Woking's Executive is asked on 12 November to sell Dukes Court and wind up the company holding the old Robin Hood pub site. The sale prices stay confidential.
Woking Borough Council is about to sell Dukes Court, the large red-brick office complex on Duke Street. The Executive will be asked on Thursday 12 November to approve a freehold sale to the highest bidder (Woking Borough Council, EXE26-097).
The price is not public. It sits in a confidential report, along with the buyer’s name. The published report says only that the offer is the highest received, and that it is conditional.
How the sale was run
- Knight Frank marketed the site from August to October 2026.
- First bids arrived in late September and early October.
- The council then sought best and final bids and negotiated with the top three.
The report says a private investor could put in more capital to finish letting the building. It describes Dukes Court as a “complex investment property”. The terms are conditional, but the report says officers do not consider there is a substantial risk of the buyer failing to complete.
The sale is part of the disposal plan shown to the government in August 2024, which set out an orderly sale of council assets from 2024 to 2027. It can be called in because it is a key decision.
The Robin Hood pub site
The same meeting is asked to approve the end of Rutland (Woking) Limited, a joint venture company dating from 2008 (Woking Borough Council, EXE26-121).
Its one remaining asset of any size is the former Robin Hood public house site. The council lent the company up to £2 million to buy the site and prepare a development plan.
The proposed order of events is:
- the company sells the site
- the proceeds and any cash go towards the council’s loan
- a sum is kept back for the cost of closing the company
- whatever cannot be recovered is formally released
- the company is dissolved
The report does not publish the size of the loan balance or the likely loss. Those figures are in a confidential report. An officer decision published on 29 October has already agreed to release the council’s security over the site once the sale proceeds are received (decision record).
The budget: £4.12m under, thanks to interest
The Executive also receives the half-year budget report. It forecasts a General Fund underspend of £4.12m for 2026/27, up from £0.58m at the first quarter (Woking Borough Council, Budget Monitoring Q2).
Almost all of that comes from borrowing costs, not from services. Net interest is forecast at £3.91m under budget, because rates are lower than budgeted and some planned borrowing has not yet been taken.
| Area | Forecast against budget |
|---|---|
| Finance and Resources | £1.27m over |
| People and Communities | £0.37m over |
| Governance and Corporate Services | £0.14m under |
| Place and Digital | £1.74m under |
| Corporate items, including interest | £3.89m under |
Other points in the report:
- Debt relief: the report says the arrangements for the government’s £500m are in place. £135m of long-term borrowing was repaid in early September, and the other £365m goes as short-term loans mature.
- Homelessness: refreshed forecasts improved the People and Communities position by £0.86m.
- Council housing: the Housing Revenue Account is £0.76m adrift, so it will add only £0.26m to reserves instead of £1.02m.
- Building projects: £6.16m of a £33.65m capital budget has been spent so far, and about £13m is expected to slip into later years.
What it means for you
- Council tax and services: the report does not propose any change to either. The underspend is a forecast, and the report warns that the year-to-date interest saving is not assumed to continue at the same level.
- Dukes Court tenants: the report says nothing about changes for current occupiers beyond more lettings.
- To follow it: the meeting is at 7pm at the Civic Offices, and the agenda and papers are online.
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