The Annual General Meeting for 2010 was held on Saturday 3rd April at the Iron Duke, Waterloo Street.

Bill Cowell, Chair reports: "The AGM was well attended bearing in mind it was a holiday weekend. If fact if more had turned up we could not have accommodated them. I was disappointed not to see one Easter Bonnet in the crowd.

"This year Richard my Co Chair and I decided to restrict the meeting just to essential stuff that has to be dealt with once a year. So we had to deflect some questions from Members saying that their questions would be dealt with at the next Committee Meeting. Doing this we managed to get through the meeting fairly swiftly.

"I could see that many were anxious to get back to their Easter Eggs. Me included."

You can read the Minutes from the link below.

Posted 11 April 2010

Brighton and Hove has always had a profusion of local shops which provide services the big chains cannot match and this makes the City a uniquely attractive place to live. But they seem to be under pressure to survive.

EBRA asked Councillor Paul Elgood what the Lib-Dem Policy was. Paul replied;

"Thriving high streets are at the heart of local communities. But it has been our high streets that have borne the brunt of this recession, with boarded up shops scarring towns. Ministers have overseen the rapid decline of the post office network leading to even fewer people visiting the local shops.

The Government has tilted the planning system in favour of the haphazard expansion of ubiquitous supermarkets at the expense of hard-pressed independent stores. The financial crisis has exposed Labour and the Conservatives' folly of being entirely dependent on the City of London. The Liberal Democrats understand that it will be small businesses that are key to building a healthy and balanced economy.

All well and good, but a resident points out that other factors may be at work. Read our Have Your Say Page!

Posted 28 March 2010

We reported 10 days ago that The Old Market was up or sale and the trustees who run the Arts Centre were hoping to retain use of the building with the aid of a "mysterious benefactor".

However, Barclays Bank, who now owns the building, has received an offer from Brighton Vineyard, an evangelical religious group. The imposing edifice, which has seen many uses over the years, will now become a place of worship, at least on Sundays.

Brighton Vineyard have said that if their bid is successful they want arts and community activities to continue. Whether this will involve the present Arts Centre trustees remains to be seen. As for the outcome, it could have been a great deal worse. And the "mysterious benefactor" has had a lucky escape.

Source: The Argus

Posted 23 February 2010

Delia Forester and Audrey Simpson narrowly survived an attempt to expel them from the Regency Society for their support of the OMT penthouse development and another at Brighton Marina. However they did not escape a vote of censure.

The chairman of the Society, Roger Hinton, has now resigned, but refused to comment.

This is a sad outcome for the Regency Society. Once a respected voice for conservation it has clearly lost its way, and this has to change.

Posted 12 February 2010

A row has broken out in the Regency Society over their support for the Old Market Penthouses project.

Apparently an attempt is being made to oust the two members of the Society, Delia Forester and Audrey Simpson, who supported the OMT and another development project at Brighton Marina.

Many residents of Brunswick Town now feel that the Society, once highly respected in conservation circles, has totally lost credibility and is in sore need of a makeover.

EBRA of course takes no position on this, but members and residents can find a full account in the Argus.

Posted 12 February 2010

On 23rd January we reported the final collapse of the OMT, followed by its resurrection as OMT Mark 2. Barclays Bank who foreclosed their £M loan to OMT and now own the Old Market building gave the new Trust a six months lease. The building is advertised for sale.

Now OMT Mark 2 claim to have found a "white knight" who hopes to buy the building and lease it back to the Arts Centre on advantageous terms, to allow them to continue.

The Trust has again claimed that they are profitable on Arts Centre operations, but we remain to be persuaded of that. The saga goes on!

The appeal against refusal of the notorious "glass penthouse" planning application has been comprehensively rejected. This would seem to rule out any further development of that kind. That at least is good news!

Posted 12 February 2010

The Old Market Trust was finally wound up on January 20th after HMRC took them to court over £240,000 in unpaid taxes. The OMT, which is a charitable trust, has struggled with a heavy debt burden for many years.

However, it was announced that a new company has been formed to manage the Arts Centre. Barclays Bank, to whom the OMT owed over £1M, have taken ownership of the building and the new trust will lease it back. The management team remains in place and the program of events will continue uninterrupted and existing bookings will be honoured.

EBRA heartily welcomes this news, jobs will be saved, but at the expense of suppliers, many of them local, who will be paid a small part of what the OMT owes then, if anything. But most important, the building is now in the care of a major bank, and with the Arts Centre carrying on, our fears about the future of this landmark building are considerably lessened.

However, a doubt remains. The trust has more than once claimed that it makes a small profit on the Arts Centre operations. But EBRA has reviewed the accounts of the OMT for the 5 years up to 30 September 2008, the latest available, and they reveal a troubling situation; the OMT lost over £0.5M in 2008 alone and almost £1M over the 5 years. While some of this will be due to the debt burden, this was a fundamentally unprofitable operation.

Another 15 months has gone by since the last accounts were published, but that profits should have since recovered in the middle of a deep recession is a little hard to believe, but time will tell.

Posted 23 January 2010

The Old Market Trust is faced with receivership after HM Revenue and Customs lodged a petition in the High Court on 26 November to wind up the Trust. The hearing will be heard on 16 December.

This could be the end of the road for the OMT following the rejection of their plans to build glass penthouses atop the fine old building. They petitioned Brighton & Hove City Council for funding but a Council spokesman has said funds are not available.

Posted 27 November 2009.

Our earlier reportsare below.

The Old Market Trust have sent a petition to the City Council asking for financial support for the OMT. This follows rejection of their planning application which they described as vital for the survival of the debt-ridden Trust.

It seems unlikely that the Council would be willing to take on the OMT debt mountain.

Updated 26 November 2009

The Old Market Trust is appealing the rejection of their Planning Application for the erection of 2 penthouse apartments on the roof of The Old Market.

The closing date for submissions to the Inspecorate has now passed.

Go to on our Planning Page for more details.

Updated 26 November 2009

The A'maze bar on Western Road, Hove has been granted a license to open a karaoke bar. Stringent noise prevention conditions were imposed by the City Council's licensing committee, including that the doors should be kept closed at all times.

One condition states; "Rubbish collections will also be banned between 10pm and 8am". If this means the musical rubbish (and there will be a lot of it) stays inside then this must surely be welcomed.

Posted 12 April 2010

Taj Mahal Natural Food Ltd, which is the parent company of the two Taj food shops in Western Road and St James's Street, has gone into administration.

Reports say that he stores have been badly affected by the opening of two Sainsburys and a Tesco in Western Road. But Mr Amir Khan who runs the business claimed that business was good and trading will continue.

The Taj is a local institution very popular with our members, and sells items that are not otherwise available in the area, including delicious takeaway meals. EBRA would be sorry to see the Taj close and we hope it will not come to that.

You can help! Use the Taj!

Posted 28 March 2010

Some time back we predicted that allowing terraces to be built atop the Lion & Lobster in Sillwood Street was likely to create a noise nuisance, and of course it did!

Following a flood of complaints the City Council decided that the pub must close the terraces at 11pm and guess what? At 11pm the smokers were out in the street again, and the complaints continued!

In September this decision was reversed, the terraces could stay open. Some really joined-up thinking has been going on here!

The licensees must be relieved that the alleged half-a-million spent on the terraces was not money up in smoke, at least not yet, for the pub is now to undergo a full License Review. We await the outcome with keen interest.

Posted 1 November 2009

Since the above was written the review decided the pub must employ an accredited Door Suprvisor to ensure that no drinking took place in the street.

The proposal to provide gates for access to Farman Street from Western Road s making progress. Simon Bannister of the City Council has now published the final report on the Gating Order proposal and it will now go to consultation. Click the link below to read it (needs Adobe Reader).

Many thanks once more to Simon for his hard work on this.

Updated 11 April 2010

The City Council have organised a meeting to discuss the proposal to install gates in the Farman Street passage, on Monday 18 January at 7:00pm at Bradshaw's Bar, 5/6 Western Road. The results of the recent ballot will be available.

Simon Bannister of the City Council asks that any new evidence or comments be emailed to him or presented at the meeting. He added " It would be good to leave the Monday meeting with a clear idea of the gating scheme which is the prefered option of most residents which I can then progress to a draft gating order."

EBRA urge all those interested to attend.

Posted 13 January 2010

Residents of Farman Street have always been affected by the activities of late night revelers in Western Road.

Now that the passage by Bradshaw's Bar (5/6 Western Road) has been restored EBRA has been following this up on behalf of the residents and with the full support of the owner of Bradshaw's Bar.

A meeting of interested parties to discuss the matter was held on 17th November, attended by EBRA committee members, Council officials, local councilors and many local residents. Read the minutes here.

The City Council issued a ballot paper for residents to complete, and a petition from concerned residents was presented to a meeting of the full City Council in the first week of December. We await the outcome.

Updated 8 January 2010.

Brunswick Square has been nominated as Britain's most picturesque street in the Google Street View Awards.

This is of course to be welcomed, although "picturesque" doesn't quite cut it. Nor does "street" come to that. Nevertheless it is certainly grand, imposing, even awesome, and should be voted for, so follow the link below.

Posted 22 February 2010

Residents have complained about cars being parked illegally in Brunswick Street East by the car mechanics that operate there. It gets worse! Vehicles are actually being worked on while illegally parked!

We have sympathy with the businesses concerned; they have very little space in which to operate. But they ought to play by the rules. Parking restrictions are there for good reasons. EBRA is following the matter up.

Posted 23 January 2010

An interview in the Argus in support of Estate Agents Boards has met with derision! Of 17 comments on this, only one supports the Agents. Will they get the message?

Posted 14 January 2010

An objection has been made to the proposal to ban Estate Agents' Boards from the city centre. But Brighton and Hove Estate Agents' Association have objected on the grounds that the area is too large.

There will now be a hearing of the case at Hove Town Hall, and the City Council, who are behind this initiative, have asked us all to give our support.

If you have yet to write to the Secretary of State then do so now!

The address to write to is: Secretary of State, c/o C Kearney at Communities and Local Government, Floor 1/A1 Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU.

The closing date for comments is 8 February so do not delay! It might be a good idea to mention the historic nature and beautiful streets of Brunswick Town!

The City Council have a web page where you can comment directly to them on this subject. It is most important that you all do this if you support the ban. Responses must be in by the end of February.

A public hearing will be held at Hove Town, Norton Road Wednesday 9 March at 10.00am.

EBRA have campaigned long and hard for this and it would be tragic if this opportunity to rid at least some our fine streets of this ugly plague! We need you support, so please act now.

If this initiative fails it will be a very long time before another opportunity arises.

Posted 8 January 2010

For historical reasons Estate Agents can erect advertisements without Planning Permission. But they are ugly, inrusive and inappropriate in the internet age.

The City Council made a proposal to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to withdraw that privilege in all the Brighton Conservation Areas. But Brighton and Hove Estate Agents' Association objected on the grounds that the area is too large. But it is large precisely because much of Brighton & Hove is of high architectural merit!

If you have yet to write to the Secretary of State then do so now! The address to write to is: Secretary of State, c/o C Kearney at Communities and Local Government, Floor 1/A1 Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU.

The closing date for comments is 8 February so do not delay! It might be a good idea to mention the historic nature and beautiful streets of Brunswick Town!

The City Council want us all to support this ban via their have-your-say page on the web.

A public hearing will be held at Hove Town, Norton Road Wednesday 9 March at 10.00am.

John Corbettlee of Corbettlee Estate Agents entirely supports this ban as does Claire Brice of Brices Sales and Lettings.

EBRA members may prefer to use local businesses that support EBRA and our neighbourhood and share our aims. You can find links to their websites and other details in the EBRA Directory.

The City Council have set up a scrutiny panel to review the effects of setting a 20mph speed limit in parts of the city. They will be looking at traffic calming measures and 20mph signs and considering environmental issues, safety and benefits to communities.

The panel is seeking the views of residents and have issued a comments form that you can use.

Posted 20 December 2009.

Car owners in Brunswick and Adelaide suffer severe problems finding a place to park near their homes. The area is densely populated, there are few garages and too few parking bays. The waiting list for a parking permit is 12 months! The situation is aggravated by the Council issuing permits to those who only work in the area despite claiming that they give priority to residents.

LARA, Lansdowne Area Residents' Association, with support from EBRA are presenting a petition to the Council to have Parking Zone M (which covers Brunswick and Adelaide) combined with Zones N and O, the adjacent areas of Hove which do not have waiting lists. Other amalgamations in Brighton & Hove have reduced waiting lists, and we are hopeful the Council will approve this.

Posted 8 December 2009.

On Saturday 31 October an attempt was made to steal a lamppost and an EBRA pot complete with tree from Waterloo Street. The miscreant could not carry them away, the pot was broken, and the lamppost left lying in the road, its cables severed.

The dastardly deed left part of Waterloo Street distinctly dark, an invitation to further dodgy doings. EBRA asked our local councillor Paul Elgood to get the Council to repair the lamppost post haste.

Eventually the lamppost was replaced but by one of a different design! Waterloo Street was one of the few streets in the city that had replicas of the original cast iron gas lamps of old. To install another design was just crazy! And two members were convinced the uprooted streetlight was basically undamaged.

EBRA is not happy and a meeting with the Council is being arranged..

Updated 3 December 2009.

Aerials and satellite dishes that are visible from the street are ILLEGAL in a Conservation Area under Planning Law and the City Council has an obligation to respond to complaints enforce compliance. They are all over East Brunswick like a rash, and nothing ever gets done!

We recently reported yet another case at 10 A & B Upper Market Street and got this reply from Susan Bailey of Planning Enforcement: "The Council currently has high enforcement caseloads and it is important that we focus on work which causes most harm so we can create an efficient, responsive enforcement service. To this end, we are currently not investigating cases that involve satellite dishes. This is a temporary arrangement that will end in March 2010 when we will be happy to receive new complaints regarding these."

Susan thanked us for our patience, but it has run out! We shall continue to report each and every case we see, and we have asked Councillor Paul Elgood to follow up this deplorable state of affairs.

Posted 26 September 2009

Sadly, Norah Tunney, a well known local character who lived in Waterloo Street has passed away at the age of 61. She will be missed by all.

You will remember her as the lady who wore wonderful hats when riding in her wheelchair to which she had been confined for many years.

Norah was a former nurse and we will all miss the colour she brought to Waterloo Street. We will always remember her.

Bill Cowell, Co Chair, EBRA

Posted 26 November 2009

Those in the know tell us that 150 years ago, a Mr Joseph Malin opened a fish and chip shop in Old Ford, London and a Mr John Lees opened one in Oldham.

Factoid 1: One in four British grown potatoes ends up in the fryer!
Factoid 2: 90% of us eat chips at least once a month!

It is claimed by some that chips fall in three categories; excellent, good and acceptable. There is no such thing as bad chips. (What about McCains oven chips?- Ed.)

Our Madrid correspondent writes: Chips came to Spain late and fish and chip shops are confined to the British colonies on the Mediterranean coast. Fried fish in batter is however a Spanish invention (as is marmalade), allegedly brought back to Britain after the sack of Cadiz by the Earl of Essex in 1596.

The Spanish Fleet and its treasure was destroyed and the British expelled the inhabitants, burned the town and in the process bankrupted the Spanish Empire, but took a fancy to freidura. We should be grateful for small mercies.

Posted 22 February 2010

The severe weather in December resulted in our streets being clogged with packed snow and ice. The City Council then failed to grit or clear large areas which resulted in dangerous conditions for days on end.

EBRA and others applied pressure and as a result Celia Barlow wrote to the leader of the City Council in the strongest terms and at last action was taken. We are delighted to quote excerpts from Celia's email of 22 December:

"I have been contacted by many constituents over the last few days concerning the lack of gritting of roads and more importantly the pavements in Hove and Portslade during the recent spell of inclement weather. Pavements...have been covered in sheet ice for days which were extremely dangerous... I understand that there have been many accidents and injuries.

"Under the previous administration during the snow, the local authority had snowploughs and gritters working flat out. Where were these when the bad weather had been forecast for days previously? Why was the Council not prepared?"

Why not indeed! The Council is there precisely to provide essential services to the city! One thing Celia wrote caught our eye.

"I have also been told by one of my constituents this morning that the road sweepers turned up for work today expecting to get out there and grit only to be told that under the Health & Safety Act it was too dangerous for them to work.

We would have laughed, except that this is just ridiculous! EBRA thanks Celia for her intervention, but extends an icy finger in the direction of the City Council.

Posted 8 January 2010

The Argus reports that more than half of the councillors and senior staff at Brighton and Hove City Council believe it disregards the outcome of consultations with the public.

An "action plan" to improve things was discussed at a meeting of the Council yesterday.

Posted 13 January 2010

The Planning Application for a new cell phone mast atop the Providence pub in Western Road has been approved. The mast will be slightly larger than the present one, but more powerful. You can find full details on our Planning Page.

Posted 8 January 2010

At the end of October after many complaints, our dirty and smelly communal bins were replaced by a new type. The replacements have no foot bar and a small lid. You have to lift the lid with one hand and throw in the rubbish with the other, not easy, in fact very difficult for short or infirm people to do. As a result rubbish piles up around them. Any fool can see this is a daft design!

Apparently Cityclean abandoned the bins with foot bars because they "kept breaking". The Council advised us to use small bags, not that you could ever lift big ones that far!

Our local councillors are on the case and we will let you know how it goes.

Complain to Cityclean!

Posted 13 November 2009.

The application to vary the late opening hours of the Iron Duke has been granted by the Council but with conditions attached.

In particular the Council said, "…it was clear that there was a problem with noise outside these premises…which are within a special stress area".

The Iron Duke already has a license to serve drinks until 3am every day, but the doors were closed after 12pm. The variation was to have the doors open until 2.30am at the weekend and 1.30pm other days. The application was granted but with conditions:

• CCTV to be installed in public areas and outside the doors.
• Bar staff to have regular training in age-restricted sales.
• No drinks to be taken outside the pub at any time.
• No more than 6 customers to smoke outside at any time after 10pm.
• An SIA* registered Door Supervisor to be employed after 10pm at weekends, and on 24 hour call-out other times.
• The main door to be kept closed at all times except to allow customers to enter or leave.

"Outside the pub" includes the porch.
* SIA =Security Industry Authority

These conditions are quite stringent and local residents may feel that these conditions will improve the situation. We have asked mine host Peter Lindars to comment and await his reply. (As of late January we are still waiting! Ed.)

Posted 14 December 2009

The owner of the Riz Raz restaurant on Western road (in the area know locally as "the Medina") was fined £3,000 with over £3,200 in costs on 25th November after City Council Inspectors found an infestation of rats in the food preparation area.

The inspectors also found thick grease and dirt on the floor, on the cooker and in the oven and described it as the worst case they had ever seen.

Mr Alaa El Dein Asfour, who was fined a similar amount for the same offence in April, has been banned from operating any restaurant for at least six months.

Mr Asfour blamed a downturn in trade and the smoking ban for his problems. No kebabs without hookahs apparently.

Posted 2 December 2009. Source The Argus.

Despite looking great, our recently refurbished bandstand has already had to be repainted. The Argus has the news!

The BN3 postcode which includes most of the EBRA area now features at No 10 in the Top 20 areas of the UK "likely to file burglary claims" according to recent research by moneysupermarket.com.

According to the study, if you have lived in BN3 for the past 5 years you had a better than 1 in 4 chance of being burgled at some time! Presumably your chances of having this traumatic experience are not likely to improve in the near future.

Members living in BN1 (Western Street and points east) should not feel smug; we doubt that burglars in search of targets take much notice of postcodes.

Sussex Police provide advice on prevention measures online or call them on 0800 456 1213. You can also get free advice from B&Q and Focus if you fancy a bit of DIY.

Sussex Police Information Centre. Look under B for Burglary

Posted 26 September 2009