7 years ago the Southsea Beach Cafe was born offering a pit stop to beach walkers as well as tourists wanting nice food with a sea view! Fast forward to now and the success of the cafe has grown from strength to strength with BBQ evenings and surviving lockdown by offering customers the hatch, then adding the decking area to increase the number of people able to sit and eat outside, this place is a welcomed staple in Southsea.
Owners Ian, Adam and Toby really picked a great spot where the sea views are stunning and on a sunny, warm day nothing beats sitting out at the cafe with a cocktail along with your friends enjoying the best of living in Southsea.
Expanding the business and finding a gem of a place that can capture all that SBC has to offer is a tall task but has been achieved in the form of the old Mozzarella Joe’s site on Clarence Esplanade part of the seafront. With a balcony that stretches the length of the rear of the building and a huge inside space plus being the opposite end to the SBC, the deal was done and the team got to work on creating a successful second eatery by the sea.
Opening this wknd, The Beach Club has all the flair of SBC and a little bit more panache if I am honest! From huge jellyfish lighting pendants to a dance floor space, this venue is going to be buzzing over the Summer.
Catching up with Adam, one of the owners, he said that the quality of food will be the same as SBC but will also offer artisan pizza’s as they inherited the huge pizza oven on site. The style of dishes will be just as enticing and of course, an amazing view out on the balcony area watching the ships sail by as well as offering the perfect sunset spot over the sea.
Chatting to Neil from The Bureau Of Change who project managed the whole interior project, he said he wanted to bring the yellow and blue colours on board which gives the site its distinctive look and he said being a sailor himself, he wanted the view of The Beach Club from the sea to stand out too so anybody looking across from a boat could capture the essence of what The Beach Club is all about.
The blue and yellow flows all through the indoors and outdoors but inside has a very playful New England white to break up the colours! Debbie Harry hangs near the dance floor wearing a sailors cap and in the entrance hangs a huge gold-framed Captain Cook with a disco ball, wearing headphones while rocking a Run DMC T-shirt!
Neil has kept his independent local vibes by using Rose Clover for the huge oversized palms and local artists Sadie Tierney, Pete Codling, and Kevin Dean plus Tristan from Strong Island Clothing brought his graphic design skills and worked on the logo for the outside of the building which captures the beach vibe.
Everything has been carefully thought through from the lighting outside to the layout of the restaurant inside. I especially love the dazzle camouflage (or razzle-dazzle as some might say) that Neil has implemented on the outside of the balcony. It throws a nod to the navy and really is a great feature that can be seen from far away. The boys from SBC have always been good at creating an atmosphere from the location to the great chefs they have onboard so expect the same quality here and go pop down to experience that balcony which I feel is going to have a reputation all of its own!
Check out The Beach Club’s socials to find out more on the inside dining which rumour has it could be available from this wknd, but for now the outside is open and the beer is flowing so get yourself down! I will be writing a full review when I visit as a paying customer and get to experience all that The Beach Club has to offer over the Summer.
Photo Credit to – The Bureau of Change
