Chinese restaurant into Airbnb/residential tiny budget b

For a long while I’ve lived in a flat above a Chinese restaurant with a very hands off freeholder, there’s a multitude of mild issues with that situation but I’ve been fortunate enough to remove all that in one big purchase swoop.

The freeholder was selling up, it comprises the freehold to the whole building including the vacant restaurant and car park and being a leaseholder I got first refusal. It last came up for sale in the 80s and was the worst timing ever as I had other things happening. So I put my offer in and it was accepted.

Months of nonsense ensued; problems with the sale, had to be cash only, my wife was in the latter stages of pregnancy, hardball solicitors, pregnancy turning into newborn baby (to add to the bonkers two year old), other party threatening to pull out of the sale over the slightest thing, such as being asked to provide an EPC etc. Stressful times from all angles but all worth it in the end.

The sale completed a little while ago and now have the keys.

The plan is to refurb and turn the former restaurant in to a Airbnb in the short term. I had to borrow some money to get it over the line and need to pay it back as soon as. Once that’s paid back it will go to residential, I’ll either make it a maisonette and link it to my existing flat, rent it out or have it for my mum to live there if she wants to at that point. Or make it into a gallery/art space.

Currently it’s pretty dilapidated, it was left full of rubbish, massive old catering equipment that had not been cleaned in what looks like a very long time, in fact none of it had been cleaned and I don’t think it’s had any meaningful maintenance. Plus there’s loads of bodges.

I will be doing almost all the work on this project as I’ve pretty much spent everything I have. I’m prone to liking stuff, finding out how much it costs and exclaiming ‘what! I’m not paying that! And doing it myself. I already know it needs a fair amount of plastering and I’m not paying plasterer prices. Be doing that myself. Will do the plumbing, electrical stuff etc within what is legal.

The more fun bit is what it will look like and it’s potential for a holiday let, it’s a former industrial 1930s building with ornate brickwork and a very big curved front window. It’s a couple minutes from the beach and ten mins from the centre of Brighton. So you can easily avoid the place or get there easily if you want to. There’s plenty of immediate local stuff that makes it appealing and there’s parking outside, which is pretty rare around here.

My wife and I are suckers for the midcentury modern thing and old stuff in general so it will be furnished in that fashion. I’ve got bits and pieces already and will likely find more.

Hoping to make it look tastefully 1950s, it would fit the space pretty welll. And absolutely no live, laugh, love Dunelm rubbish!

This the the interesting part of the building, the main part of the former restaurant. Edited the out the old photo of the whole building.

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Exciting - loads of potential in that downstairs space!

Does it still smell or Chinese food??

Following! Interested to see how this works out. Any floor plans to share of the restaurant and how you want to return it to a residential space.
Also dibs for a long weekend for me and the missus when it’s finished!

Subbed for the ensuing madness

It certainly smells, it’s getting fresher though. Found a lot of ingredients on the floor, on shelves and left in the fridge so the stink was lingering, electricity had been cut off too so it was pretty ripe.

I do have an old floor plan I’ll have to dig it out. It’s a great space with a massive main room. It’s got a false ceiling currently which I’ll be pulling out to max out the height potential for big lighting etc.

You got first dibs, our old hamster was called Cornelius so you would have been first anyway for awesome name.

I know where this from when i lived in Brighton, great location to have an air bnb

Did the restraunt owners live there? As in does it already have domestic stuff downstairs?

Not sure if I love your hamster being named after my pseudonym but I’ll take first dibs anyway I can get it!

Also big lighting or mezzanine?

Easy to figure out where that is from that image, might want to fix it.

Fab stuff! Looking forward to this unfold. 😎

Interesting project, keep track of everything you spend on the project and keep the EPC C 2030 rules in mind if making any upgrades.

This sounds like a great project! Did a gasp when I scrolled down to see the photo of the building, lots of character and potential to make it something really lovely!

Didn’t know you were from round these parts, the Brighton fixed group is pretty small these days.

It has some domestic bits but is so old so all getting replaced and updated. The only thing I could use and keep is the nearly new washing machine that was left behind. It had unofficial residents but they were removed apparently. They were living in one of the back rooms.

Ceilings when uncovered are 3m high, might be a bit low for a mezzanine but I’m more in to having a quality space rather than sacrificing space to add another bedroom or anything like that. It will be a very generous 1 bed apartment essentially.

Which paves the way for big lighting et al.

Thanks for the heads up, I’ve edited it.

Thanks man, I’m a month in to it and done a lot already so plenty more to share

Thanks, I am trying to make this as friendly as possible on all sides of this. Epc is something I will be working towards getting as high as possible within my ability. Has previously been rated C, but no idea how. I need to get it redone.

Also keen to make it disability friendly although it might not be possible due to the size of the door frames but we will see, it’s perfectly level from the outside to inside so it’s a good start. I’ll need to get some guidance here.

Thanks, sooo much potential yes, lots of work but it will be worth it. I’ve already uncovered some delights but will save them for later.

Can still find it with the new image if you're bothered, but I had to use reverse image search rather than just googling the name on the sign.

So I’ve been working on this place for a bit over a month now but I’ll start at the beginning. I’m working full time and two little kids so not smashing this as fast as I would like and got loads paperwork type stuff to do alongside it. Also got the change of use going through which will cause any progress to slow down, my posts will soon catch up.

So when I bought this place it was well known to me but I hadn’t actually been inside, I knew it wouldn’t be great but it turned out it was pretty bad. Even so, loads of potential and goodbye to a load of problems.

Got the keys and had a look, buyers remorse kicked in. Loads of rubbish was dumped in there; several mattresses, bunk beds, general garbage and food. The electric had been cut off, food left in the many fridges had gone off, water on the floor, leaks, smelt terrible, mouldy stuff, damp patches and blown out plaster that could have easily been sorted but just left, ingrained dirt everywhere and the gallons of grease. More on the grease later.

I was a bit annoyed so didn’t even take photos of this stage, just got going pulling everything out and cleared it all as soon as possible. Found a nice scrap man who was happy to take anything metal, he had the old woks, pans, bunk beds etc. the kitchen was left with woks on the stove like it was in the middle of being used then abandoned. There was a large Veolia wheelie bin outside, the sort you shouldn’t sleep in when you’re drunk, that got filled with mainly food like gallon bottles of Worcester sauce, ketchup and brown sauce. Then loads of trips to the tip, expected there to be stuff that was good enough to at least give away for free but nope, barely anything worth keeping.

I was left with what’s in the photos, looks much better than it was. Took a few days to get to this stage.

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Nice!!!
Looks like you could get a fair income from the carpark alone if rented spaces individually?

That space is amazing

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Amazing space, such a brave move. any cubies of veg oil left?!