Club can become pub as councillors amend Brighton venue’s licence

A private members club in Rottingdean can open its doors to the drinking public after councillors agreed to remove restrictions on its alcohol licence.

Previously, only paying members and their guests could be served at the Rottingdean Lounge – formerly known as the Rottingdean Club, in High Street.

The application to change the conditions on the licence faced opposition from Leo Day, 39, who runs the Golden Lion Group, owner of the nearby Plough pub, in Vicarage Lane.

He said that there were already a “considerable number” of pubs in the village.

Philip Sherrington, 39, a director of Carter-Christian Limited, the applicant, said that when the company bought the club in 2017, the directors thought that they were buying a pub operating as a private members’ club.

He told a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel hearing in July that easier access to his business would disperse customers better in the village, which would have a positive effect.

Mr Sherrington told the panel that the club had hosted several events, which had been open to the wider public, without any issues.

The licensing panel, made up of three councillors, wrote to Carter-Christian to say that it could turn the club into a pub.

The letter said: “We consider the premises to be responsibly run and that the series of temporary events held, which have gone without issue, are a good test of the proposed variation.

“There have been no objections from immediate neighbours and the panel believes there is some force in the applicant’s argument that the variation will result in better dispersal between premises which in the current situation will be of benefit.”

The panel amended a condition on the licence relating to security to allow the pub to use a mobile support unit in the event of any problems.

Another condition requires children to be supervised by an adult at all times.