Brighton's small park-and-ride site has lost a fifth of its car spaces after a nearby pub reclaimed them.

More than 50 spaces at the Withdean site have been taken back by the neighbouring Sportsman pub, part of the Whitbread group.

Less than 200 park-and-ride spaces are now left at the council-owned car park.

Sportsman manager Sam Paterson said the 50 spaces were for use by pub customers.

He said: "That part of the car park actually belongs to the pub and that is it - it is our car park."

A council spokesman said the authority had been in talks with Whitbread about parking arrangements at Withdean for some time.

He said: "We have now agreed a licence for them to have an area amounting to just over 50 parking spaces for the use of their customers.

"This still leaves lots of space for park-and-ride, so we regard this as a commonsense arrangement."

Traders have repeatedly called for more park-and-ride spaces in the city. Many were dismayed in July last year when a rebel group of councillors blocked a plan for new park-and-ride schemes on land north of the A27 Brighton bypass.

City centre manager Tony Mernagh said losing the spaces would make little difference because the park-and-ride scheme was too small anyway.