Raz Helalat to move his original Brighton restaurant The Coal Shed
Helalat expects the new The Coal Shed to launch in the second half of 2023 within a 5,000 sq ft former retail site.
The new site is expected to have a bar seating 30-40 guests, a much larger dining room and an open kitchen.
The move will also see The Coal Shed concept re-evaluated, he says. “Josper’s and dry-aged beef aren’t a USP anymore. We need to change the concept to stay relevant. We’re working on that at the moment.”
Helalat’s Black Rock Restaurants group will retain the site that has been home to The Coal Shed since 2011 for a new, as-yet undecided concept that will be “a better fit for the location” (Boyce’s Street links Brighton’s notorious West Street with the more upmarket shopping streets that run into The Lanes).
The next few years look likely to be a busy for the group, with Helalat hoping to launch another site under his Burnt Orange bar restaurant brand and completely refit his The Salt Room restaurant.
Black Rock Restaurants recently extended its lease for the latter directly with the Hilton Brighton Metropole’s landlord.
The extensive works at the prominent seafront site are likely to see the creation of a fully-glazed terrace allowing the area to trade all year round.
Helalat is among Brighton’s most established and successful restaurateurs having launched the The Coal Shed in 2011 followed by The Salt Room in 2015.
In 2017, he opened he launched The Coal Shed at London’s One Tower Bridge development.
Both in Brighton, his most recent projects are bar and restaurant Burnt Orange, opened in 2021, and Italian restaurant Tutto, which launched earlier this year.
A full interview with Helalat will be published early next month
