The Lewes Road Community Garden is to be dismantled after Brighton County Court granted its owners an eviction order.
The order, granted on Monday, gave the gardeners until 4.30pm next Monday to leave, or garden founders Duncan Blinkhorn and Ron Evans would be liable for the developers £6,800 court costs.
After a meeting in the garden on Tuesday night, members reluctantly voted unanimously to leave.
Developers Alburn Minos Development Ltd is now free to build its development of two retail units and seven flats. Tesco has now confirmed it plans to open a store there.
Mr Blinkhorn is now appealing for help in moving items off the site. He told members of the garden’s Facebook group: “I know this may be a gutting process for many of us but I’m sure we can also get on with it in good spirit as we usually do with anything we organize in the Garden. We can also be positive about having created an amazing green, vibrant sociable and therapeutic space which has endured for more than 13 months.
“On a personal note, I’d like to thank everyone involved for being so incredibly supportive and understanding about this situation, especially given that no one wants to lose this space, especially not to a or see a Tesco. It continues to be a privilege to have met and worked with such a lovely group of people.”
He added: “Planters and other items can be moved to other local sites including schools (Fairlight & St Martins), Saunders Park, the Patch and possibly derelict sites in the area. In this way the garden will live on in the physical world as well as in our hearts – a garden in exile.
“If the opportunity to buy the land should arise then items can be moved back at a later stage.”
