A FORMER nightclub could be replaced by a hotel.

Builders have started demolition work at the site in West Street, Brighton, leaving residents wondering what was planned for it.

An approved planning application shows a mixed-use development including a hotel is proposed for the plot.

The project would reimagine two existing sites running between 78 West Street and 7 Middle Street, which last operated as Hedkandi bar and nightclub.

In an application submitted in 2018, developers from Brighton architectural firm Morgan Carn Partnership described the current building as soulless, saying it has a “negative impact on the character of the area”.

The Argus:

The plot is in Brighton’s Old Town Conservation Area.

The approved development will be up to six storeys tall and include a 91-bed hotel, as well as a building containing 11 additional backpacker hostel rooms.

There will also be three two-bed flats and one single-bed flat.

A “masterplanning document” by the Morgan Carn Partnership stated: “The existing buildings create a harsh and fragmented urban environment... Several opportunities have been identified which would help to remove unsightly and unintended views, and knit back together the urban fabric.

“A sensitive, modern building in West Street will complete the fine series of buildings from the Grade II listed number 77 (occupied by cocktail bar Revolution) to the seafront at the south.”

The Argus:

The architects said the existing site and configuration of buildings was “suited to its single nightclub use” but argued that “redevelopment is required”.

Therefore, the planning application asked for permission to demolish parts of the site in order to rebuild and “adopt an entirely new configuration of circulation, internal spaces and courtyards”.

The initial proposal was given the green light in March 2018.

The Argus:

A subsequent application submitted in May 2019, asking for a “minor material amendment” to the original plans, was approved in November last year.

This will mean the site will now feature more courtyard areas.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said this amended scheme – a mixed-use redevelopment including a hotel and retail spaces – was currently under construction.