A millionaire property developer who ripped historic green tiles off his pub has appealed against the council’s refusal to allow him to turn the building into a café or shop. Charlie Southall, owner of the Montreal Arms in Brighton , was ordered to repair or replace the tiles which were hacked away by workers in March 2022. The act, which came after Mr Southall abandoned a crowdfunder to renovate the pub to house Ukrainian refugees, caused uproar across the city and was described as “utter vandalism” by Caroline Lucas, then Brighton Pavilion MP.
Brighton and Hove City Council issued an enforcement notice following the incident, requiring the tiles to be replaced by July this year. Mr Southall lost an appeal against the enforcement notice. He then submitted two planning applications earlier this year regarding the reinstatement of the tiles.
One, which would see the tiles put back on the bottom of the building, was approved in June. In the plan Mr Southall said the historic tiles would be scanned by specialists at Craven Dunnill and replaced with hand-glazed replicas in the Victorian style with “crazying” glaze. The other application, which proposed putting the tiles on the top half of the building’s facade and turning the bottom into a commercial space and first floor flat, was rejected in May.
He has now taken the matter to the Planning Inspectorate once again. In his appeal, Mr Southall said the council’s concerns over the potential loss of architectural and.