Brighton Spiegeltent aims for a September return to the Old Steine

Brighton Spiegeltent¹ is in talks with Brighton & Hove City Council about coming back to the Old Steine in September 2027, after missing out on the site for next May. The team has put a form on its website asking people whether they would come.

The Spiegeltent has been away for two years during the Valley Gardens redevelopment, and had planned to return in May 2027. In an update on its website, the team says the council “has now allocated our Old Steine home to SpiegelGardens² for next May”, which “came as a total surprise to us”. The move was first reported by the Argus³.

The names have confused people, so the team spells it out. SpiegelGardens is a separate operation, started in 2025 with Brighton Fringe and the Spiegeltent’s former bar partner, The Laine Pub Company Limited. The Spiegeltent team isn’t involved in running it.

The team isn’t promising September. “Nothing is agreed yet,” it says, but it is “hopeful that next year will see us putting up the tents”.

It has a new hospitality partner, Orange Beach Bars, a Brighton event bar company set up by the team behind The Chimney House and The Cleveland Arms. It is also developing a partnership with Culture Shift, an arts and health charity that runs arts activities in communities across Sussex.

The Spiegeltent ran for ten seasons on the Old Steine. The form asks what would make a September season work for you, what you have missed and what you would like to see. It also takes memories, photos, videos and posters from past years, and artists, local businesses and organisations who want to get involved are asked to get in touch.