Hostel with 170 beds approved by planners

An old university building opposite the Royal Pavilion can become a 170-bed hostel after a planning application was approved unanimously by councillors yesterday (Wednesday 2 April).

The new owner, Safestay, a hostels and hotels business, plans to convert the premises – at 10-11 Pavilion Parade – into an affordable place for tourists to stay.

The company submitted plans for dormitories with en-suite bathrooms from the ground floor to the fourth floor. Each dormitory would sleep four to eight people in bunk beds.

The ground floor would also include the reception area and a lounge, with a kitchen and prep area and bar on the lower ground floor, along with back-of-house operations.

Brighton University put the surplus building on the market for £2.5 million and Safestay is understood to have bought it for £2.275 million. It contained lecture tooms, seminar rooms and offices.

Students staged a sit in there when teaching was moved to Mithras House, in Lewes Road, Brighton, in September 2023. The building had been used by the faculty of art, design and humanities

Safestay said last June that it planned to spend £1 million converting the building, with work expected to take about six months.

The plans were approved by Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee at Hove Town Hall.

Conservative councillor Carol Theobald asked how many bathrooms the building would have and she raised concerns about rubbish and recycling.

She was told that there would be about eight en-suite bathrooms on each floor plus a separate toilet – and four staff toilets on the lower ground floor.

Councillor Theobald said:

“It’s a nice-looking building from the outside but it’s difficult to know what to do with a redundant building like this.

“Probably this is a good idea. It’s a very central location and an ideal position.”

Safestay said that the university no longer needed the building, which was said to be “deteriorating”, and had planned to reinvest the proceeds from selling it in “cutting-edge” facilities.

Green councillor Sue Shanks spoke about potential “agent of change” action, affecting the Actors pub next door.

Councillor Shanks said:

“You can’t come back afterwards and say, ‘Close your pub because it’s interfering with our residents.’

“That’s what we’re normally looking at isn’t it. Pubs get worried that someone will build next door then object to the pub.”

The committee was told that noise tests had been carried out and soundproofing would be required as part of the planning conditions.

Labour councillor Joy Robinson said that there was a shortage of tourist hostels in Brighton.

Councillor Robinson said:

“This won’t encroach on the hotel trade. It’s a completely different market. It’s good for the city and I’ll be voting for.”

Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Mark Earthey said:

“It’s a prime location and maybe will become a hotel in the future.

"I’m very much in favour and we’re not losing education capacity.”

The committee also granted listed building consent which was required because the building, constructed in 1788, is grade II listed.