A family-run music pub has thanked Fatboy Slim for playing a secret gig to support it in its fight to stop a four-storey office block next door.
The DJ, real name Norman Cook, played a two-hour set at the Prince Albert in Brighton on Monday night to a 200-strong crowd.
The pub fears it will lose business due to construction and could close if the units are turned back into residential properties in the future.
Thousands of people have already signed a petition against the plans which would see a former garage at 47 Trafalgar Street demolished and replaced.
The pub has supported many bands at the start of their career including The Kooks and The Maccabees.
George Taylor, 26, director of the business, said: “We’re a small independent family business. There is me, my dad Chris, my sister Grace, my brother Fred. We are one of the last family-run independent pubs in Brighton.
“We have no big company looking after us, we stand alone in this fight against developers next door so someone like Norman Cook coming and supporting us, putting his weight behind the cause is invaluable in every possible sense.
“He is a real champion of the people, a real Brighton local who looks after his own and everyone here. He suggested doing the gig to us off his own back.
“We do nine gigs a week some weeks in the winter. We let any band of any size come and play, it doesn’t matter their stature or following.
“If you want to play, you are welcome and we will give you a platform to get out to more people. We support small bands who need to play gigs.
“We have seen countless bands start their careers here, the Kooks and the Maccabees. They are big fans of the Prince Albert and have done secret gigs themselves.
“If we go, who will know what bands we will not be able to support. Who is going to look after these bands? What are other venues going to do when the next developer wants to move in and become flats.
“We want a good neighbourly development going there that fits in with what we are about. This building has been here 200 years.”
Fatboy was asked by long-time friend Chris Steward, the pub’s owner, if he would share the petition. The DJ, from Hove, suggested the secret gig.
He said: “Chris who runs the place ran the Concorde and Concorde 2 which was our home in the big beat days in the 1990s.
“They rung me up and said we need your help. I suggested doing a gig before Wednesday.
“Small venues of this size are the lifeblood of my industry. If you remove these it’s like you’re cutting off the roots of a plant. The rest of it will wither and die.”
The original designs in August last year proposed that the development would be an office block with two holiday lets.
The holiday lets were scrapped from the plan but there are fears the building could turn into residential units in the future.
Music Venue Trust said unless Brighton and Hove City Council provides the venue assurances that this will not happen, its “survival is not guaranteed”.
The council’s planning committee is discussing the new plans today at 2pm.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here