Business
Prior to his business success he very briefly joined both the Royal Navy and then the Metropolitan police.
In 2004, Martin Webb set up Britain's first charity pub. The profits from The Robin Hood pub in Brighton go to local charities. [5]
Martin co-founded the C-Side Leisure group with, the former Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown, Simon Kirby, whose portfolio grew to include many pubs, clubs and restaurants in and around Brighton. Martin himself is a keen Labour supporter.
His first venture was a design company, Copywrite, founded with business partner Simon Kirby, but it went bust within three years. Other ventures have included Dekoart, a web-based fine art digital printing company, and another pub company, Medicine Group, which had sites in Islington and the ever-fashionable Shoreditch in London. [6]
On 3 September 2016, he shut down The Dyke Pub and the following day reopened it as a second-hand furniture shop. This was done as permitted development, a planning loophole which allows owners to change the use of a business from A4 to A1 without the need to submit a planning application. [7]
Martin plans to reopen the Dyke as a smaller bar in the darker half of the building, whilst developing private accommodation above and in the garden. [8]
Brighton is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove. Located on the south coast of England, in the county of East Sussex, it is 47 miles (76 km) south of London.
Simon Fuller is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer. He is the creator of the Idols television format, including the UK series Pop Idol and the US series American Idol.
Gregory Dyke is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am. In the 1990s, he held chief executive positions at LWT Group, Pearson Television, and Channel 5.
The Whitgift Centre is a large shopping centre in the town centre of Croydon, opening in stages between 1968 and 1970. The centre comprises 1,302,444 sq ft (121,001 m2) of retail space, and was the largest covered shopping development in Greater London until the opening of Westfield London at White City in 2008. The Whitgift Centre has a monthly footfall of 2.08 million. The complex includes an office development.
The West Pier is a ruined pier in Brighton, England. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be Grade I listed in England and Wales but has become increasingly derelict since its closure to the public in 1975. As of 2022 only a partial metal framework remains.
The Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital is a children's hospital located within the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton on the south coast of England. It provides outpatient services, inpatient facilities, intensive care and a 24-hour emergency care service for children referred by GPs and other specialists. It is managed by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Cains is a former brewery in Liverpool, England, founded in 1858 by Robert Cain. The company merged with Peter Walker & Son in 1921 to form Walker Cains. Peter Walker & Son had a large brewery in Warrington so sold its Liverpool brewery to Higsons in 1923. Boddingtons of Manchester took over in 1985. In 1990 Whitbread acquired Boddington's brewing operations and closed the then Higsons Brewery in 1990. It was reopened by GB Breweries, who became part of Bryggerigruppen in 1991, and in 2002 was sold to Gardener-Shaw for £3.4 million.
The LGBT community of Brighton and Hove is one of the largest in the United Kingdom. Brighton, a seaside resort on the south coast of England, is generally agreed to be the unofficial "gay capital" of the UK, with records pertaining to LGBT history dating back to the early 19th century.
Hastings Pier is a public pleasure pier in Hastings, East Sussex, England. Built in 1872 and enjoying its prime in the 1930s, it became a popular music venue in the 1960s. The structure suffered major storm damage in 1990, and was closed to the public for a time before closing completely in 2008, and 95% destroyed by a fire in 2010. Hastings Pier Charity oversaw a rebuilding project, with the pier reopening on 27 April 2016. The redeveloped pier won the 2017 Stirling Prize for architecture.
The Empire Mall is a shopping mall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States. The anchor stores are Macy's, Dick's Sporting Goods, and JCPenney. There are 2 vacant anchor stores that were once Younkers and Sears. As of August 2018, the mall was owned by Simon Property Group.
British Airways i360 is a 162 m (531 ft) observation tower on the seafront of Brighton, East Sussex, England at the landward end of the remains of the West Pier. The tower opened on 4 August 2016. From the fully enclosed viewing pod, visitors experience 360-degree views across Brighton, the South Downs and the English Channel.
The Dome Cinema, Worthing, West Sussex, England, is a grade II* listed building owned by PDJ Cinemas Ltd. The Dome Cinema, which has three screens and a Projectionist's Bar is run by PDJ Cinemas, while Alfresco Services run two function rooms and the cafe at the front of the building. It has closed for refurbishment several times, most recently between December 2005 and July 2007. The name derives from the distinctive dome on top of a three-storey tower over the entrance.
Simon Gerard Kirby, also known as Simon Radford-Kirby, is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Kemptown in 2010. In 2016, he was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister. He lost his seat at the 2017 general election.
Saltdean Lido at Saltdean Park Road, Saltdean, in the city of Brighton and Hove, is an Art Deco lido designed by architect R.W.H. Jones. Originally listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance, its status was upgraded further to "Grade II*" on 18 March 2011.
The building at 11 Dyke Road in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove, is now the Rialto Theatre, but it originally housed the Swan Downer School for poor girls, for whom it was designed and built in 1867 by prolific architect George Somers Leigh Clarke. The highly ornate brick structure, in a "freely inventive" European Gothic style, has also served as a chapel and an office since it was vacated by the school, whose pupils were recognisable around Brighton in their blue and white uniform. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
Brighton Hippodrome is an entertainment venue in the ancient centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It has been empty and out of use since 2007, when its use as a bingo hall ceased.
The Astoria Theatre was a former cinema in Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1933 in the Art Deco style for a local entertainment magnate who opened one of Brighton's first cinemas many years earlier, it was the first and most important expansion of the Astoria brand outside London. It initially struggled against the town's other "super-cinemas", but enjoyed a period of success in the 1950s and 1960s before rapid decline set in, culminating in its closure in 1977.
Brighton Open Air Theatre, also known as B•O•A•T, is a British theatre built in Dyke Road Park, Brighton, which opened in May 2015. It has been paid for not by corporate funding or public grants, but by private donations. The theatre is the legacy of the Brighton showman and construction manager, Adrian Bunting, who died of pancreatic cancer, aged 47, in May 2013.
The economic impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the United Kingdom has been largely disruptive. It has adversely affected travel, financial markets, employment, a number of industries, and shipping.
Madeira Terrace, Madeira Walk, Madeira Lift, and Madeira Shelter Hall are an 865 m long, Victorian cast iron stretch of seafront arches and walkway, with integral former shelter hall and a 3-stage lift tower, on Madeira Drive in Brighton, UK. The complex was built between 1890 and 1897 and designed by the Brighton Borough Surveyor, Philip C. Lockwood. The various structures have a common design style and colour scheme, and form a unified whole. Madeira Terrace, Madeira Walk, the lift tower and related buildings are listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England, having been upgraded in 2020.
