Uncle Sam's burgers is coming to the old Pressure Point on Richmond Place

Uncle Sam’s, the burger chain that started in Brighton in 1971, is getting ready to open at 33 Richmond Place, opposite St Peter’s Church. Its sign is up over the door, and a notice there says it is “opening soon”. The Argus¹ first reported it yesterday.

It will be the fifth Uncle Sam’s in Brighton and the 14th overall, the Argus said. The other four in the city are on Montpelier Road, where the first restaurant opened, and in Hangleton, Woodingdean and Patcham. The remaining nine are elsewhere in Sussex and in Portsmouth.

The curved building went up in 1931 for Kemp Town Brewery. Bands played its first-floor ballroom in the 1960s, when it was the Richmond, and Muse, Biffy Clyro and Kasabian all played there in its Pressure Point years. After that it was a backpackers’ hostel, then the Richmond Bar, which shut in January 2020. It has been empty since.

The council approved plans in September for six flats upstairs and two commercial units on the ground floor and in the basement, the Argus said. Uncle Sam’s has not given an opening date yet.