Pub bosses are celebrating after the Camelford Arms learnt that it could stay open later during Brighton Pride.
The decision came after a two-and-a-half hour council licensing panel hearing after Sussex Police objected to a temporary event notice (TEN) served by the pub’s owner, Rowbell Leisure.
Rowbell’s head of legal Tony Groom said that the lengthy hearing was a “waste of public money” because the pub was looking to keep to almost the same hours as it has done for Pride for the past 16 years.
The business, in Camelford Street, can stay open until 3am on the morning of Saturday 1 August, until 4am on Sunday 2 August and until 1am the next morning.
Barrister Edward Elton, for Sussex Police, told the panel that the force had additional concerns about the spike in people getting into difficulties on the beach.
Mr Elton said that crime had dropped during Pride last year – to 131 incidents from 192 in 2024 – in the area from Brighton Marina to Hove when none of the venues operating with extended hours had off-sales, apart from the Camelford Arms.
The police submitted a written argument before the hearing, last Friday (5 June), saying that it was concerned about potential proxy sales – to under-age drinkers – although at the hearing Mr Elton focused on off-sales to people wandering to the beach.
Rowbell Leisure director Alistair Mackinnon-Musson said that, for 16 years, he had been in the pub until closing time for the entire Pride weekend.
Mr Mackinnon-Musson said that the pub’s clientèle were mostly men in their forties, fifties and sixties who were more likely to head home at the end of their Pride celebrations rather than down to the beach.
Mr Groom said that he had never seen anyone under 20 in the street because the pub was a quieter venue attracting the older crowd with an average age in their fifties.
He submitted a “freedom of information” (FoI) request to Sussex Police asking for details of proxy sales to under-18s and found that there had been no cases in the past four years.
The Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel recognised that the off-sales were for customers who stayed and congregated in the street close to the pub, monitored by three door staff.
The panel of three councillors – Paul Nann, Sam Parrott and Ollie Sykes – also noted that the pub was regarded as a “good operator”.
The council’s decision letter said: “The panel did not find the police case very strong in terms of the evidence presented.
“The arguments made regarding the statistics presented were very tenuous and did not link in any way to the Camelford Arms or necessarily to off-sales in general.”
After receiving the decision, Mr Groom said that he had a lengthy call with Sergeant Mark Rathbourn, from Sussex Police, who said that he would talk to the divisional commander about the pub’s position.
Mr Groom said: “Rather than drop their objection, the police paid for a barrister to represent them at a TEN hearing – all paid for by the taxpayer.
“The panel commented that they ‘did not find the police case very strong in terms of the evidence presented.
“‘The arguments made regarding the statistics presented were very tenuous and did not link in any way to the Camelford Arms or necessarily to off-sales in general’.
“The law is clear – as the panel confirmed in their finding. The police cannot seek to control a city-wide event through seeking to block TENs in the way they tried to do.”
