Royal Pavilion Tavern

The fishing and agricultural village of Brighthelmstone, on the Sussex coast in southeast England, grew into the fashionable resort of Brighton from the mid-18th century. Inward investment, good transport links and the popularity of sea-bathing helped it develop "all of the facilities that would have been expected" of an 18th-century leisure destination.{{Harvnb|Berry|2002|p=98.}} One of the most important was the Castle Inn, converted from a house in 1752 by businessman Samuel Shergold. He recognised that the town's wealthy visitors wanted a focal point near the Old Steine—at that time the centre of Brighton's fashionable life—to meet, socialise and stay. It became the nascent resort's most important social venue, especially after an assembly room and ballroom were added.{{Harvnb|Musgrave|1981|pp=214–215.}}{{Harvnb|Collis|2010|pp=50–51.}}{{Harvnb|Berry|2002|p=103.}} Within 50 years, though, it had declined, and it was demolished in 1823. This allowed the junction of North Street and Old Steine to be widened, and it took the name Castle Square.{{Harvnb|Musgrave|1981|p=214.}}{{Harvnb|Collis|2010|p=51.}}

File:View of Castle Square, Brighton (March 2013) (Looking East).JPG

By 1780, North Street was "the principal commercial street in the town", and Castle Square itself became a hub of commercial activity.{{cite web|title=Valley Gardens Conservation Area Study and Enhancement Plan |url=http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/downloads/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf |access-date=31 July 2013 |publisher=Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department) |date=13 September 1995 |page=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017113445/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/downloads/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf |archive-date=17 October 2013 |url-status=live }} Despite the decline of the Castle Inn, the area retained its fashionable air,{{cite web|title=Valley Gardens Conservation Area Study and Enhancement Plan |url=http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/downloads/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf |access-date=31 July 2013 |publisher=Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department) |date=13 September 1995 |page=5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017113445/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/downloads/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf |archive-date=17 October 2013 |url-status=live }} and by the early 19th century a mixed series of buildings had been built on the southern side; despite some later alterations, their layout and essential character remains.{{cite web|title=Valley Gardens Conservation Area Study and Enhancement Plan |url=http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/downloads/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf |access-date=31 July 2013 |publisher=Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department) |date=13 September 1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017113445/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/brighton-hove.gov.uk/files/downloads/conservation/Valley_Gardens_Conservation_Area_Study.pdf |page=9 |archive-date=17 October 2013 |url-status=live }} One such building was the tall terraced house at number 8. Dating from early in the 19th century,{{NHLE|num=1380055|desc=Royal Pavilion Tavern and railings, 7–8 Castle Square, Brighton|grade=II|access-date=1 August 2013}} it soon took on a second role. In 1808, the Court of Whalesbone, a Hundred Court (an early form of magistrates' court) moved from the county town of Lewes to the building. Sessions were held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. After short interludes at the Old Ship Hotel and Brighton's original Town Hall, the court sessions returned between 1823 and 1832.{{Harvnb|D'Enno|2007|p=41.}}

By this time, the building had been converted into the Royal Pavilion Hotel. Described as a "family and commercial hotel", it aimed for middle-class customers who would previously have considered the Castle Inn.{{Harvnb|Musgrave|1981|p=217.}} It may have been established as early as 1816,{{Harvnb|Antram|Morrice|2008|p=81.}} and certainly by 1820. In that year or in 1826, famous local architect Amon Henry Wilds was commissioned to redesign the building. His partner Charles Busby, who worked with him on many buildings in Brighton in the early 19th century, may have assisted him; the pair also worked on 1a Castle Square around the same time. Wilds gave the hotel a typical Regency stuccoed bow front and an intricate balcony featuring the interlinked dolphins which featured on Brighton's coat of arms.

The building later changed from a hotel to a conventional inn called the Royal Pavilion Tavern. An early proprietor offended Maria Fitzherbert, the Prince Regent's mistress who lived at Steine House (which backed on to the inn), by putting up a sign on the rear wall which read "Gin Palace". After she complained, he altered it to "Shades"—a local term with a similar meaning. That name was recalled in 1991 when the building was substantially refurbished; part of it was converted into a café-bar and restaurant called Shades. A World War II-era bar counter was retrieved from a pub at London Victoria railway station and installed during this refit.{{Harvnb|Collis|2005|p=59.}} The pub was latterly owned and operated by the Mitchells & Butlers chain.{{cite web|url=http://www.theroyalpaviliontavernbrighton.co.uk/termsandconditions/ |title=Terms of use |publisher=The Royal Pavilion Tavern in Brighton/Mitchells & Butlers |year=2013 |access-date=1 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302170451/http://www.theroyalpaviliontavernbrighton.co.uk/termsandconditions/ |archive-date=2 March 2013 |url-status=live }} On 24 September 2019 the company announced that the pub would close permanently two days later. The building was to be converted for residential use.{{cite news|url=https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/17923475.royal-pavilion-tavern-brighton-announces-closure/|title=Royal Pavilion Tavern in Brighton announces closure|last=Lock|first=Rose|date=24 September 2019|work=The Argus|access-date=24 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924213842/https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/17923475.royal-pavilion-tavern-brighton-announces-closure/|archive-date=24 September 2019|url-status=live}} In August 2021, however, Mitchells & Butlers submitted a planning application to Brighton and Hove City Council proposing alterations and remedial works to the pub.Brighton and Hove City Council planning application BH2021/03127: 7–8 Castle Square, Brighton BN1 1FX. Alterations to ground floor of existing public house (sui generis) including reconfiguration of entrance lobby, enlargement of gents toilet area, removal of raised levels with associated remedial works to walls, addition of fixed seating units, alterations. Received 25 August 2021. It reopened on 13 February 2022 under its new name, the Fitz Regent, with updated decor in an Art Deco style.{{cite web|url=https://whatpub.com/pubs/BRI/278/fitz-regent-brighton|title=Fitz Regent (formerly Royal Pavilion Tavern)|date=21 February 2022|publisher=Campaign for Real Ale|access-date=3 May 2022}} Around this time, the owners applied for planning permission to make changes to the interior.{{cite journal|title=Sussex Pub Scratchings|journal=Sussex Drinker|editor-last=Shaw|editor-first=Andy|publisher=Sussex Branches of the Campaign for Real Ale|issue=106|page=4|date=Spring 2022}}

The Royal Pavilion Tavern and the iron railings outside it were listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 13 October 1952. This defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest".{{Cite web|url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings/ |title=Listed Buildings |year=2012 |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=24 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126151823/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings |archive-date=26 January 2013 |url-status=dead }} As of February 2001, it was one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.{{cite web|title=Images of England – Statistics by County (East Sussex) |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/StatisticsPage/default.aspx?StatsCounty=EAST%20SUSSEX |work=Images of England |publisher=English Heritage |year=2007 |access-date=27 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023073747/http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/StatisticsPage/default.aspx?StatsCounty=EAST%20SUSSEX |archive-date=23 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} It is also within the Valley Gardens Conservation Area,{{cite web|url=http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1001696 |title=Conservation Areas street directory – N |year=2012 |publisher=Brighton & Hove City Council |access-date=8 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901052609/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1001696 |archive-date=1 September 2012 |url-status=dead }} one of 34 conservation areas in the city of Brighton and Hove.{{cite web|title=Conservation Areas in Brighton & Hove |url=http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1103241 |access-date=1 January 2012 |publisher=Brighton & Hove City Council (Design & Conservation Department) |year=2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830161424/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1103241 |archive-date=30 August 2012 |url-status=dead }} This was designated by Brighton Council in 1973 and covers {{convert|92.84|acre|ha}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1175584 |title=Valley Gardens Conservation Area |year=2012 |publisher=Brighton & Hove City Council |access-date=8 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902170036/http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1175584 |archive-date=2 September 2012 |url-status=dead }}

The buildings on the south side of Castle Square are all of a similar age but show a great variety of sizes and styles. The Royal Pavilion Tavern is one of the taller buildings at four storeys in height. The slate-tiled gambrel roof has dormer windows and is partly hidden behind a balustrade which sits on top of a parapet and cornice. The façade is stuccoed and projects as a segmental-arched bow front. The stucco is rusticated at ground-floor level. The entrance is in the rightmost of the three bays and is flanked by granite pilasters topped by brackets with foliage decoration. Above this, an iron balcony runs across the full width of the building at first-floor level; this dates from the late 19th century and has finials in the form of interlinked dolphins and crowns, recalling the Borough of Brighton's emblem. Each storey has three windows, but they are treated in various ways; those at first-floor level have architraves, the second-storey windows have a small individual iron balcony with anthemion decoration; and those on the top floor have prominent sills.

• Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove: P–R
• Pubs in Brighton
• {{commons category-inline|Royal Pavilion Tavern, Brighton}}

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• {{cite book|last1=Antram|first=Nicholas|last2=Morrice|first2=Richard|title=Brighton and Hove|series=Pevsner Architectural Guides|publisher=Yale University Press|location=London|year=2008|isbn=978-0-300-12661-7}}
• {{cite journal|last=Berry |first=Sue |year=2002 |title=Myth and Reality in the Representation of Resorts: Brighton and the Emergence of the "Prince and Fishing Village" Myth 1770–1824 |journal=Sussex Archaeological Collections |publisher=Sussex Archaeological Society |location=Lewes |volume=140 |pages=97–112 |doi=10.5284/1086047 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite book|last=Collis|first=Rose|title=Brighton Boozers: a History of the City's Pub Culture|year=2005|publisher=Brighton & Hove City Council (Royal Pavilion, Libraries and Museums Department)|location=Brighton|isbn=0-948723-60-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Collis|first=Rose|others=(based on the original by Tim Carder)|title=The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton|edition=1st|year=2010|publisher=Brighton & Hove Libraries|location=Brighton|isbn=978-0-9564664-0-2}}
• {{cite book|last=D'Enno|first=Douglas|title=Brighton Crime & Vice 1800–2000|year=2007|publisher=Wharncliffe Books|location=Barnsley|isbn=978-1-84563-030-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Musgrave|first=Clifford|title=Life in Brighton|year=1981|publisher=Rochester Press|location=Rochester|isbn=0-571-09285-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeinbrightonfr0000musg}}

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{{B&H Buildings}}

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove

Category:Grade II listed pubs in East Sussex

Category:Mitchells & Butlers

Category:Pubs in Brighton and Hove

Category:1820s establishments in England

Category:Regency architecture in England

Category:Former pubs in England