The Big Beach Café

The Big Beach Café has been putting music at the heart of environmental action this summer, joining forces with GEN R to host a ‘jukebox for nature’. Visitors could pick a track while donating to ocean restoration projects, turning everyday café culture into a playful act of climate activism. It was a typically inventive move from a venue that has always blurred the line between community hub and creative playground.

That sense of openness also drew Dad La Soul, the fatherhood collective tackling isolation and mental health, to pack up its crew and head to the café. No big plan - just music, mates and a jukebox that restores. It was an informal afternoon, but one that showed why the café has become a natural meeting point for groups who thrive on community and creativity.

The café’s modern story began in June 2013, when Norman Cook - better known as Fatboy Slim - teamed up with chef Daniel Stockland to take over a fading site on Hove Lagoon once run by Heather Mills. Cook, a long-time Brighton resident, said he wanted to give something back to the community, while Stockland brought the culinary experience of a classically trained chef with years spent catering for touring musicians. Their shared ambition was to create a relaxed, family-friendly spot with affordable food and a beach-side welcome.

Over the years the Big Beach Café has become a landmark on the seafront. Its dog-friendly policy, sandy-toes informality and hearty seaside staples - bacon sandwiches, burgers, cheesy chips - helped it thrive not as a celebrity project but as a genuine community hang-out. It has doubled as a stage for live sets, local art, charity events and the odd surprise appearance from Cook himself, reinforcing its identity as a space where the local and the playful come together.

Last October, however, the café hit a serious obstacle when inspectors found rodent droppings and unsafe food practices across the site, ordering an immediate closure and warning of an imminent risk to public health (see The Argus). The setback was sharp but temporary: deep cleaning and new food-safety systems quickly followed, and the café has since worked to restore both its standards and its reputation. Its survival owes much to the loyalty of regulars who see it as part of Hove life; and that bond was underlined this February when Zoe Ball quietly swapped her breakfast-show mic for a barista apron, working alongside her ex-husband in the café. The sight of the pair behind the counter offered a fresh, light-hearted reminder that the Big Beach Café’s story is as much about community and reinvention as it is about celebrity.

Meanwhile, the recent collaborations with GEN R and Dad La Soul capture what the Big Beach Café has always tried to be: accessible, quirky, creative and rooted in the rhythms of the community it serves.