One of the co-founders of Moshimo is hoping to open a cafe in a newly restored seafront building.
Karl Jones’s company Cake N Stuff Ltd is in talks with the council to take on the lease of the Reading Room, which has just been renovated.
The company has just applied for a licence to open there and sell alcohol – both on and off the premises – until 11pm every day.
If aproved, it will open at 8am and alcohol sales start at 11am. The application also includes peformances of dance, plays and live music from 2pm to 11pm, and recorded music whenever it’s open.
The trading name would be The Reading Room. The council said last year it hoped it would be opening this spring.
Mr Jones, 60, whose co-directors are Ashley Jones, 39, and Sebastian Jones, 33, said plans were at too early a stage to comment this week.
A council spokesman said: “We are in final discussions with a potential tenant for the Reading Room and once a lease is signed, we will announce who the new tenant is and confirm an opening date.
“However, because negotiations are still ongoing and at a commercially sensitive stage, we are unable to comment further.”
Meanwhile, The Temple just up the slope from The Reading Room has been let to Philip Cundall and is set to open as Temple in the summer.
Both buildings were designed by William Kendall, the architect who laid out Madeira Drive, and built in 1835.
The Reading Room was originally intended as a shelter. It has also been used as a committee room and a potting shed, but in recent years its main use has been an unofficial homeless shelter.
Both venues have been renovated and let out as cafes for the first time as part of the reworking of Black Rock.
The wider project has already seen the compltion of a new sea wall and a boardwalk from Black Rock to the junction of Duke’s Mound.
A new road from Madeira Drive into the marina is now being built, so a bus shuttle service can use the route in the future.
In August, the council said plans for a pump track and classroom have been postponed due to rising construction costs.
However informal play areas and basketball hoops will be installed, and a roller-skating area is also being considered.
Join Madeira Drive Development and Eastern Seafront Master Plan on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/395215394233080
Moshimo..? Who are they??? And with all the excellent drone photographers about these days, an aerial picture of Black Rock to give some context to the developments there would be very useful for residents of other parts of Brighton and Hove who don’t get that way very often!! Interesting use of the area, ‘though.
Join https://www.facebook.com/groups/395215394233080
and ask those questions
Music and alcohol from 11 to 11 ?
that’s an end to sitting along the slopes listening to the sea …
This was such a haven of peace and wildness before commerce started sniffing around
Keith, Moshimo is a rather excellent LOCAL restaurant that produces Japanese fusion food. It’s a company that care’s about the environment and Brighton, and has done so for quite a few years. Hopefully their venture will bring family life back to Black Rock and discourage the rather seedy goings on that populate the “haven of peace and wildness” we have at the moment.
Could be interesting then.