ALL MINUTES before this date were printed in the North Laine Runner
NLCA trustees meeting at The Foyer, Pelham Street, on Tuesday, May 7, 2026, at 6pm
NLCA secretary Lisa Macnab gave advance notice that she will be standing down as secretary from February 2027.
Treasurer’s report (Maria Barney): The exhibition fees have been paid and there is still a healthy balance.
Planning (Peter Wingate-Saul): 37 Trafalgar Street - retrospective application for change of use from dwellinghouse (C3) to flexible use as dwellinghouse/short-term holiday let – application refused but the property is still being advertised online.
Tower Point – application for a roof garden, bar & sauna with glass curtain wall (on the southern wing of the two blocks) NLCA will not object and has asked for conditions regarding noise, limiting the use of the building’s occupants and hours of use.
YoYo Yard, Cheltenham Place – application for change of use to add a café and letting rooms together with restoration of the historic sliding doors and creation of disabled access.
There appeared to be no major objections to the café and the door restoration was welcomed but there would be objections to the creation of new ‘letting rooms’ as the planning would carry with the building. YoYo are already letting out the upper floors as an unauthorised 14 guest airbnb with small rooms.
47 Trafalgar Street – variation of the current planning application for an amended inside layout and slight variations to the front elevation. Discussion regarding this resulting in no objections, save that there appeared to be a pizza roof extract proposed which would be very close to the rear of 25/26 Over Street and this would be queried as it appeared to be a long way from the ground floor site of the pizza oven.
Andy and Andrew of Abyss Brewery will also attend the next members’ meeting on the May 19 to address any queries regarding their application.
13 St George’s Place – listed building application for replacement windows – refused due to “loss of historic detail and fabric. The proposed replacement windows, consisting of double-glazing with modern glazing techniques, would be unsympathetic and would fail to have historic integrity… improvements to thermal performance could instead be achieved through secondary glazing.”
Licensing (Tanya Gander): The Blue Man is applying to extend opening hours until 11pm; Bar 50ml in St Georges Place is applying to extend their opening hours until 11pm, and Café Coho is applying for off-sales in relation to a specific takeaway offer. Discussion regarding these applications resulted in a decision not to object.
Anti-tagging: Emma Humphreys’ interview with BBC local radio will go out on Friday morning. Eight anti-tagging kits have been given out so far.
North Laine Runner (Kim Curran): Next issue will be the 300th. Sue Delafons will organise coverage of the Ellen Nye Chart blue plaque unveiling outside the Theatre Royal on June 26.
Social (Kathy Spencer): NLCA’s comedy night at Komedia has been booked.
Anniversary: NLCA’s 50th anniversary exhibition is to be reprised at the Jubilee Library from July 6–13. Is it possible to publicise this on Visit Brighton? There is a Visit Brighton Brighton concession in the Bus Travel Shop in North Street.
The exhibition is also planned for the MET College in September. We can also email Bella Sankey to see if the exhibition could be put up in the Town Hall. Sue will contact the Dome to see if the exhibition could be put up in the Founder’s Room.
NLCA Future meeting: It was decided to delay the meeting on NLCA’s future until September to give time to prepare. A summary of Matt Baker’s discussion document on this can be sent out via Mailchimp before the September meeting.
NLCA 50th anniversary book: Kim will aim to provide a collection box and poster for David Sewell to sell The Best of 50 Years of the North Laine Runner book at the Pavilion Gardens Cafe, and visit the Brighton Museum shop to see if they are interested in selling it.
Speakers: Dr Geoffrey Mead will be speaker at the NLCA community meeting on May 19. Lisa will send out a Mailchimp email. Kelvin is scheduled to be speaker at the special future debate meeting in September.
NLCA full community meeting at The Foyer, Pelham Street, on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at 7.30pm
Treasurer's report : The bill for the latest edition of the North Laine Runner has been paid together with the allotment invoice.
Licensing: There have been no new applications since the last meeting.
North Laine Runner: The next edition (the 300th Runner) will go to the printer next week.
NLCA 50th anniversary: the knitted terrier map will hopefully be available at the Pelham Square picnic.
The anniversary exhibition will be in the Jubilee Library from July 6-19 and at the MET College later in the year.
Kim Curran will be giving a talk at the Friends Meeting House on the June 23.
The meeting to discuss the future of NLCA and the area will be at Komedia, Gardener Street on September 21.
Social report: There will be a stall at the Charities and Community Day in Pavilion Gardens on July 4, a picnic in Pelham Square and comedy night at the Komedia on September 28 (revised date).
Planning:
47 Trafalgar Street – Andy and Andrew from Abyss Brewery were in attendance. They currently run the Pelham Arms and the Abyss Brewery Tap Room in Lewes. They aim to be involved with the local community and run craft nights, quiz nights, cycle club etc at their other premises.
Locations of the extract ducts on the roof were discussed The largest duct was on the side of the roof nearest the houses on Over Street. Andy said that they would look into trying to site this on the other side of the roof.
A query was raised from a member that there was to be a DJ booth in the ground floor plan. Andy said that they did not intend to become a nightclub and no loud or live music was to be played. Small speakers only for background music would be installed around the room. The Noise Impact Assessment in the planning application also included a new soundproofed roof.
There were no further comments or queries and the plans appeared to be generally supported by members.
YoYo Yard, Cheltenham Place – The period for raising objections to this application had now passed and, as there were a large number of comments (both supporting and objecting) on the planning portal, the application would be decided at Brighton Council’s planning committee.
Alice (co-owner of YoYo Yard) attended the meeting to address concerns of members. She said that, once restored, the front gates would not be open when the café was open and any noise would be contained.
There was considerable concern about room letting and disruptive aspects of operating an Airbnb. Alice said the rooms had previously been operated (without authorised planning) as a budget Airbnb (stag and hen dos) by the freeholder but that YoYo Yard had taken the lease of this area to expand their own business, and this also had the effect of stopping the previous unauthorised use.
Their intention was to mainly let the rooms to people who would be attending various residential or day sauna and other wellness courses that they had planned. She confirmed they would need to let the rooms out in the interim to cover additional rent costs but were carefully vetting guests as stag and hen dos were disruptive to their business as well as to neighbours.
There was also concern that any planning permission would carry with the property and therefore the previous budget use would resume if YoYo Yard left the property. Alice said that they had no intention to leave, and the planning they were applying for would have conditions that the rooms could only be let in connection with the sauna business and not be used as before. Alice said the building next door and on the first floor at the rear of their building were currently operated as Airbnbs by the freeholder but they did not lease this area and so it was not something they had any control over.
The discussion was followed by a talk from Dr Geoffrey Mead on the development of manufacturing in North Laine in the 19th and 20th centuries (see North Laine Runner June/July 2026).