Brighton pub boarded up after landlord retires

The Sussex Yeoman in Guildford Road

Greene King is now advertising the lease of The Sussex Yeoman, and says it is planning to make a “substantial investment” in a major refurbishment.

It is not clear when it might reopen, with the brewery only saying it hopes to provide an update later in the year.

Regulars told Brighton and Hove News they understood there had been a dispute over the rent, which they believed Greene King was wanting to hike.

But the brewery said the landlord had simply decided to retire.

A Greene King spokesperson said: “We have plans to invest in The Sussex Yeoman and give this much loved pub a new lease of life. Its early days, but we hope to provide an update later in the year.”

The pub is being advertised at an annual rent of £39,500, or £760, which includes the accommodation above the pub, currently being refurbished into a two-bedroom flat.

It says the refurbishment would allow it to reopen with a focus on craft beer, locally sources wines and spirits and a “simple fast food offer”.

The forecasted annual turnover is £480,103, which would make an operator a profit of £39,561.

Under the terms of the advertised lease, the pub would have to only sell beer and cider bought from Greene King.

New planning rules adopted by Brighton and Hove City Council last year mean that anyone applying to change a pub into housing or other retail now has to demonstrate that they have advertised it for sale or to let at a fair price for two years with no interest.

Even before it was officially implement, this rule has stopped pubs such as the former Reservoir in Howard Road from being converted. That pub is now trading as The Howard.

It is also currently preventing the former Montpelier Inn, which was shut down because of drug dealing and violence, from being turned into flats.