The weather may have been wet, cold and windy but that is just what Brighton and Hove's community of surfers enjoy.

While most people have been sheltering from the weather, a band of intrepid surfers has been riding the waves at every opportunity.

Surfing off the Sussex coast is a growing business, according to expert and surf shop owner Jez Lee, who has just opened his second shop a year after opening his first.

Small Planet, which has become a mecca for surfers, has opened a wet suit shop two doors from its original shop in Victoria Terrace, Hove.

Mr Lee said there was a core of about 200 regular surfers in Brighton and Hove and most of them were regular customers.

"All the local surfers come in to buy their boards, their wet suits and their clothing from us.

The original Small Planet sold wet suits but it can now display them and stock more.

Mr Lee said: "You have to be dedicated to surf on the South Coast in winter. You wouldn't last long without a wet suit. But with the suit, boots and gloves, there is no reason you couldn't go out swimming for four hours."

Small Planet sells British boards and imports from Australia, Hawaii and California.

It specialises in long boards and has a name as the biggest stockist of long boards on the South Coast.