The Devil’s Dyke Hotel could be given a makeover as the council prepares to grant a new 25-year lease to pub company Mitchells and Butlers.
The company currently has a 60-year lease on the landmark pub – granted in 1967 and expiring in June 2027 at a ground rent of £800 a year – when a new three-bed semi cost less than £5,000.
On Thursday (17 October) Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet was told that M&B wanted to invest and upgrade the pub and restaurant.
A report to the cabinet said that the council required the leaseholder to keep the building in good working order and open the toilets and car park to the general public.
The council was also asking the leaseholder to improve the visitor experience at the Devil’s Dyke.
The deputy leader of the council, Jacob Taylor, said that the council would not just receive an income from the new lease but people would benefit from a well-maintained and upgraded property.
Fellow Labour councillor Tim Rowkins said that the South Downs formed a key part of the identity of Brighton and Hove – and he was keen to celebrate the countryside that formed 44 per cent of the area of the city.
Councillor Rowkins said: “The place does need a bit of work. At the moment, you go there to enjoy the view and the Downs and you might have a pint or a bit of food there while you’re making your moves back home.
“It would be great if it became somewhere people went to and acted as a reason to visit. I would love to see residents make greater use of the South Downs.
“I was there only last weekend and it’s a gorgeous place to be. My five-year-old derived great pleasure from watching fully grown men hurling themselves off the side of the hill there attached to parachutes.”
Councillor Rowkins said that would like to see the heritage and landscape reflected on the inside of the building.
Labour council leader Bella Sankey said that she had taken her children to the Dyke to fly kites and had had chips there.
Councillor Sankey said that Bert Williams, of the Brighton and Hove Black History Group, told her that in 1890 the site had been bought by the African-American taxidermist James Henry Hubbard.
She said: “He purchased the Dyke Estate at the Devil’s Dyke. He was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1947 – one of nine children of mixed-race descent from a family of refugee American slaves who arrived from Virginia in 1840 and then came onwards to Brighton.
“He set up a huge entertainment centre which included cable cars, there was a train line going up there and all sorts of really exciting things.
“That, I think, really exemplifies the spirit of our city – what can be done – the importance of having ambition and a lot of fun.
“I really hope if we move forward with this today we can see something a bit more spectacular and exciting on this site.”
Another cabinet member, Alan Robins, said that he would like to see the return of the Motown and soul nights that took place there in the 1970s.
Councillor Robins said: “I’ve spoken to the DJ who used to run them and he’s quite happy to get out his old 45s.
“But he’s told me these days he likes to be home in bed by 9pm with a cup of cocoa. If we can guarantee that, I’ll happily support.”
Councillor Joy Robinson urged officials to build in periodic ground rent reviews.
The cabinet agreed to the surrender of the current lease and asked officials to finalise a new one which is expected to generate a multimillion-pound sum over the coming 25 years.
The second paragraph deliberately confuses ground rent with rent. Ground rent is payment for the privilege of having your building occupy space on another owner’s land – in this case, presumably, the Council’s (i.e. the public’s). It is not rent for the buildings that are on it which in this case must belong to Mitchells and Butlers who therefore have to maintain them fully and replace them at need.
Concerning the site itself, a good deal of it is owned by the National Trust so there is fortunately a limit to what can be built on it to make it more “interesting”. I suggest that the views of the Downs stretching away into the distance is its main selling point and better use of the building to give access to them is the main need. There is scope for making more of the Dye view itself as well as the vista to the west.
The building can’t “belong” to Mitchell and Butlers if they are paying Ground Rent. The building would be leased from the council with maintaining and repairing responsibilities falling on the lessee.
Will they reopen the public toilets ?
I love the Devil’s Dyke but after a couple of attempts in recent years at getting lunch/dinner at the pub I wrote it off as a sensible stop in one’s agenda up there. The time it took to get served food it was appalling; my wife and I waited an hour more than once for food and even getting a pint was a 20-30 minute operation when it was doing food at the same time because the staff were sharing time between food orders and bar service.
We’ve not been back for a couple of years at least, though we are regular visitors to the Dyke. Maybe it’s a victim of its own success… it’s a great location and I’m sure there’s no end of trade but stopping in for a drink or som food isn’t an experience I’d like to repeat based on my previous attempts.