A café is applying for planning permission to operate as a performance venue.
Presuming Eds in London Road, Brighton, currently operates as a café and restaurant on the ground floor with theatre space on the first floor.
The application submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council would expand the performance area on the first and second floor, to include meeting rooms and rehearsal space.
The proposals include using the ground floor as a live music venue during the evenings.
Staff accommodation would be realigned between the first and second floors in the proposals.
The application by Presuming Ed’s planning consultant Paul Semple said: “Its intentions are to create additional space to run mixed-use events for the whole community and provide an enhanced venue and creative working space to encourage networking, pitching ideas and polishing concepts that will generate independent and creative businesses as well as providing a safe place accessible to all, including groups that might feel marginalised or isolated.
“It would also like to host more events associated with the Brighton Festivals, has a planned London Road short film festival as well as proposed in-house pop-up kitchen events, with local chefs and cooking crews.”
Presuming Ed has operated in the former HSBC bank building since 2015, with the café/bar on the ground floor and a 55-seater theatre space for comedy, live theatre and performing art shows on the first floor.
The venue is licensed to open between 8am to 12.30am daily, and permits performances until midnight.
Licensing is a separate regime from planning, and the application states the company states it is planning to apply to extend its licence to 1.30am.
An acoustic assessment found there was a risk of low-frequency noise late and night, which has resulted in plans for noise insulation measures against the shared wall with 116 London Road.
During musical performances, amplified music will be controlled through a limiter set by Environmental Health.
There are no public comments on the council’s planning website. The application is available to view by searching for BH2025/00717.
Presuming Ed was contacted for comment.
More performing space for the City’s bands and the many fantastic musicians here. Older readers will remember the Richmond, Arts College Basement, and the Alhambra as places for first rate music at a fair price. All gone now, so replacements required! Good luck with their application.
Good to luck to them, it’s a great venue!