Proposals to revive the Royal Pavilion estate have been announced this morning (Wednesday 13 November).
The estate, including the Dome, the Corn Exchange and Pavilion gardens, is owned by Brighton and Hove City Council.
The council and the Brighton Dome and Festival want to spend £35 million improving the appearance of the area and make it more people-friendly.
Early discussions about the proposals prompted concern that the Pavilion Gardens Café may be closed and demolished.
The council and the festival board have tried to reassure café owner David Sewell that his longstanding family business will continue even if it is sited elsewhere in the gardens.
Festival chief executive Andrew Comben said that the café was safe.
Architects are looking at the possibility of putting up a building in New Road, opposite the Theatre Royal, to create a clear entrance to the estate.
One aim is to create a greater unity between the buildings.
One bid for funding will be submitted by the end of the month to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Arts Council has already committed more than £5 million to the project.
The council emphasised that the master plan was at the feasibility stage with about two years of planning needed before any physical work was likely to start.
As a friend of the cafe, I am very concerned that Andrew Comben’s definition of the cafe being “safe” is that it will be demolished.
For the Sewell family and the cafe’s community this is about as far from safe as it is possible to get.
Would the Royal Pavilion or the Dome be defined as “safe” if they were to be moved or even demolished and rebuilt in a modern form say, in Preston Park?
There are clear intentions here to demolish the much loved art deco cafe and to remove the Sewell and the community’s use of the patio at the west end of the gardens.
This is why we are going to be forced to launch a national protest, unless the lottery bid team finally come up with a master plan that recognises the right of the cafe and patio to remain and serve its community as it has done for over fifty years.
As a friend of the cafe, I am very concerned that Andrew Comben’s definition of the cafe being “safe” is that it will be demolished.
For the Sewell family and the cafe’s community this is about as far from safe as it is possible to get.
Would the Royal Pavilion or the Dome be defined as “safe” if they were to be moved or even demolished and rebuilt in a modern form say, in Preston Park?
There are clear intentions here to demolish the much loved art deco cafe and to remove the Sewell and the community’s use of the patio at the west end of the gardens.
This is why we are going to be forced to launch a national protest, unless the lottery bid team finally come up with a master plan that recognises the right of the cafe and patio to remain and serve its community as it has done for over fifty years.