If you’re planning a day or weekend in Brighton, having a great cafe up your sleeve is essential – somewhere to catch your breath, read, or just watch the world go by in between sightseeing and shopping stints.
When I first moved to Brighton, the cafe scene meant a handful of chains and not much else. Nowadays, thanks to the global coffee culture trend, Brighton has one of the best cafe and coffee scenes in the world.
Best Cafes in Brighton
Rather than an overarching round up, this guide features 15 of what I consider to be the best cafes in Brighton. Or rather, my 15 favourites.
These are places where the atmosphere and setting matter just as much as the quality of the coffee and food – Brighton cafes and coffee shops with dreamy interiors and unique settings, serving up strong espresso and creamy cappuccino, all worth your time.
You’ll find all my recommendations pinned onto a map at the end of the post to help you plan your route.
Best Brighton Cafes for beautiful Decor
I appreciate interior design, so I’m starting with my favourite cafes in Brighton with the most beautiful decor, from the elegant and stylish to whimsical and eclectic.
1 Cafe Marmalade
When cafe-deli Marmalade opened in Regency Kemptown, I couldn’t get over the beautiful decor. I always feel it belongs in a Paris side street, rather than Brighton, a city of giant spray-paint murals, hipsters, and students.
With its collection of reclaimed tiles, Victorian patterned floors, hand-scrawled kraft-paper menus and colourful counter heaving with heaped salads, stacks of quiches, sandwiches and cakes, it’s no surprise it’s one of Brighton’s most photographed cafe interiors.
I’ll come for a bacon sandwich on Real Patisserie chewy brown bread and stay to browse the shelves stocked with gourmet gifts like tins of Italian biscotti and fridge bursting with Sussex produce and house-made dishes to take home.
Find Cafe Marmalade at 237 Eastern Road, Brighton BN2 5JJ
2 Oeuf
When I first visited Oeuf in Hove, I felt like I’d walked onto a film set belonging to American film director, Wes Anderson. This pastel-coloured haven, hidden along a grand avenue near the seafront – owner Amber’s dream location, apparently – has a similar aesthetic.
As the name suggests, egg dishes are its speciality, alongside their well-known “Frumpets” (crumpets done French-toast style). Everything arrives beautifully plated, with a seasonally changing menu and strong vegetarian and vegan options throughout.
It’s a proper sit-down brunch spot rather than a grab-and-go option, so give yourself time to enjoy it properly, starting with a mimosa.
Find Oeuf at 8 Third Avenue, Hove BN3 2PX
3 CAFE RUST, Preston Park
This is the original Café Rust, open since 2015, where the small local group began. Hand-carved wooden doors open onto a stylish, rustic interior with a French farmhouse feel. There’s also a pretty flint-walled garden out back and a cosy cellar available for private hire.
I come here often for coffee and sometimes brunch – the rustic breakfasts are excellent – and it remains a firm favourite with Brightonians well over a decade on, alongside its sister branches across the city.
Find Cafe Rust at 50 Preston Road, Brighton BN1 4QF
4 Curio
I often wonder what I did before Curio opened up near London Road. It’s an all-day neighbourhood cafe bar, rather than straightforward coffee shop, with a nostalgic, European feel that sets it apart. There’s also wine on tap and a proper little food menu alongside the coffee and select pastries (try the honey bread).
It’s small, charming, relaxed and has become one of my favourite places in Brighton for a solo coffee date to watch the world around Preston Circus go by, or for a pre- or post-cinema stop, too, given its location opposite the lovely Duke of York’s picture house.
Find Curio at 1 Clyde Road, Brighton BN1 4NN
5 The Botanist Coffee Co
Whenever I’m in Hove in need of caffeine, I’ll head to The Botanist, a small peaceful cafe away from the main road. It’s filled with plants for sale and has a peaceful atmosphere. I also love that it stays open into the evening for sundowners.
The hot drinks are where it really stands out, with rotating seasonal specials built around botanical and superfood ingredients as its name suggests: think chocolate orange chai lattes or a mocha with a lion’s mane mushroom tincture.
Find The Botanist at 67c Church Road, Hove BN3 2BD
6 Cafe and Salvage
At the far end of Western Road towards Hove, Café Salvage has one of the most eclectic interiors of all Brighton cafes, built around salvaged and vintage finds.
It’s run by a couple who fill the space with antique and flea market pieces that change with every visit. What I love most about it is that most of what surrounds you is for sale.
While the decor is really the whole draw here, the coffee holds its own and the cake selection is genuinely excellent, everything served in mismatched proper china.
It’s the perfect environment for relaxing and feeling inspired, coming up with your next idea for life, to a backdrop of jazz music and chatter from locals filling the air.
Find Cafe and Salvage at 84 Western Road, Hove BN3 1JB
Best Brighton Cafes for a Unique Setting
I love it when old buildings are remagined. From a seafront folly and a manor house, to a converted church, these spots in interesting settings also serve great coffee.
7 The Temple
Overlooking the revamped Black Rock area of the seafront, this tiny cafe is one of Brighton’s cutest. It’s set inside a reimagined seafront garden folly built in 1835 as a place for wealthy residents of Lewes Crescent and Sussex Square across the road to gather and take in the seaviews.
Inside, I love the view through the huge floor-to-ceiling arched windows that frame the scenery perfectly. Come for Red Roaster coffee, Real Patisserie pastries and sandwiches by day, and wine and beer by night.
It’s my go-to spot for a takeout caffeine hit if ever I’m at the Kemptown end of the seafront. Most of all, on sunny days, I love slouching in one of the the stripy deckchairs on the terrace.
Find The Temple at Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1FY
8 The Reading Room
Less known for stand out coffee than its cool historic setting, The Reading Room near The Temple is set in an 1835 building originally designed as a space for residents of Lewes Crescent to read in comfort by the sea, hence the name.
It’s also one of the best cafes in Brighton for seaviews – arrive early if you want one of the window tables in the Regency-themed dining room filled with art and books.
Find The Reading Room at Black Rock, Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1FY
9 Café Rust, Preston Manor
When friends first took me to this branch of Cafe Rust inside Preston Manor near Preston Park, I couldn’t get over the lovely setting, in a wood-panelled room overlooking a croquet lawn. Lucky for me, it’s not far from where I live in Fiveways, for whenever I feel the need to visit.
Now I go back regularly for a dirty chai, especially outside in summer and to explore the pretty walled garden next door.
Find Café Rust, Preston Manor at Preston Drove, Brighton BN1 6SD
10 Café Rust, Hove Museum
I discovered Cafe Rust at Hove Museum by chance last December when I decided to go for a run to burn off some Christmas calories.
I ran all the way from Fiveways to Hove past the museum which lucky for me, happened to be open. I wandered inside and discovered a picturesque space filled with art and artefacts, where I caught my breath over a cappucino and waited for my husband to pick me up!
Find Café Rust, Hove Museum at 19 New Church Road, Hove BN3 4AB
11 Cielo Cakery
This stand-out brighton cafe is hidden away. A two-minute walk from Preston Park, you’ll find Cielo Cakery inside a converted church where I do yoga. It’s a cool spot, with lots of tables for working at and a garden with benches under trees.
It’s unique in that it specialises in brownies and ‘dookies’ – deep-dish cookies – in fun flavours like biscoff, chocolate buttons and maltersers.
Find Cielo Cakery at St Augustine’s Arts & Events Centre, Stanford Avenue, Brighton BN1 6EA
Best Brighton Cafes for Great Coffee
When it comes to coffee itself, there are a few places in Brighton that rise above the rest. With award-winning baristas and quality beans, the coffee shows their dedication to quality.
12 Ground
I discovered Ground while researching my hidden Kemptown walk and have been going back ever since. Its reputation is built on the quality of the cup. It uses ethically sourced single-origin espresso and filter coffee from some of the UK’s best roasters, including Union Hand-Roasted and Square Mile.
It’s a proper neighbourhood hangout rather than a destination cafe, friendly staff, a loyal local following and a little room out the back to work in.
Worth the walk up St George’s Road if you’re serious about your coffee and just want an unpretentious place to hang out.
Find Ground at 80 St George’s Road, Brighton BN2 1EF
13 Puck
Tucked into Seven Dials, Puck is a proper community spot and the coffee, from local roaster Pharmacie, is often named among the best in the city.
Puck regulars get their own cup; there are around 70 hanging in the kitchen for those who come in often enough to earn one.
Its part coffee shop, record shop, with crates of vinyl to flick through while you wait for your order. Grab a seat out front and watch the world go by or in the warren-like back room – once home to a pirate radio station – filled with art.
Find Puck at 19 Chatham Place, Brighton BN1 3TN
14 LOAM
I walked past LOAM a million times before I learned what was inside. I was always intrigued by the beautiful dusky pink shopfront with cream lace curtain that gives little away.
One day I ventured inside, and am so glad I did. I found a calming space away from the North Laine shopping crowds, run by a couple obsessed with coffee and design.
They serve some of the best coffee in Brighton – and cinnamon buns people come back for.
Find LOAM at 111 Gloucester Road, Brighton BN1 4AF
15 Pelicano, The Level
Pelicano roasts its own beans in Brighton and their strong, rich, flavourful coffee blows me away every time. They have a few branches, but I like this one for its location by the park’s entrance.
Expect their signature Smoky Bird espresso blend alongside rotating single origins, plus a good spread of cakes and pastries. It’s an ideal stop for people-watching or a casual catch-up before or after a wander through The Level into town.
Find Pelicano, The Level at The Level, London Road, Brighton
Best Brighton cafes and coffee shops map
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, would you consider buying me a coffee?
