The council is considering commissioning a mural in a bid to stop taggers vandalising new security hoardings around a derelict park cafe.
There are still no immediate plans to reopen The Level Cafe, which has stood empty for two and a half years because persistent flooding in the basement made it unusable.
Since the cafe closed, vandalism attacks on the public toilets at the back of the building led to their closure too – and in July, the council decided to put up security hoarding around it.
Within hours, the first tags appeared, and the hoardings are now scrawled with unsightly graffiti.
Since the cafe closed, investigations found the flooding was due to surface floodwater not draining from the Level quickly – a problem worsened after a Victorian brick adit which previously diverted groundwater to the aquifer was damaged when the skate park was put in.
Last year, a series of new flood mitigation measures were put in place and Brighton and Hove City Council now says there have not been any recent issues with flooding.
However, the future of the building is still under consideration -although there are no plans to demolish it.
Lead councillor for the environment Tim Rowkins said: “Unfortunately, the Level Café site continues to be affected by graffiti. We are currently looking into commissioning a mural for the fencing to help address this problem and make the site more attractive.
“We are working on an improved graffiti reduction strategy, and public engagements and consultation on that will be announced shortly. Of course we would aim to remove / cover graffiti quickly, and any offensive graffiti is prioritised and removed within 24 hours.
“Residents rightly want to see less graffiti happening in the first place, and for those that commit these crimes to be prosecuted. We will be focusing on that as we update the strategy.
“There have not been any recent issues with flooding in the café building itself, and the future of the building is under consideration.
“There are no plans to demolish the building, and we are assessing options for restoring much needed public toilets to the Level.”
Let’s have a police station down there. Less crime etc
There is one, but they dont occupy it
Where ???
Won’t stop them we had the towers blocks alone Conway Court, all with beautiful murals by a local artist. Most now defaced by tag vandals absolutely no respect for people’s property
Turn the cafe into a hub for some of the good Police Officer and a nice Cafe without overcharging the New Cafe owners.
I was involved in the very early days of re-inventing the level as a safe place for young people of all ages, families and the community. At that time drug dealing and other anti social activities were daily occurences.The biggest issue faced was the feeling by suurounding communities of non ownership, apart from a small group of commtted local residents. It sits central to several, all wanting to use it or aff3cted by it, but none feeling ownership. At that time it was felt absolutely essential that there was regular police engagement in some form but this has never, literally right from the renovation of both childrens play area and skate park, been put in place. So sad. The space was gifted to the people of brighton and hove.
Hi JS, I thought it was one of the better projects at the time. I love the gardens and the little pavilions. I think there are 2, but don’t remember. I remember doing Tai Chi there, and using the gorgeous little buildings. I went to The Cafe once, but from memory nothing spectacular, a bit pricey for what it was. When I go past, I still stop to have a look at the gardens overlooking the Open Market.
The amount this cafe has cost , it was ridicoulsy expensive to start with then about £100K to repair the grass roof, hoardings, murals…. It’s a prime spot for a cafe just being wasted
Knock it down and start again . It’s not the Taj Mahal
Actually, I agree. I don’t believe in preservation for the sake of it. Hopefully, there won’t be a knee jerk reaction, and not a vanity project.
As soon as the erection of these hoardings was announced I predicted that they wouldn’t last more than a day before being tagged. Unfortunately having a mural painted on them won’t stop the brain dead taggers who have regularly defaced other murals/street art…
Min £1000 fines for the tag vandals.£100 reward for anyone reporting a brain dead tagger which would lead to their arrest and fine.The City is tagged like no other city in the UK. Great place to live apart from druggies,drunks and taggers.
Suggested Tag line: Tag this building and the courts will give you a tag to wear…
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