Brighton street food market and taproom granted license to sell alcohol

Daniel Tapper, 39, who runs Beak Brewery, in Lewes, applied for a drinks licence for the old car hire firm premises next to the Prince Albert pub, in Trafalgar Street, Brighton.

His application was approved by Brighton and Hove City Council after a licensing panel hearing earlier this month.

Trafalgar Street is in a busy area where the council has a policy of restricting new pubs, bars, night clubs and off-licences because of the “saturation” of such businesses.

Sussex Police and Brighton and Hove City Council licensing officials objected to Mr Tapper’s application because he wanted to go beyond the limits of the council’s licensing policies.

Police did not want “off-sales” while Mr Tapper wants to be able to sell cans of Beak Brewery beer. Police also wanted drink sales on the premises to end at 10pm.

North Laine resident Peter Crowhurst objected to the application, saying that in his 30 years living in the area the number of licensed businesses had increase from 23 to 95.

But Mr Tapper, a former food writer, said that the site, which has been blighted by graffiti, would be a “world-class” indoor street food market similar to those found in Florence, Siena, Bilbao and Borough Market, in London.

If the licence application was refused, the building – next to the Prince Albert pub – could be demolished and replaced with offices and homes. This would require an appeal because a planning application was rejected last October.

The council licensing panel earlier this month was made up of three councillors – David McGregor, Julie Cattell and Joy Robinson.

After their deliberations, the council sent a decision letter saying that the venue did not fit neatly in with the council’s licensing policy and was akin to something between a café and a restaurant.

The letter said: “The panel considers that this application has lots of features which set it apart from others and could be considered exceptional in order to justify a small departure from the policy.

“The kitchen spaces would be rent-free. The space in general would be available to community interest groups for free.

“The majority of the alcohol to be sold would be from the Beak craft brewery. This was likely to attract a different type of clientele. The closing time was between that of a café … and a restaurant.

“In terms of off-sales, the panel noted the police concerns but considered that a limited permission was appropriate and would be unlikely to give rise to problems.”

The panel restricted off-sales to craft brewery cans only and said that off-sales should stop at 8.30pm.

Conditions attached to the licence meant that customers would not be allowed to stand at the bar and drink but must be seated at tables and served by waiting staff.

Mr Tapper was delighted with the decision and said: “Over the last six months, we’ve spent a huge amount of time working with local people to ensure we create plans that will benefit the North Laine area, from residents to other food and drink businesses.

“With this in mind, we are absolutely delighted that the panel has granted us our licence while recognising the exceptional nature of the project and we cannot thank those who supported our application enough.

“We still have some major hurdles to jump before we open, including major restoration works, but I’m confident we can overcome these with the support of the local community and sincerely hope to open by the end of this year.”

A planning application for a change of use is yet to be decided. Four objections have been submitted to the council and 36 comments in support.

To see and comment on the application, visit the planning portal on the council’s website and search for BH2024/00453.