A petition has been started objecting to an application by Brighton College’s to extend its drinks licence to cover two arts buildings.
The school, in Eastern Road, Brighton, has held an alcohol licence since 2006, allowing the sale of drinks from 6pm to 11pm from Monday to Saturday and from 6pm to 8pm on Sundays.
It has applied to Brighton and Hove City Council for a variation to its licence to include the Sarah Abraham Recital Hall and the Richard Cairns Building which includes a theatre.
Kemp Town resident Sarah Dawson started a petition on the Change.org website – Stop Brighton College selling alcohol and further disrupting our community.
She started the petition on Monday (28 July) and, at the time of writing, more than 140 people had signed it.
She said: “Residents have been complaining for many years about noise and traffic disruption caused by the college.
“The success of their recent planning application will further exacerbate this and now they introduce yet more potential nuisance.
“Residents were already furious about the new development and many have said they can’t believe that the college is now applying for this licence.
“This will further open the door to the college continuing to prioritise its own financial interests over the needs of our community.
“That seems to contradict the college’s claims to support the community.”
In its application, Brighton College said that the two buildings were used for dance, drama and live music events.
The Richard Cairns Building opened last year and has a theatre that can hold an audience of up to 400 people. The Sarah Abraham Recital Hall opened in 2015 and can hold 100 people.
The application said: “For most events, there will be a performance of recorded music and sale of alcohol prior to the start of the event and in the interval.
“There will be no alcohol sales after the events, with an event cut-off time of 11pm.
“Both buildings are contained with the school grounds and events will take place indoors.
“There are no new licensable activities proposed other than adding these two buildings to an existing licence.”
The independent school’s application also said that the proposed variation should not have any adverse effect on the licensing objectives – the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm.
Brighton College was approached for comment.
Who knew there was a theatre space on Eastern road that could house an audience of 400? That’s huge.
Will it be open to the public, or is this just for school shows and with space for parents to attend?
It looks like it will be almost exclusively for school use only. They claim other groups can use it…at a prohibitive price, which appears to be done by design.
Wow, I cannot believe anyone would petition this, how pathetic.
Individual’s like Sarah should realise that if it wasn’t for Brighton College Kemp Town wouldn’t exist. The economic value it adds in terms of jobs and spend far outweighs any disruption it may cause.
The college also does a lot with its outreach programmes in local primary and secondary schools, although sadly often rejected/turned down by the left leaning brigade.
Should this be a variation or should it be a new licence application? If a licence holder
Is effectively adding a significant amount of extra space to their premises, it may be regarded as a substantial variation and will require a new Premises Licence application.
It’s already been refused a minor variation after Brighton College was caught putting up false notices.
The theatre is for rent by outside groups, including community groups, in fact Brighton Gay Mens Chorus have just held the first event by an outside booker. Here’s a review in Latest Magazine https://thelatest.co.uk/brighton/2025/07/27/brighton-gay-mens-chorus-euro-party/
The Cairns theatre is a great addition to Brighton’s theatres.
Yet another reason Brighton College should have acquired another site for its younger pupils rather than trying to increase numbers on their current site by 25%, and now increase pupil drinking as well! What a monster of a brutalist building in a Conservation area. About as far removed from anything to do with the theatre and the arts as is possible to imagine. Does this College have no respect for Brighton and its own history?
They tried to do this via a minor variance initially as well to escape scrutiny. Every time I hear about Brighton College, it seems to be about their deceptive practices, undermining the local community just to get their own way.
Oh please what an absolute NIMBY. So, parents and friends who go to see a theatre production may want to have a drink before the show starts, or after for that matter. Honestly, who’s life is going to be affected by that? They aren’t talking about a student bar with cheap drinks, it’s a theatre for goodness sake.
Unfortunately you are not familiar with licensing regulations and this could possibly establish a precedent!
Alcohol on education grounds is a line we shouldn’t cross. You don’t need alcohol to enjoy your child’s performance, and if you do, there’s a deeper issue there, and it definitely needs refusing.
I attended an event there last Saturday and it was great. Speaking to the Building Manager there he expplained that they used the first year to iron out small issues with the building and from October there will be having shows and events during the school holidays that are open to community to attend. I think it is a great addition to the city especially if we are able to use it!
…to extract more money from Kemptown.
I thought all these schools were struggling with VAT on fees? This one seems to have plenty
Indeed, they have very healthy bank accounts, from the publicly seen parts. They provide minimum charitable activity and donation, such as letting a few students in, costing them nothing to do so, to reduce their rates to only 20%
Come on, school plays are crap. A little libation would ease the pain, no? All those scratchy violin recitals and nativity plays with shepherds picking their noses and scratching their bums. Make mine a large one.
She needs to get a life. So many bitter people opposing everything Brighton College wants to do. I’d rather have Brighton College on my doorstep than halfway houses full of alcoholics and junkies!
How sad that people can be so petty. The buildings are out of sight, there will be no noise impact and these events keep people in local employment. Many of these people probably support the 20% increase in fees as a result of the VAT raid which will just mean the College has to do more and more to fill that income gap as the number of people who can afford the fees reduces.