New Shoreham Beach Green cafe and restaurant project aiming to ‘deliver something wonderful’

BeachBox was granted planning permission for the new facility on the site of an old toilet block by Adur District Council back in October 2019.

The new building will include a split level cafe and restaurant with a roof terrace, public toilets and community space.

Matthew McMillan, head of development at Beachbox Development Limited, told the Herald they wanted to ‘deliver something wonderful’.

Acknowledging there were some residents who objected to the scheme, he said: “Hopefully we can win them over and that’s what we are trying to do with the conversations we are having.”

Recent work on the project has centred on a provisional licensing application, which follows the same operating hours consented in the granted planning permission.

And while there are some who do not want the scheme to go ahead, Mr McMillan described how there are others who are ‘excited’ to see it happen.

He highlighted that while the project is led by Boxpark’s founder and CEO Roger Wade, once built the facility would be leased and run by another operator.

The main concerns raised at two recent webinars and an on-site meeting were around noise, parking and traffic as well as the size and design of the new building.

The council’s tender for the scheme was based on a planning brief drawn from the work of the neighbourhood forum.

With toilets needing to be reprovided alongside community space, a cafe and restaurant, Mr McMillan said they needed a building that would be able to deliver all these aspects.

On noise, he described how there were some fears BeachBox would be a live music venue with noisy DJ sets, but this would not be the case and it would merely be a cafe and restaurant.

Testing would determine the current noise level experienced by residents and the new business would have to abide by conditions set by the council to not cause any disturbance to nearby properties.

They are also aware of existing traffic and parking issues, but anticipated that most of the trips to the new facility would be people using the beach already.

Conversations were also taking place with the council about the refurbishment of the existing car park and pricing, but this was land outside BeachBox’s direct control.

The building would have 27 cycle spaces and would look to promote sustainable travel movements as much as possible.

Measures would also be taken to control litter internally and externally so as to not affect the amenity of the beach.

Once a tenant to run the building is secured they will submit their own full licensing application.

At the moment BeachBox is talking to local building contractors and pricing up the scheme. Any construction would take place during the winter period and avoid the busy summer months.

Mr McMillan concluded: “We’re genuinely very optimistic that we can deliver something that will be a pleasure for the local community and a beachfront restaurant and cafe that people want to see on the site.”

More information is available on the project’s website at www.shorehambeachbox.co.uk