The council wants a commercial partner for the Kings Road site by 27 September, on a 20-year lease. The paddling pool and playground must stay free.

Brighton and Hove City Council is looking for a commercial partner to rebuild the Kings Road paddling pool and playground, and has given interested firms until 27 September to come forward.

The winning partner would pay for the design and construction of the new facility, then run and maintain it. In return it would get a 20-year lease over an adjoining 1,000 square metre site, which the council says could take “a leisure, hospitality or wellbeing offer” (expression of interest, Brighton & Hove City Council).

One condition is set out plainly. Any proposal “must provide a high-quality family play area and paddling pool that remain free for residents and visitors to enjoy” (council news release, 21 August 2026).

What the council is asking for

Submissions have to cover:

  • the organisation’s track record on comparable projects
  • the commercial leisure concept proposed for the adjoining site
  • a site layout and design approach, with visuals
  • total capital investment, and how it would be funded
  • a long-term plan for running and maintaining the site
  • what rent or share of revenue the council would receive

The existing site takes in the playground, the paddling pool, brick-built structures and toilets. The council says all of it needs modernising.

Proposals go by email to seafront.lettings@brighton-hove.gov.uk. The council states that the exercise creates no contractual relationship, guarantees nobody will progress, and reserves its right not to proceed at all.

Councillor Alan Robins, cabinet member for sport, recreation and libraries, said: “If we want a seafront that’s fit for the future, we need to work with private sector investors and developers to deliver it together.” He called the site “a lucrative space in a busy part of the seafront”.

Why the pool is shut in the first place

The paddling pool did not open this summer. It sits on the stretch of Victorian arches beneath the A259 that is being structurally strengthened.

Phases 1 to 3 of that work are finished, and produced new shops, public toilets and Shelter Hall. Phase 4 covers the arches between the bandstand and The Seahorse. Phase 5 moves west of Shelter Hall.

The money is in place. The Department for Transport has put in £22 million, and the council £3.9 million, of which £1.8 million is borrowed (council, 6 July 2026). King’s Road carries more than 25,000 vehicles and 2,100 cyclists a day. Once the work is done the council says the road and arches will be safe for another 100 years.

The paddling pool, playground and public toilets all close while phase 4 is carried out.

The city’s other paddling pools are unaffected. Hove Lagoon and Saunders Park have both been running this season, though the water feature at The Level is out of action after a pump failure (Freedom Leisure).

The consultation that was promised

When cabinet took the arches report in February, the plan for the pool site was put a different way.

Members were “asked to approve a feasibility study on potential options before a public consultation to gather the thoughts and ideas of city residents” (council, 5 February 2026). The July funding release repeated it, saying the council was planning community consultation on a new paddling pool.

We can find no sign that it has happened. No project covering the paddling pool, the playground or the Kings Road site appears among the consultations listed on the council’s Your Voice platform, checked on 22 August.

What has been published instead is a call to the market, with a five-week window. Nothing in the expression of interest says whether residents will be consulted on the shortlisted designs, or at what point.

The opportunity was trailed in the council’s seafront prospectus, a joint document with the Seafront Development Board published on 5 June (Brighton & Hove Seafront Prospectus).

Timeline of 2026 decisions on the Kings Road paddling pool site: 5 February cabinet report promising a feasibility study and public consultation, 5 June seafront prospectus, 6 July funding confirmed, 21 August call for commercial partners, 27 September deadline for proposals
Graphic by The Brighton Times

What it means for you

If you use the playground or the pool, neither is available while phase 4 runs, and no reopening date for the site has been published. The free-of-charge commitment applies to whatever replaces them, and it is written into what bidders are being asked to deliver, not just said in a press release.

If you run a leisure or hospitality business, this is a 20-year lease on a seafront site with the paddling pool and playground attached as an obligation. The deadline is 27 September 2026 and there is no published shortlisting date after it.

If you want a say, there is currently no open consultation to respond to. Councillors can be contacted through the council, and the cabinet member responsible for the site is Councillor Alan Robins.

Nearby seafront parking is covered on our parking in Brighton page, and other things to do in the city are on our things to do in Brighton guide.

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