Terraces Bar & Grill

Brighton, East Sussex Perhaps it's not surprising that a clean environment is high on the list of priorities for a venue on the Brighton seafront. Terraces is a daytime stop-off for summer visitors taking in the sea air, but transforms itself into a buzzing bar-restaurant by night. It was opened by Glendola Leisure ­ most famous for Waxy O'Connor's ­ in a redeveloped seafront site close to Brighton Pier in July. Managing director Alex Salussolia says: "We set out to create an operation that had three specific offers: coffee, liquor and food, but in no order of priority. We wanted a format to push a focus on full table service and a relaxed drinking and dining experience. "We tried to design the business so that it would be attractive to as many people as possible. On the seafront at Brighton, you get a huge mix of people. Instead of going modern and minimalistic, we went for an eclectic design with industrial elements, modern bar finishes and relatively traditional, solid furniture." The air-cleaning heart of the venue is a £160,000 warm-air heating and ventilation system with an inverter driven/dual-speed plant, representing a sizeable chunk of the £1m total investment. In the summer, the venue's natural ventilation from doors and windows comes to the fore, but when they're closed in the winter, extra help is needed. Creating a comfortable environment for all is important as the venue has a capacity of nearly 400, an estimated 60% of which are smokers. The premises are Smoking Charter compliant in the "fully ventilated throughout" category, and there are brass plaques on all the doors to that effect. "A clean air environment is particularly important for a big food operation," says Alex. "It's a fundamental principle that we believe the environment should be as fresh and clean as possible to match the quality offering. We don't want to discourage smoking: we want to remove the smoke and not the smokers. "The place is fully ventilated to the highest specification and you should be able to sit anywhere and have the smoke removed very efficiently." The comfort of the venue's 15 full-time staff was an important consideration as well as that of customers, says Glendola's MD. "When we do any new installations, by working to the highest standards, it means the air for our employees is clean and they're not getting passive smoke the way they would elsewhere. We take it very seriously.