The venture, which sees Nigel Lambe and Brad Jacobson team up with Nick Jerrim, who previously ran the Royal Oak in Poynings , will transform The Bell on Belfast Street, Hove into a rustic shipyard-styled local serving “local shellfish and seafood” with “nine draught beers on the bar” and “over 100 craft beers in total” as well a "Small Batch coffee offering".
The self-financed operation is “an Enterprise Inns lease with 16 years left with them” and has been scheduled to open in “two weeks, maybe three” said Lambe, revealing that all of this depended on how quickly the work could be completed.
“We’ve been looking for a site for three years to do this in. Basically, it’s a complete refurbishment, so we’re stripping everything back and putting in new electrics, plumbing and we’re redecorating the whole lot. This is all self-funded so far. We’re okay for now, but we often have two or three projects on the go as well as we’re always doing new stuff, so we’ll see how we get on,” said Lambe.
“We’ve taken a lot of wood off of an old ship and we’re putting that in here and around the bar. The look is going to have a wharf-feel to it and we have these doors covered with the wood and rusty bolts. There’s a shipyard rustic feel to it and we will have built in banks of seating and we’re opening a door out to what will ultimately be a decked outdoor space with some sort of covering over and a bit of heating built in and big planters next to the seating,” he explained.
“The menu at The Urchin will be mainly shellfish. We’re talking to a few local fish suppliers and we’ll be effectively basing our menu around five key products: Prawns, mussels, scallops, crab and lobster. That will be the core menu for the restaurant and then we’re doing a snack menu in the bar as well, largely around shellfish, fishcakes etc. It will be a snack menu as opposed to a dinner menu. We’re not going for making this an expensive venue. It’s going to be a reasonable everyday place. We’ll have 30 seats in the dining area and will probably seat another 50-60 outside when the weather is good.”
Jerrim added: “This will be a great local pub and with a dining room attached. We’re going for that pub feel and that warmth. Shellfish traditionally probably seemed quite posh with the whole fine dining scene, but it’s really just a great handheld snack. Craft beer and shellfish will work well together.”
Lambe revealed that both he and Jacobson have “The second site for Velo opening in March in Brighton station in the cycle hub at the back” and hinted that the new Velo site will be “a takeaway unit” offering “coffee, cakes, sandwiches and bike repairs.”
“Right now we’re also looking for sites in Brighton and Hove. We have no immediate plans to go far. We’re also looking at Portslade at the moment too,” Lambe added, admitting: “There are loads of concepts that we want to start, but it’s about finding the right people. We have wanted to do this for so many years, but it was only when we found Nick and the right place that we decided to go ahead.”