RESTAURANT owners who were ordered to remove tables and chairs from outside their premises have been told they can put them back if they leave a gangway leading to an empty shop.

The owners of three premises in East Street, Brighton, were forced to stack their tables away after an objection from the freeholder of a nearby vacant property.

The property, formerly the women's clothing shop Kookai, is up for rent and the freeholder's solicitors objected to the licensing of the tables and chairs.

They believed the tables obscured the shop and put off potential leaseholders.

It meant the owners of English's, Al Forno and The House were banned by Brighton and Hove City Council from putting tables and chairs out over Easter, which they estimated would have cost them £30,000 in lost revenue.

Now the traders' applications for licences to return the tables have been accepted by the council's licensing committee. But they have been told to leave a clear walkway to the vacant shop on the advice of the council's solicitor, which means they are down on the number of tables they had before.

The restaurateurs say the decision to force a parting of the tables is ridiculous just because one trader has made an objection.

Romano Taverna, owner of Al Forno, said: "The council has done its best. It has allowed us to put out some tables but not all of them because it's considered a highway and not a piazza or a square. It just looks terrible with this big space running up to an empty shop. I'm very upset."

About ten tables have been removed from the area, which means Mr Taverna has lost seating for about 40 customers.

The area, along with The Lanes, the Pavilion and the seafront, attracts thousands of tourists every year and is seen as a vital part of the city's economy. For the past 15 years the three restaurants have paid the council a licence fee to use a plot of land outside their premises to create an outdoor eating area, giving the city a European cafe feel.

The tables returned yesterday but Mr Taverna said he was having to turn potential customers away because there were not enough tables.

A spokesman for the council said: "The freeholder of number 35, formerly Kookai, has refused to give consent. No one is allowed to place tables and chairs in front of their property, which constitutes the width of their shop, up to the line of trees and benches.

"As it's outside their property, they have a say as to what goes directly in front of it. However, objections to having tables in the rest of the square were overruled."

The council is now working with the three businesses to work out a way to divide up the remaining space in which tables are allowed to ensure the businesses have an equal share.