Hilltop Cafe, Brighton

RIBA Stage: 0-3 (Design & Planning)

Project Value: £250,000

Sector: Commercial - Hospitality / Retail

Consultants: CMK Planning (Planning Consultant)

Set in a prime spot at the entrance to Brighton, popular with walkers and passing trade, this community café needed more room to grow. The existing kitchen was limiting what the business could offer, and seating capacity couldn't stretch to cover busier periods, pop up events or evening trade.

We extended and enlarged the kitchen to support a broader menu and higher covers, and added seating to let the café flex between its everyday offer and evening or pop up use. Deliveries were a particular headache in the original layout, so we introduced a clear separation between the delivery route and the customer entrance, keeping walk in trade unaffected. Improvements to the building fabric brought the space up to a more comfortable, efficient standard for year round trading.

The café can now serve more customers, run a wider range of events, and make the most of one of Brighton's busiest walking routes. It's a good example of what's possible for a hospitality or retail business looking to get more out of an existing building rather than starting again from scratch."