Private Dining Rooms in Brighton and Lewes

The widest choice of rooms in this guide, all inside one hotel at 2 Ship Street. Hotel du Vin lists six private rooms, from the Bloomsbury Room for ten diners to the Dome, which takes 100 for a banquet. In between are the Screwpull (14), the SMWS Snuggle (22), Ridgeview (30) and Lombard (48).

The cooking is French bistro in style. The autumn 2026 private dining menus come at three prices per person, and the hotel also sells drinks packages per head, from £20.95 for a glass of Fiol sparkling wine and half a bottle of house wine, plus canapés from £7.95 a head for two items. Its own sommelier can help pick wines.

A restaurant at 59 Middle Street where almost everything is cooked over an open flame. Its main dining room only takes tables of up to six, so any group of seven or more is seated in the Agave Room, a private room that seats up to 12 and has a 54-inch smart TV for slideshows or music.

For private dining it serves set feasting menus, shared across the table, at £60 or £80 per person; drinks are ordered from the bar on top. For a bigger party you can hire the whole ground floor, which has its own bar and terrace and holds up to 54 seated or 80 standing. One line on the page describes the Agave Room as suiting up to ten, so check the number for a full table of twelve.

A seafood restaurant at 106 King's Road, looking across the beach towards the West Pier. Its private dining room, closed off from the main restaurant by wooden doors and curtains, takes up to 12 and is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.

Group menus change with the seasons and come either as plated courses or as sharing feasts, with fish cooked over fire. The glazed seafront terrace can be hired for standing receptions of up to 50, and the whole restaurant seats up to 115. No price or minimum spend is published, so ask when you enquire.

A large pub at 10 Ship Street with five spaces for hire spread over several floors, so it suits a bigger group than most places here. The Dining Room, with Regency decoration and original features, holds 60 and is the one meant for sit-down meals.

The Hideaway, up its own private stairs, seats 40 or holds 60 standing and keeps the feel of a pub party. The Carpenter's Cocktail Lounge on the first floor has its own cocktail bar, with seats for 40 and room for 80 to mingle. The Walrus does not publish prices for its rooms.

A restaurant, bar and wine shop at 84 Church Road with a self-contained private dining room downstairs. The room seats from six up to 14 around one large table and has its own music system.

There are two sharing menus: Menu One is four small plates, three larger dishes and a choice of pudding; Menu Two adds snacks, another dish and a glass of aperitif. Prices start at £45 and £65 a head and are higher at weekends. It is the only place here that publishes its full booking terms, set out in the facts below. The kitchen is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

An Italian restaurant at 60 Western Road built around an open kitchen. The main dining room is counter seating on stools for up to 24, and there is also a private dining room at the back that seats up to 16 at ordinary tables and chairs.

Cin Cin takes groups of eight to 40. It is the clearest of all these venues about minimum spend: outside its busiest services on Friday and Saturday there is none for groups. Sample menus are on its website.

A Harvey's pub on Cliffe High Street in Lewes. The function room upstairs seats 60, or holds 100 standing, and comes with a projector screen, sound and picture equipment and Wi-Fi, so it works for a talk or a work lunch as well as a party.

Food comes from the pub's own kitchen. Its published buffet menu has two levels, at £10.95 and £14.95 a head; buffets need at least 25 people and must be paid in full seven days ahead.

Depot is a cinema in Lewes run by the charity Lewes Community Screen, and it also has a restaurant and rooms to hire. The Studio is the one for a private meal: its fact sheet gives 28 for dining (the hire page says up to 40, which is the figure for a seated audience), with full-height sliding doors onto the terrace and a blackout curtain to close it off.

The Studio fact sheet, dated June 2024 but still linked from the hire page, gives a hire fee of £180 for parties and receptions, including VAT. Food is extra: the sample set menu is £36 a head for three courses, with a minimum order for 20. The larger Gallery can be joined to the Studio for bigger parties.

An events and wedding venue in Lewes that is hired out on an exclusive-use basis. For a smaller dinner, the Panelled Room, with its original features and a view over the garden, takes eight to 24 people and is described as suitable for private dining.

Pelham House publishes only meeting rates for its rooms, not dining prices, and its food page talks of à la carte pricing rather than set packages, so you will need a quote. The whole house seats 150 for dinner.