Viva Brighton Issue #43 September 2016

FOOD
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The Village
Posh breakfast in Hanover
It’s 9.15am on a Tuesday morning, and I appear to be
the first customer of the day at The Village: the pleasant
blue-haired girl wearing army boots hasn’t yet put the
menus out. She hands me one, and I choose ‘Mushroom Toast’, described as ‘Portobello mushroom, spinach
and pine nuts on sourdough toast’ (£6.50). I live in Queens Park and work just off the London Road, so, if
I take something of a circuitous route, this café-bar is on my way to work, and I’m interested in whether it’s
likely to become a regular stopping-off point.
Inside, it’s Hanover through and through. An assortment of books on the shelf, rugs on the wooden floor,
sixties music playing through the speakers, and the chance - which I turn down - to ‘add Calcot Farm black
pudding’ for an extra £1.50, something I’m not hungry enough to do, sadly.
The Village was until recently a pub, the Horse and Groom, which was bought by property developers with
the idea of turning it into offices. A campaign group fought hard to stop this happening, turned it into an Asset
of Community Value, and the result is this licenced café, which opened in December.
My breakfast, washed down with a flat white, hits the spot, once I’ve added a dose of salt. I eat slowly, reading
a London Review of Books article about Jeremy Corbyn, and smiling to myself when the shuffle function puts
on I Got You, Babe twice in three songs. A great place for a slow brunch, then; next time I’ll build up more of a
hunger and try out the black pudding, too. Alex Leith