Pub tiles restoration plan approved

Charlie Southall was ordered to stop removing the tiles by Brighton and Hove City Council

A developer has been given permission to renovate a pub in Brighton on the condition he replaces the green tiles he tore from its frontage.

Charlie Southall removed the historic tiles from the Montreal Arms, in Albion Hill, in March 2022 after scrapping plans to turn the building into a home for Ukrainian refugees.

He submitted an application to replace the tiles, raise the roof height, replace windows, make alterations inside the building and extend it, which was approved by Brighton and Hove City Council on Wednesday.

The developer, 45, said the tiles he removed from the pub would be scanned by specialists at ceramics manufacturer Craven Dunnill and replaced with replicas in a Victorian-style glaze.

Mr Southall had submitted two planning applications for the building.

The other plan would have seen the remaining tiles removed from the lower half of the building and replicas fixed to the top half but it was rejected by councillors.

How the pub will look after the restoration and renovation project

Mr Southall said that many of the tiles were already damaged and needed to be removed to enable structural repairs.

The council has imposed conditions requiring Mr Southall to provide samples of all the new tiles to compare with the historic tiles, including those with lettering, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The pub was included in the council's list of buildings of local historic interest in 2015 and made an asset of community value in May 2022.

It will retain its use as a public house on the ground floor and ancillary accommodation on the first floor. The roof will be raised to match the height of the neighbouring property.

The council received seven objections to the plans. Objectors were concerned about the effect of the proposals on the building and the increased roof height.