Brighton is being asked to decide between sacrificing North Street’s oldest building or losing the chance to open up The Lanes and with them a historical cottage which has lain hidden for 150 years.
Developer RBS has applied for permission to knock down newly-listed North Street building, Timpson’s, in order to create a new twitten and open up access to a forgotten house now christened Puget’s Cottage.
The cottage was discovered when heritage campaigner Roger Amerena inspected the site after the developer submitted its first application.
It wants to revamp the area formerly occupied by the Hannington’s department store, from East Street to Meeting House Lane.
RBS has since been given permission to redevelop the site without knocking down Timpson’s, but says if its new application to knock it down and build a new lane is not granted, the hidden cottage will remain locked away for another generation.
But fighting to save the North Street shop are the heritage campaigner who got it listed – and the descendant of the shopkeeper who ran a hosiery business there in the 1830s, Jean Clack.
Architect John McLean, partner at Morgan Carn, said: “Puget’s is in a completely different league to Timpson’s. There are lots of other examples of single bay shops in the Lanes.
“This is a people power thing. The message we are getting from the politicians is that if the local people and traders want this, they will support it.
“And we’re not even having to try to convince people – they’re coming in and saying it’s so obvious. There’s a groundswell behind it.
“A survey found that almost eight out of ten tourists couldn’t find The Lanes. They’re our crown jewels, and they’re in decline. That’s why this link is so important.”
However, Roger Amerena, who “rediscovered” Puget’s Cottage after asking staff at Timpson’s to let him look in their back yard after the first application went in, said Timpson’s, Puget’s and the yard and path between them were a “microsite” and should all be preserved.
He said: “The developers have chosen to not recognise the possibility of an alternative route past 15 North Street (Timpson’s).
“I have always maintained that everyone could be happy if the new Lane, which we all agree on, could go through the unit to the west of number 15, through the ground floor, similar to the modern route through to Duke’s Lane from Ship Street.
“With a double pitch roof, a shop front restored to near original 15 North Street could be a smash hit – the last surviving property from the north side of the eighteenth century town there, and still trading.
However, Mr McLean countered the suggestion of running the new lane through part of the former Cargo unit, underneath the existing top storeys, saying: “An underpass like that would become an impromptu bus shelter or attract rough sleepers.
“It’s also not in keeping with the historic Lanes, which are all open to the sky.”
There could be access to the cottage from the back of what is the Hannington Estate. At the moment it’s a car park. What I find depressing is that the plans for the cottage are to turn it into commercial premises ie shops on the ground floor and flats above so most of the heritage will be lost . When I visited the open day on Thursday I asked if the cottage could not be a musuem/heritage site and met with a cool response. The developers seem to be prioritising the commercial opening up of the Lanes,downplaying the importance of no15 now Timpsons as being part of the architectural heritage of Brighton and the little cottage itself. There is a display of the proposal in what used to be Cargo,it was open on Thursday but I’m not sure if this wasn’t just a one off. I know the traders are excited about this and it would generate a higher footfall in the Brighton Square area, which is badly needed however if this proposal goes through Brighton will lose two architectural gems
Brighton, like London, is being over run by greedy developers at the moment. Sadly they leave areas devoid of all the character that made them so attractive. It’s happening in Soho, and we should stop it happening here before it’s too late and places of historical and quirky interest are lost.