CoffeeDrive

Reading Room

New seafront café for a beachfront brunch

6.4/10

Local score

No. 39 of 141 cafés on r/brighton, from 26 locals across 27 threads.

95% would send a mate. Still recommended in 2026.

A newer seafront cafe near the Marina/Black Rock that's popular for a breakfast or brunch walk along the beach, and said to be lovely at night too — though it's small, so booking and checking busyness is advised. One commenter calls it "a total rip off," and two coffees and donuts came to nearly £20.

Go for
A seafront breakfast or brunch walk
Heads up
Some say it's overpriced; gets busy, so book ahead

What locals say

…the Brighton bus app. You cAn buy tickets on it and it’s quite good for showing you when buses are due and how to get to places. You can tap on/off with a debit card but might depend if your cards charge for over sea use. If you get good weather there is a nice cafe called the Reading Room on the seafront - you can have a lovely walk along the beach to it.
u/whatwhenwhere1977, 20256 upvotes“Public Transport from airport and recommendations in Brighton”
The Reading Room is a really nice new cafe that’s opened near the marina, it’s on the beach basically in a renovated regency building, had a two coffees donuts for under £20. There’s fancy looking donuts so feels pretty date friendly and walk along and watch the murmerations, that’s when the starling swoop and fly in…
u/selkierackham, 20252 upvotes“Date ideas that aren’t to expensive?”
Try the Reading Room. You can walk there from the Marina which is easy to get to by bus or car or bike. Or Fika? There are 3 - two are in Hove and one on the seafront near Concord 2. All 3 have slightly different menus. Earl's - not much room to eat in, but fantastic. One in Hove and another in North Laine. Franco's…
u/marmite22, 20252 upvotes“Non-chain cool places for lunch recommendation request”
Temple which is almost like a mini Reading Room opposite Black Rock station and up the hill a bit little bit. And potentially the reading room itself if it’s not too busy.
u/Sazzygull, 20263 upvotes“Are there any laptop-friendly cafes with an outdoor patio area?”

Ranked from 21,200 r/brighton comments. Summaries are written by AI from what locals said; quotes are word for word. Not affiliated with Reddit. Back to the guide