The owner of a pub who ripped off its green tiles has finally been summonsed to court, a year after the deadline he was given to replace them was up.
Charlie Southall hired a gang of friends to hack off the Montreal Arms’ tiles in March 2022.
The council issued first a stop notice, then an enforcement notice to replace the tiles, which was upheld on appeal with a final deadline of 17 July 2024.
Today, court lists were published showing he is due at Brighton Magistrates Court on Monday.
Southall is being prosecuted individually, and so is the company he set up to buy the pub, Dragonfly Architectural Services Ltd. Brighton and Hove City Council is the prosecutor.
Southall, whose address is listed in court records as the derelict pub, was given planning permission to restore the tiles, reopen the pub and make changes to the flat above in June last year.
But since then the only public movement has been an appeal against strict conditions around how the tiles should be replaced – which he abandoned at the eleventh hour.
Meanwhile, one of the pub’s neighbours Ken Frost started a count-up clock marking how much time has elapsed since the enforcement notice deadline has passed without a prosecution starting.
Today, he was finally able to stop it. He said: “I look forward to justice being served.”
The pub was put on the market with Savills in March, with offers invited in excess of £425,000 – slightly more than Southall bought it for in 2022.
It is still listed for sale. An open day to view it due to take place in June was postponed and Brighton and Hove News understands no more have been arranged.
Companies House records show that in April, the ownership of Dragonfly Architectural Services Ltd was transferred from Southall to another company he founded, Dragonfly Digital Video Services Ltd.
On 1 June, he relinquished ownership of the latter company, leaving it in the sole control of his wife, Viktorija Garskaite. However on 26 June, he was again notified as an owner, with a majority stake.
The charge as worded in the court lists relates to the period after 17 July 2024.
It reads: “After 17 July 2024 at Brighton, East Sussex being the owner of land situated at Montreal Arms, 62 Albion Hill, Brighton, BN2 9NX was in breach of an enforcement notice issued on 21 April 2022 by Brighton and Hove City Council in that you did fail to comply with the enforcement notice on six conditions.”
