-floor unit in the primary shopping frontage, while five flats occupy the upper floors.
The Kilburn Neighbourhood Plan was made in December 2025, after the application had been submitted but before it was determined. As part of the statutory development plan, it applied to the appeal even though the developer’s scheme originated before that point.
Neighbourhood Plan Policy DK1(c) does not support betting shops, adult gaming centres and casinos within the defined retail frontages. The appeal site lay in one of those areas. The Inspector rejected the argument that this policy should be given very limited weight merely because the national policy framework had been revised.
The three per cent high street frontage limit
The Inspector also applied Brent Local Plan Policy BE5(b), which limits the combined frontage occupied by adult gaming centres and pawnbrokers or payday loan shops to no more than 3% of the town centre frontage. It is a combined limit, not one allowance for each type of business.
On measurements not disputed by the appellant, the relevant premises already occupied about 1.98% of frontage on the Brent side of Kilburn High Road. Adding the proposed 27.25-metre corner frontage would raise the proportion to approximately 3.19%, beyond the adopted threshold.
Although the excess over 3% was small in percentage terms, the Inspector noted that the total frontage occupied by the grouped uses would grow from 44.75 to 72 metres, an increase of roughly 60%. The nearby Camden side of Kilburn High Road had further adult gaming premises, adding to the concentration experienced by people walking along the street.
The Kilburn gaming centre proposal therefore failed the local plan’s numerical test and the neighbourhood plan’s more direct restriction. Inspector Perrins concluded that the proposal would harm the vitality and function of Kilburn Town Centre
. An additional shopfront display condition might have created a more active frontage, but would not address the cumulative effect of these uses.
Two earlier appeal decisions cited by the appellant concerned spacing between uses, rather than the combined percentage frontage criterion in dispute here. The Inspector distinguished those decisions and did not treat them as establishing support for the proposed centre.
Why the approved bingo hall was not a sufficient fallback
The developer pointed to an existing permission for a bingo hall at the premises and argued that it provided a realistic fallback. The Inspector accepted that permission existed, but was not satisfied that its implementation had a real prospect on the evidence submitted.
The premises had been stripped out internally, but the Inspector observed that similar work could be required for any future tenant. There was no identified operator, licence or programme for opening the bingo hall. Further, the proposed bingo hall and adult gaming centre were distinct sui generis uses with materially different operating characteristics.
The Inspector therefore gave the fallback limited weight. The lesson from the Kilburn gaming centre appeal is that a fallback is not proved merely by pointing to an unimplemented permission. Evidence that it is realistically likely to proceed and materially comparable to the proposed scheme matters.
The bank’s existing lawful use fell within Use Class E, leaving scope for other Class E occupiers without necessarily requiring planning permission. Our change of use guide explains why the planning treatment of the same building can differ substantially between commercial uses.
Noise could have been controlled by conditions
The application proposed operating 24 hours a day throughout the year. With flats above and other residential properties close to the entrance, the Inspector accepted that unrestricted late-night activity could create disturbance from customers arriving, leaving or gathering outside, and from noise transmitted into the building.
However, this was not the decisive reason the Kilburn gaming centre failed. The Inspector considered that restricting opening hours and requiring sound insulation could prevent unacceptable impacts on residents. The council had not demonstrated why such conditions would be ineffective.
That distinction is important when reporting the outcome. The Inspector found the proposed use unacceptable because of the concentration and town centre policy conflict, not because 24-hour operation could never be mitigated through enforceable planning conditions.
The Inspector also considered representations raising crime, antisocial behaviour, gambling harm and equality issues. The decision did not establish that those harms would necessarily be caused by this particular proposal. The concentration policy conflict was sufficiently clear to dismiss the appeal without relying on every other objection.
What the decision means for town centre uses
Vacant commercial property is a real issue on many high streets, and the Inspector acknowledged that occupying this bank would improve the corner. The developer also referred to access to public transport and support for the night-time economy, but the decision gave those benefits limited weight in the face of clear local policies for the primary frontage.
The Kilburn gaming centre appeal demonstrates the practical importance of examining current adopted neighbourhood and local plans before assuming that a vacant Class E unit can be converted to any commercially attractive use. Where an application proposes a sui generis activity, both permitted development rights and specific local restrictions may affect the answer.
For this scheme, the combined frontage cap in Brent’s adopted plan and the express neighbourhood plan restriction were decisive. The Inspector dismissed the appeal because the proposal conflicted with those policies and the development plan as a whole, notwithstanding the potential for managing noise through conditions.
The Inspector’s decision is identified by appeal reference 6011515, and the application reference is 25/3401. The full appeal record can be located through the Planning Inspectorate appeal service. The appeal decision is also available on AppealBase.
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