Petition Started After Brighton College Licence Application

A petition has been started objecting to an application by Brighton College’s to extend its drinks licence to cover two arts buildings.

The school, in Eastern Road, Brighton, has held an alcohol licence since 2006, allowing the sale of drinks from 6pm to 11pm from Monday to Saturday and from 6pm to 8pm on Sundays.

It has applied to Brighton and Hove City Council for a variation to its licence to include the Sarah Abraham Recital Hall and the Richard Cairns Building which includes a theatre.

Kemp Town resident Sarah Dawson started a petition on the Change.org website – Stop Brighton College selling alcohol and further disrupting our community.

She started the petition on Monday (28 July) and, at the time of writing, more than 140 people had signed it.

She said:

“Residents have been complaining for many years about noise and traffic disruption caused by the college.

“The success of their recent planning application will further exacerbate this and now they introduce yet more potential nuisance.

“Residents were already furious about the new development and many have said they can’t believe that the college is now applying for this licence.

“This will further open the door to the college continuing to prioritise its own financial interests over the needs of our community.

“That seems to contradict the college’s claims to support the community.”

In its application, Brighton College said that the two buildings were used for dance, drama and live music events.

The Richard Cairns Building opened last year and has a theatre that can hold an audience of up to 400 people. The Sarah Abraham Recital Hall opened in 2015 and can hold 100 people.

The application said:

“For most events, there will be a performance of recorded music and sale of alcohol prior to the start of the event and in the interval.

“There will be no alcohol sales after the events, with an event cut-off time of 11pm.

“Both buildings are contained with the school grounds and events will take place indoors.

“There are no new licensable activities proposed other than adding these two buildings to an existing licence.”

The independent school’s application also said that the proposed variation should not have any adverse effect on the licensing objectives – the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm.

Brighton College was approached for comment.