A beach caf owner says he faces bankruptcy after his seafront surroundings were turned into a building site.

Trevor Archard thought he had secured the ideal location for a caf offering fish and chips, ice cream and fried breakfasts next to the Palace Pier in Brighton and beneath the Aquarium Terraces.

Not long after he moved in, however, council contractors began major building works nearby which blocked access to his caf.

Instead of feeding hordes of hungry tourists in the busy summer season, he spent most days last year pacing the caf floor waiting in vain for any customers.

Often the only meals he served at The Beach Caf were breakfasts for the workmen themselves.

Now he is taking Brighton and Hove City Council to the High Court, claiming £189,530 in damages.

The council has insisted the work was essential to prevent the promenade collapsing.

Mr Archard, 38, paid £140,000 to take over the lease on The Beach Caf in December 2002.

His High Court writ claims the council did not tell him about the building programme, which removed steps down from the pier and blocked the ramp to the lower promenade.

It also claims contractors demolished one of the kiosks he used to store supplies in February last year.

Mr Archard said: "They told me to clear my stuff out because they were going to do a little bit of work, taking a few roof panels out.

"The next thing I knew they had turned up with a big yellow bulldozer, looking like something out of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, and demolished it.

"My parents used to run a caf on the other side of the Palace Pier and always had a very good relationship with the council.

"I thought I would too and I've done everything I can to work with them. But I'm now on the brink of bankruptcy. My business has been wiped out. Last year was a complete nightmare. A lot of days we had no customers at all.

"They've put the steps back from the pier and everything is running better but we still have lorries here all the time and people can't always squeeze past.

"We've lost many of the regular customers we had. It will take a few years to get back in shape."

The writ states: "Any customers who did somehow find their way down to the caf found themselves in the middle of a building site with heavy vehicles passing in front of the caf."

Mr Archard's solicitors have filed a writ against the council in the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court, claiming £181,530 for loss of earnings, £8,000 for rebuilding the wrecked kiosk and finance costs of £1,000.

Mr Archard's lease agreement says the council reserved the right to rebuild on its adjoining lands.

It also stipulated Mr Archard could claim no compensation if the council closed any part of Madeira Drive or Madeira Terraces.

A council spokesman said: "We've done strengthening work in various places along the front.

"We generally have two choices - either do the work or let the walkways and in some cases the A259 itself collapse."

He said the council was unable to comment further on the claim. No court date has yet been set.

The High Court battle is not Mr Archard's first run-in with the council.

Brighton magistrates fined him £1,000 and ordered him to pay £1,000 costs in March 2002 for playing heavy metal music so loudly it made his neighbours' furniture shake.

The council prosecuted him for breaking a noise abatement notice with the high volume of music by Def Leppard and Aerosmith at his home in Wilbury Gardens, Hove.

Mr Archard admitted two charges of breaking the notice but yesterday blamed the loud music on students renting the flat.