Restaurant operators including Soho House and the Gingerman Restaurant Group are circling a seafront redevelopment scheme in Brighton, M&C Report understands.
Several vacant units at The Terraces on Brighton seafront are up for grabs as part of a regeneration scheme for the building which houses the sea life centre and a gym.
The project has been on the cards for about four years but so far there has been little progress.
Chef Ben McKellar, owner of the Gingerman group, who hopes to open a fish restaurant on the site, told M&C Report: “The developers were not ready to go ahead with it because there was lots of refinancing going on on their part [in 2012-2013] but it looks like they’re ready to go ahead with it now.
“We’ve sent the architects down there now. Hopefully it’s going to go ahead but with the best will in the world I can’t see it physically opening before September/October.”
McKellar said planning permission was “not an issue” as the regeneration project is a council-backed scheme.
“The main thing was licensing and we’ve got that,” he added.
McKellar told M&C Report that his plan is to open a fish restaurant on the site of the old amusement arcade, along with a fish and chip take-away and a coffee shop, all with views of the pier and Brighton Eye.
The restaurant would be called The Ginger Fish and would be the group’s fifth restaurant in the area after The Gingerman, The Ginger Fox, The Ginger Pig and The Ginger Dog.
Soho House, the bar, restaurant and members’ club group led by Nick Jones, is also said to be interested in taking up space in the development for a couple of its brands, which includes Pizza East, Chicken Shop and Dirty Burger.
