Use Class E: can a shop become a café without planning permission?
By Provenance Diligence team · .
Contents
- What Class E lets you do, and what it does not
- Old planning conditions that still bind the premises
- Enforcement and the ten-year clock
- Works that need their own consent: flues, signs, seating, building control
- The lease: user clause, consent and forfeiture
1. What Class E lets you do, and what it does not
Short answer: A move from a shop to a café inside Class E is not "development", so it needs no planning permission by itself. That rule says nothing about conditions on the building, works, the lease or licences, which each need their own check.
Start with the chain of rules, because the buyer's conclusion rests on three links.
The first link is the definition of development. Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, development includes "the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land" [s.55(1) Town and Country Planning Act 1990]. A material change of use needs planning permission. Whether a change is "material" is decided on the facts of each case, and there is no statutory definition [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 13-011-20140306].
The second link is the exception. Where buildings are used for a purpose in a class named in an order made by the Secretary of State, using them for any other purpose in the same class is not treated as development [s.55(2)(f) Town and Country Planning Act 1990]. The order in question is the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987.
The third link is the order itself. For England, moving a building from one use to another within the same class is not development [article 3(1A), Use Classes Order 1987]. Class E, called "Commercial, Business and Service", was inserted for England on 1 September 2020 by SI 2020/757, and class B1 is omitted for England [article 3(1B) and (1C)(a), Use Classes Order 1987; Schedule 2, Use Classes Order 1987].
Put together, the conclusion for you as a buyer is this. If the premises are lawfully used as a shop in E(a), and you will run a café in E(b), the use class has not changed. The Planning Portal reaches the same position for a shop converting to a café: planning permission will not normally be required, though work associated with the change may require permission [Planning Portal, shop to café page].
The word "normally" in that sentence matters. It marks the three gaps that matter for a buyer.
Gap one: the premises may not be in Class E today. Class E only helps if the lawful current use is inside the class. A building that last operated as a pub, a takeaway or another use outside Class E needs its own analysis.
Gap two: a planning condition may restrict use. The 2020 changes "do not override any existing planning conditions or planning obligation which specifically prohibits a new use" [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 13-012b-20210820]. Section 2 explains where these conditions sit and how to read them.
Gap three: the café needs more than a use class. A café usually needs cooking equipment, extraction, a new shopfront sign and perhaps tables on the pavement. The Planning Portal says permission is required for commercial extractor flues if cooking is intended, outdoor seating very likely needs a licence from the highway authority, and signage changes are likely to need express Advertisement Consent [Planning Portal, shop to café page]. Section 4 covers these.
What the buyer stands to lose is concrete. The money goes on a kitchen that cannot be used, a flue that attracts an enforcement notice, or a lease that gives the landlord a ground to refuse a new lease.
Check the version of the rule
The statute section that carries the exception, s.55, shows as up to date to 5 November 2026 on legislation.gov.uk, with no pending change to subsections (1) or (2)(f). The use class rule also depends on the version of the Order in force in England on the date of the change. Guidance written before September 2020 describes shops as A1 and cafés as A3, which were separate classes, so a pre-2020 article that says a café needs permission describes the old rules.
For the buyer, the practical test is simple. Any document that says "A1" or "A3" about the premises dates from before 1 September 2020 or was written for the old classes. Read it as history. The transitional provisions ran until 31 July 2021, and references to use classes in the General Permitted Development Order were read as the classes in force on 31 August 2020 during that period [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 13-012c]. That period is over, so no transitional reading applies to a purchase today.
2. Old planning conditions that still bind the premises
Short answer: A condition attached to an earlier planning permission can restrict the use of the unit even though Class E would otherwise allow the change. Read every condition on every permission for the address before you price the business.
The Class E rule removes the need for planning permission for the move. It does not cancel conditions already attached to a permission for the building. The guidance is direct: the 2020 regulations "do not override any existing planning conditions or planning obligation which specifically prohibits a new use" [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 13-012b-20210820].
For a buyer, this is the check most likely to change the plan, because the seller may not know a 1990s condition exists. A shop that opened under a permission with a restriction to retail use carries that restriction into your ownership.
How to read a decision notice, line by line
A planning decision notice is a short document. Read it in this order.
- The address and application number. Check that the address matches the unit you are buying. A decision for the neighbouring unit, or for the whole parade, may or may not cover your unit. The plan attached to the notice shows the red line around the land.
- The description of development. This line says what the permission allowed. "Change of use from office to shop" tells you the use the permission created. It also tells you when the unit's retail use began.
- The date of the decision. A decision before 1 September 2020 uses old class letters. A decision after that date uses Class E terms.
- The numbered conditions. Each condition is a sentence that starts "The premises shall be used only for..." or "No deliveries shall..." or "The extraction system shall...". Each is a restriction that binds the owner or occupier.
- The reasons. Each condition is followed by a reason, which tells you what the council wanted to protect: neighbours, parking, shopping-centre vitality, residential amenity.
- The informatives. These are notes. They do not bind, but they point to other consents, such as advertisement consent or a licence.
The conditions are the part that can stop you. Mark every condition that mentions use, hours, goods sold, deliveries, noise, odour or extraction.
What a use restriction looks like
Conditions that limit use come in a few forms.
| Form of condition | What it does | What the buyer asks |
|---|---|---|
| "Used only as a shop (A1) and for no other purpose" | Names one use and excludes others | Does the council treat a café as another purpose? Has the condition been varied since? |
| "Used only for the sale of [named goods]" | Limits what is sold | Does the café's menu fit the goods named? |
| "No hot food shall be sold for consumption off the premises" | Bans takeaway sales | Does the business plan rely on takeaway hot drinks or food? |
| Opening hours | Limits trading times | Do the café's planned hours, including early breakfast or evening, fit? |
| Delivery and servicing hours | Limits deliveries | Do the supplier timetables fit? |
| Extraction, odour or noise scheme | Requires equipment or limits emissions | Does a café kitchen fit within the scheme? |
The first row is the one the 2020 guidance speaks to. A condition that specifically prohibits a new use is not overridden [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 13-012b-20210820]. Whether a particular condition does specifically prohibit a café is a question about its wording, and the wording differs from decision to decision.
The route to remove or change a condition
Some or all conditions can be removed or changed by an application to the local planning authority under s.73 of the Act, and the authority considers only the condition or conditions in dispute [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 21a-031-20180615]. Two points follow for a buyer.
First, the original permission continues to exist whatever the outcome of a s.73 application, and conditions may be added only if they do not materially alter the development in the original permission [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 21a-040-20190723]. A failed application does not end the existing permission, so applying does not put the shop use at risk.
Second, an application takes time, and the business pays rent and rates while it waits. A buyer who finds a use restriction should ask the seller to bear the risk, for example by making completion conditional on a granted s.73 application or by reducing the price.
3. Enforcement and the ten-year clock
Short answer: For a breach of planning control such as an unauthorised change of use to a café, no enforcement action may be taken after ten years from the breach. In England the same ten years now also applies to building operations and to a change to a single dwellinghouse; in Wales those two have four years. A buyer relies on this when a past change of use cannot be proved lawful by permission.
Sometimes a premises history contains a change that never had permission. A previous occupier may have started selling hot food, or turned the first floor into a seating area, years ago. The question for the buyer is whether the council can still act.
The ten-year rule
For any breach other than operations or a change of use to a single dwellinghouse, no enforcement action may be taken after ten years beginning with the date of the breach [s.171B(3) Town and Country Planning Act 1990]. A use that has continued in breach for more than ten years is therefore beyond enforcement action. For operations (building work) and for a change of use to a single dwellinghouse, the period is ten years in England and four years in Wales, counted for operations from substantial completion [s.171B(1) and (2) Town and Country Planning Act 1990].
The rule has a consequence for a buyer in either direction. In the buyer's favour, an old unauthorised use that has passed the ten years is beyond enforcement action, and an existing-use certificate under s.191 is how the buyer can obtain written confirmation. Against the buyer, a recent unauthorised use of a few years is still exposed, and the buyer who takes over the business takes over the exposure.
Counting the ten years: a worked check
The count starts on the date of the breach, so the buyer needs a date. Evidence from the seller can fix it: the date the first hot food sale appears in the till records, the date of the first delivery-platform listing, the date of the first supplier invoice for takeaway packaging.
Illustrative figures: suppose a unit sold hot food for takeaway from 14 March 2014 without permission. Ten years from 14 March 2014 ends on 14 March 2024. A buyer checking on 6 November 2026 finds that the date passed more than two years before. Check: 14 March 2024 to 6 November 2026 is two years and about eight months. The time limit has run for that breach, so enforcement action on the takeaway use is time-barred on the facts given, subject to the evidence.
The same example shows the catch. The count only works if the use was continuous and the date is provable. If the takeaway stopped in 2019 and restarted in 2023, the council may argue a new breach began in 2023. The buyer should not rely on the date without evidence for each year.
4. Works that need their own consent: flues, signs, seating, building control
Short answer: The use class decides whether the café needs planning permission for its use. It does not decide the flue, the shop sign, the pavement tables or the building regulations position, which each follow their own route.
The Planning Portal puts it plainly: a move from shop to café inside Class E does not normally need permission, but "any work associated with the change may require permission" [Planning Portal, shop to café page]. The guidance adds that associated development such as physical works may still need separate planning permission or building regulations approval, and that other consents, such as listed building consent, may apply [Planning Practice Guidance, paragraph 13-012a].
The four consents a café usually meets
| Item | What the Planning Portal says | The buyer's question |
|---|---|---|
| Extractor flue | Permission is required for commercial extractor flues if cooking is intended on the premises | Is there a flue now, and is there a permission for it? Where would a new one run? |
| Shop sign | Changes in signage are likely to need express Advertisement Consent | Does the existing sign have consent, and will the café sign match it? |
| Outdoor seating | Very likely needs a licence from the highway authority | Who owns the pavement, and does the street already carry licensed tables? |
| Landlord's works consent | The applicant may also require the consent of the landlord or landowner for any works | What does the lease say about alterations, and is the landlord's consent in hand? |
[Planning Portal, shop to café page]
The flue is the item that moves the cost
A shop has no kitchen. A café that cooks needs extraction, and the flue that carries it up the building is the item most likely to need permission. Cooking is the trigger in the Portal's wording: "if cooking is intended on the premises" [Planning Portal, shop to café page]. A café that only makes coffee and assembles cold items has a different position from one that fries, grills or bakes.
The buyer's conclusion is a sequence of questions. Does the current unit have a flue? Is there a permission or a condition for it in the planning history? If the unit has no flue, where would one run, and who owns the wall, the roof and the upper floors? The route for a flue often crosses another party's property, so the lease and the neighbours matter as much as the council.
A flue built without permission is an operation. In England the enforcement period for operations is ten years from the date they were substantially completed, and in Wales four years [s.171B(1) Town and Country Planning Act 1990]. Note the date the flue was finished and ask the council to confirm the period that applies.
5. The lease: user clause, consent and forfeiture
Short answer: Planning law and the lease are separate. A café that is lawful under Class E can still breach a lease that limits the use to a shop, and the landlord's remedies include forfeiture.
The Planning Portal reminds applicants that they "may also require the consent of the landlord or landowner for any works", so planning rights do not override restrictions in a lease [Planning Portal, shop to café page]. A buyer who takes over a shop business usually takes an assignment of the lease. The lease's user clause controls what the tenant may do with the unit.
Reading the user clause, line by line
The next text is an illustrative clause, not a quotation from any lease. It shows what to look for.
"The Tenant shall not use the Premises for any purpose other than as a retail shop within Class E(a) of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 and shall not change the use of the Premises without the Landlord's prior written consent."
Read it in four steps.
- "any purpose other than as a retail shop". This sets the permitted use. A café is not a retail shop in ordinary language, and E(b) is a different part of the class from E(a).
- "within Class E(a)". The clause names the part of the class. A clause that names only "Class E" would allow a café, and a clause that names "A1", the pre-2020 shop class, uses a label that no longer exists in England. How an old label reads in a modern lease is part of the adviser question at the end of this section.
- "shall not change the use". This is the covenant against change of use. It says "without the Landlord's prior written consent", which means consent can be sought.
- "prior written". Consent after the event does not satisfy this wording. Ask for the consent before the café opens.
A buyer reads the user clause with the definitions clause. The words "Class E(a)" or "retail shop" may be defined elsewhere in the lease, and the definition may be narrower than the sentence suggests. Read every defined term in the clause.
What the law says about consent to a change of use
Section 19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 implies terms into leases. Three of its subsections matter to a shop-to-café buyer.
Section 19(1)(a) covers assigning or underletting. A covenant that needs the landlord's consent to assign or underlet is treated as subject to a proviso that consent is not to be unreasonably withheld, though the landlord may require a reasonable sum for legal and other expenses [s.19(1)(a) Landlord and Tenant Act 1927]. There is a limit: in a "qualifying lease" (a new tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995, other than a residential lease), the landlord and tenant may agree the circumstances in which consent to assign may be withheld, and withholding on those agreed grounds is not unreasonable [s.19(1A) and (1E) Landlord and Tenant Act 1927]. Read the lease for such grounds. The buyer of a business needs this one first, because the purchase is usually an assignment.
Section 19(2) covers improvements. A covenant against making improvements without consent is treated as subject to a proviso that consent is not to be unreasonably withheld. The landlord may still require a reasonable sum for damage or loss in value and, for an improvement that does not add to letting value, an undertaking to reinstate [s.19(2) Landlord and Tenant Act 1927].
Section 19(3) covers change of use. Where a covenant bars a change of use of the premises without consent, and the change involves no structural alteration, the covenant is treated as subject to a proviso that no fine or sum in the nature of a fine is payable for the consent. The landlord may still require a reasonable sum for damage, loss of value or legal expenses [s.19(3) Landlord and Tenant Act 1927].
What section 19(3) gives the buyer, and what it does not
Section 19(3) gives you a limit on price. A landlord cannot charge a premium for agreeing the change from shop to café where the change needs no structural alteration. The landlord can recover reasonable legal costs and a sum for damage or loss in value.
Section 19(3) does not say the landlord must agree. Compare the wording: s.19(1)(a) and s.19(2) both say consent is not to be unreasonably withheld, and the s.19(3) proviso deals only with payments. That difference is the reason to ask for consent early and to put the point in the adviser question at the end of this section.
The words "involves no structural alteration" are a condition. A café plan that cuts new openings in a wall, installs a flue through the roof or alters the shopfront structure may fall outside s.19(3) for those parts, and the improvements provision in s.19(2) then comes into play for the works. A buyer should separate the change of use from the alterations when asking for consent.
Sources
All pages retrieved on 2026-11-06.
- Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s.55 (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/8/section/55
- Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s.171B (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/8/section/171B
- Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, article 3 (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/764/article/3
- Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, Schedule 2 (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/764/schedule/2
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, s.19 (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/17-18/36/section/19
- Planning Practice Guidance, When is permission required (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/when-is-permission-required
- Planning Practice Guidance, Use of planning conditions (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-of-planning-conditions
- Planning Portal, Convert a shop to a café, pub or takeaway (retrieved 2026-11-06): https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/shops/i-want-to-convert-a-shop-to-a-cafe-public-house-or-takeaway