Scores of Sussex pubs are to change hands in a series of multi-million pound deals.

CSide, one of Brighton's biggest pub and club chains, is on the verge of being sold to a venture capital company.

And Scottish and Newcastle is selling at least five pubs in Hove, Shoreham and Eastbourne.

These include the Hove Park Tavern in Sackville Road, The Brunswick in Holland Road, Hove, Nan Tuck's Tavern in Church Road, Hove, The Gilredge in Eastbourne and The Royal Coach in Shoreham.

Martin Webb, co-founder of CSide, which owns 23 pubs and clubs in Brighton and Hove, is expected to finalise the sale to London-based firm Foreign and Colonial Ventures in March.

However Mr Webb has signed a confidentiality clause forbidding him to comment on the deal until it is completed. It is believed at least 80 per cent of the business will be sold to F&C Ventures which is planning to extend the chain throughout the South-East of England.

CSide, which was formed in 1994 with just one bar, The Squid, now employees more than 350 workers and its portfolio includes three nightclubs, a restaurant, a fitness centre and a selection of bars.

The company specialises in buying run-down or undertrading concerns and turning them into bars aimed at the 18-to-35 market.

In the last two months CSide has snapped up The Pig in Paradise, now renamed The City of Brighton, The Cuba Bar, The Gloucester nightclub and The Lift.

It is also planning to take over the 1,750- capacity venue at the multi-million pound Aquarium Terraces development on Brighton seafront after Liverpool club Cream pulled out.

A spokesman for the developers Compco confirmed the talks were continuing as planned despite the pending sale of CSide.

Meanwhile Scottish and Newcastle has insisted no jobs would be lost in the move to sell its pubs, which could go through by the end of the year.

However Bev Robbins, chairman of the Sussex Society of Licensed Victuallers, said: "All these companies are just interested in tying up the trade and choice is just going out of the window. It will be the customer who will have to pay."

A spokeswoman for Scottish and Newcastle said: "There are 920 pubs that we have put up for sale which followed a review of the company.

"They are very much being sold as a going concern and there have been a number of interested parties.

"But it is very much business as usual and they are not being closed. It will have no effect on jobs."

The company remained uncertain when the pubs would be sold. The spokeswoman said: "It is a little too early to say at this stage. We have decided to concentrate on various parts of the business, especially the restaurant and pub side."