Derelict Brighton Pub Could Be Transformed Into Flats

A former Brighton pub and music venue can be turned into a shared house and flats after lying empty for 15 years.

The Freebutt, in Phoenix Place, on the corner of Albion Street, closed in 2010 after noise complaints.

Now, the owner, One Phoenix Place, has permission to add another storey to the 19th century premises and build a flat in the “loft space”.

Despite objections, the plans were unanimously approved by Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Wednesday 2 July).

The plans are for a commercial space on the ground floor and a seven-bed house in multiple occupation (HMO) on the first floor.

The second floor would contain a couple of two-bedroom flats and there would be a three-bedroom flat in the roof space.

Sarah McCarthy, who chairs the Phoenix Residents’ Association and Hanover and Elm Grove Community Forum, spoke against the application when it went before councillors yesterday (Wednesday 2 July).

Ms McCarthy has campaigned to keep the 200-year-old pub in community use for the past six years after similar applications were submitted to turn the early 19th-century building into housing.

Her concerns included the effects of the building work on neighbours in the surrounding homes, owned by Hyde housing association, and on the grade II listed Phoenix Community Centre which is used as a food hub.

She said:

“The Freebutt has been around for 207 years. In that time, it has served as a cornerstone of the local community – a Georgian tap house where people shared stories – and has changed many times over the centuries.

“The building has outlasted 59 prime ministers, nine monarchs, survived two world wars and the blitz, only to fall victim to so-called progress.”

The developer’s agent Ian Coomber, of Absolute Town Planning, said that the music of bands like C60, who played at the pub in the past, would be welcomed by the neighbours today.

He described the existing building as a “disgrace” and reminded the committee that planning permission was granted in October 2024 for a similar scheme but without the second-floor extension.

Mr Coomber said:

“What we have is an agreement in principle by virtue of the fact there is already planning permission.

“This application varies that planning permission in two ways. It goes up (and) therefore provides an additional three-bed accommodation.

“It also provides level access to the main front door of the building which is not within the existing planning permission.”

Labour councillor Tobias Sheard said:

“It’s quite an interesting and innovative use of space and design.

“There is no point in us clinging to a past that is not coming back when it comes to planning.

"And there’s no point to us deciding to waste space in a tightly compact city struggling to grow when these kinds of opportunities come up.”

Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said:

“I know it’s a historic building but it’s not particularly attractive. I find it quite an ugly building.

“In 2019, they wanted 23 bed spaces over the whole thing and this is seven and four en-suite bedrooms which feels pretty good.”