Luke Davis, Founder of Rockwater, lived in Brighton in his early 20s and loved it, before the bright lights of London beckoned and he left for a job in the City. His heart however remained in Brighton & Hove, knowing at some point he would return and settle here. In 2017, approaching 40, he moved back to Brighton with the family and in November 2018, moved to Hove as his family expanded with the birth of their son.

It was then he discovered his ‘local’ was the View/Venue. “To say it was a little rough and ready is probably an understatement. But I couldn’t ignore the huge potential the site had given its location. A lot of people will tell you they dream of buying and running a pub but are never mad enough to actually do it!” Many promenade walks with his family past the View and many (many) pints later, that’s exactly what he did.

“I can’t tell you the number of people who said I’d made a huge mistake buying the place and one person even told me to hand the keys back! But I don’t exactly shy away from a challenge so, together with the team, we started the redevelopment project with some grand designs, a pledge to keep the community at the heart of everything we do, and a clear vision to make this so much more than just another pub or restaurant.”

“At Rockwater, we want to do things differently, and better. Our aim is to bring the Hove seafront to life again for the whole community to enjoy, young and old. We’ve teamed up with a number of local fitness and health & wellbeing gurus to bring a fitness offering to Rockwater and that was just the beginning. We have big plans to make sure the site gives the residents of Hove a place they deserve to meet, work, eat, drink, workout, have fun, be inspired and, most importantly, enjoy the view…”