Builders renovating a restaurant in a historic Brighton building have unearthed a secret at least 150 years old.

Beneath the dusty bricks in the cellar at Al Duomo at the Pavilion Buildings, Brighton, they stumbled across a well bubbling with water.

The find indicates the site was once home to a kitchen serving the Royal Pavilion, until it was demolished in 1850.

The discovery ends a 12-year mystery for restaurant owners the Taverna family, who have been battling against rising damp and minor flooding since buying the premises.

The property has been closed since January, while the restaurant is renovated and a club is created in the cellar area.

Owner Ermanno Taverna said: "We often found two or three inches of water in the cellar and had no idea where it came from. We also had a big problem with rising damp.

"When we found the well it all made sense. At first we thought of making a feature of the well, or even selling our own Brighton water but then we were advised it may not be structurally sound."

Site foreman Lee Constable, of Giles Contracts Management, was among the team who found the well.

He said: "When we were digging we suddenly hit a layer of chalk brick. We dug a little deeper and realised it was a circular well, filled with about 3m of water.

"We scooped the water out but within minutes it was full again, almost to the brim.

"In the end we had to fill it with loose stone and cap over the top with a concrete slab."

Historians were called to the site to examine the well, which they concluded must have been part of the original Pavilion.

Suzie Plumb, Brighton Museum's curator of local history and archaeology, said: "Before 1850 the Pavilion Buildings were the sites of small kitchens and stewards' accommodation. There were two wells serving the Pavilion until that time and we believe this to be one of them.

"We think the well may be connected to the Wellesbourne stream, which was covered over by the Prince Regent so people could promenade on the Old Steine."

Al Duomo is due to reopen at the end of May. The bar, restaurant and nightclub will have a 300 capacity.