boti eats: patterns’ bottomless art brunch with lucky beach and art + believe

Situated just a pebble’s throw over the road from Brighton Pier, all-round good time bar and club Patterns is built on the site of a 1920s hotel. You can’t miss its bold and beautiful visage, the terrace recently repainted with colourful geometric shapes in a design created by local artists Art + Believe (Lois O’Hara did the lovely art that adorned it last summer). Weather permitting, you can brunch al fresco on their sea-facing terrace every Saturday throughout summer, but as we rocked up in freakishly gale-force winds we headed inside.

If you are used to haunting Patterns’ downstairs area for gigs and club nights, you can be forgiven for not realising just how civilised and stylish the upper floor is as a daytime destination. The bright and airy interior somehow manages to combine an art deco luxe feel with trendy industrial vibes. We found it busy enough to have a buzzing atmosphere, but sufficiently roomy to keep a safe distance between us and the flailing limbs of a blow-up doll belonging to one lively hen do.

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The deal with the drinks is that the super-friendly staff serve you as many Proseccos, mimosas, bloody marys or soft drinks as you can manage for £29 between the hours of 12–2pm. We sipped our first round of drinks while inspecting our colouring sheets with cool geometric designs, provided by Art + Believe, in the same style as the terrace. At first, the juxtaposition of day drinking and an activity reminiscent of childhood seemed odd, but we soon got into the soothing flow of it. Adult colouring books have become popular in recent years for their positive effects on mental health. They are also a great way to distract from the lure of scrolling, if only for a couple of hours. Strangely (or perhaps not), the more we drank, the more our creative juices flowed. The stresses of the week seem to melt away when your biggest problems are trying to keep within the lines and figuring out which shade of blue to use.

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By the time our food arrived, we were pretty absorbed and had to tear ourselves away from our creations. Sometimes with bottomless brunch, you find the food is an afterthought to the booze, but here, provided by local favourites, Lucky Beach Café, it was an absolute highlight. Picture perfect though it was, we demolished their avo toast incarnation (pictured) – sourdough toast topped with silky-smooth avocado mousse and perfectly soft-boiled eggs, finished with a colourful riot of radishes, candied beetroot slices and edible flower petals. We also gobbled up the eggs benedict, which came with a mound of pulled free-range ham hock and served atop a golden, crispy potato rosti.

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Come 2pm, we finished our drinks and had a pleasantly tipsy dispute over who was the best artist, before leaving for a bracing walk along the beach. There is the option to stick around and carry on the party with £5 cocktails, a DJ and burgers provided by Lucky Beach, but whether you end up dancing on tables or tottering off home to take a little nap, Patterns’ art brunch is most certainly a colourful way to kick off your weekend. Visit the Patterns’ website to book!

Words by Alice Sambrook

Saturdays (and some Sundays) until the end of the summer, midday – 2.00pm; £31.90 (including booking fee, 20p from each ticket sale goes to The Clock Tower Sanctuary)
Patterns, 10 Marine Parade, Brighton BN2 1TL
patternsbrighton.com

Photo credit: Josh Hiatt