Best Independent Coffee Shops in Brighton and Hove (2026)

Brighton and Hove’s independent coffee scene is one of the better things about living here. Forget Starbucks, Costa and Nero — you can get your caffeine fix and put your money into a local business at the same time, and in most of these places the person making your flat white knows exactly where the beans came from and what to do with them.

We first wrote this guide in 2018. We’ve drunk a great deal of coffee since. This is the 2026 update: the three places we go week in, week out, plus the ones from the original list that are still going strong. A couple have closed along the way and we’ve taken those out.

Here’s our list of the best independent cafes and coffee shops in Brighton and Hove:

Our Favourite Coffee Shops in Brighton and Hove

Coffee Shops in Brighton Lanes

Komodo Coffee

By far our favourite coffee in Brighton, by miles. Komodo is an independent: one small shop tucked into Brighton Square in the Lanes, run by local guy James. The baristas are excellent and consistent. The cookies are freshly home-baked by James’s wife and the tahini one is the best sweet snack accompaniment in any coffee shop in the city. Beans are roasted by Kofra in Norwich. Komodo won first position in the Restaurants Brighton BRAVO best coffee vote, which will have surprised nobody who drinks there.

Google Maps: 19a Brighton Square, Brighton BN1 1HD

Bond St Coffee

Fed up of coffee shops serving watered down americanos? Bond St Coffee is for you. The coffee here is strong and bold. I love the coffee here for my first morning coffee of the day because it keeps me buzzed way past lunchtime. The coffee at Bond St is locally roasted by Horsham Coffee Roaster and they change their single-origin coffee menu regularly. Probably my favourite coffee shop in Brighton.

Google Maps: 15 Bond St, Brighton BN1 1RD

Bread & Milk

If you need a quick bite as well as a coffee, then I’d opt for Bread & Milk. This coffee shop in Brighton has some of the nicest sandwiches with bread from the Real Patisserie and wraps made with pita from Lavash. It’s only a small cafe, but I like to sit outside on a sunny day and watch the world go by here.

Google Maps: 82 Trafalgar St, Brighton BN1 4EB

Pelicano

If you want a big slab of cake with your coffee, this is the cafe for you. Located on Sydney Street, Pelicano is a coffee joint worth stopping by whilst browsing in the Lanes. Their cake selection is insane (including vegan cakes). Loose-leaf tea is served by the pot. You can sit out in the Lanes, inside one on of their small wooden tables or outside on the back garden patio. Pelicano draws a more hipster crowd but everyone is welcome.

Google Maps: 28 Sydney St, Brighton BN1 4EP

Cafe Coho

The first independent coffee shop you’ll see when you get off the train in Brighton. Cafe Coho specialises in dark-roasted coffee and brews a blend of coffees from smallholder farmers in Costa Rica, Sumatra, Rwanda and Guatemala. The perfect coffee place on Queen’s Road in Brighton when waiting for a train. But an equally worthwhile cafe to drop into when exploring Brighton’s town centre.

Google Maps: 53 Ship St, Brighton BN1 1AF / 83a Queen’s Rd, Brighton BN1 3XE

Trading Post Coffee Roasters

A popular cafe on Ship Street and with multiple branches in the city. The organic coffee, tea and food menus are extensive and you can get vegan milks. Upstairs there are large tables that make Trading Post a good coffee shop in Brighton for working on your laptop. It’s not my favourite, as I find the coffee too dark roast for my taste, but Luke often goes here solo.

Google Maps: 36 Ship St, Brighton BN1 1AB

Coffeetzar

Light, bright and full of cake. Coffeetzar is one of those cafes where the cakes catch your eye from the window. It’s near Brighton station, so perfect if you’ve just arrived in the city and want to go straight down into the Lanes. They use Cuban coffee beans and tote a smooth blend.

Google Maps: 97 Trafalgar St, Brighton BN1 4ER

LOAM

Cute, grandma’s house coffee. Pale pink shopfront, warm and softly cluttered, part cafe and part store. The cinnamon buns are a major treat: super sticky, and there are only about twenty a day, so they go like hot cakes and are usually gone by lunchtime. LOAM rotates guest roasters and pours a lot of unwashed, which is a joy if that’s your thing and not everyone’s favourite if it isn’t. You can pick up beans, brew kit and rather nice ceramics while you’re there. Run by Francesco and Dela.

Google Maps: 111 Gloucester Road, Brighton BN1 4AF

Dandy

We like Dandy without being fans. It’s small, it’s a squeeze, and it feels a bit damp inside. The brew isn’t bad — they pour Murmuration from West Sussex — but there are better options within a couple of minutes’ walk in the Lanes. Worth knowing it turns into an English wine bar on Friday and Saturday evenings, which might be the better reason to go.

Google Maps: 39a Sydney Street, Brighton BN1 4EP

Coffee Shops Near Brighton Station

Queens Road is the hill that runs from Brighton station down towards the Clock Tower, and it is the stretch most visitors walk without stopping. Worth stopping.

Ikigai Coffee

Ikigai is the coffee shop to go to if you’re heading to or from the train station. It sits on Queens Road a couple of minutes down from the station.

It is run by a Hong Kong couple and the Hong Kong snacks and sweets are home-baked. They also clean their coffee machine fastidiously every evening, and you can taste it: the coffee is clean and consistent. It has built a reputation for its matcha too, particularly among Brighton’s East and Southeast Asian communities.

Google Maps: 37 Queens Rd, Brighton BN1 3XB

Coffee Shops on Brighton Seafront

Seafront coffee shops have the wonderful sea views, but none of the seafront ones are favourites of mine. As these coffee shops get so busy, coffee tends to be made in a rush and it affects the quality.

Flour Pot Bakery

Coffee shop and bakery with multiple locations in Brighton, including at the King’s Road arches. We nip down here when my mum’s in town, as a seafront coffee is her priority, as she feels you can beat a sea view with your brew.

Google Maps: 85-90, Kings Road Arches, Brighton BN1 2FN

The Reading Room

Such a great al fresco atmosphere — probably the best spot on the seafront to sit outside with a drink. It’s the restored Grade II-listed reading room at Black Rock, an 1835 building that sat empty for years and reopened in November 2024 under Karl Jones, who co-founded Moshimo. Floor-to-ceiling windows inside, a covered terrace with sofas and red metal tables outside, and the sea straight in front of you.

I really don’t rate the coffee or the food, though. My coffee even came with scummy water. Come for the setting and a glass of something rather than for a flat white — on that front there are far better options ten minutes back along the front.

Google Maps: Black Rock, Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1FY

FIKA at Sea Lanes

Better coffee than the Reading Room, and a good stop if you’ve just been in the water — FIKA sits in the Sea Lanes complex beside the open-air pool on Madeira Drive, doing brunch, pastries and post-swim protein shakes alongside the coffee. Seating is outside on benches.

The catch is that it gets busy, especially on a weekend morning, and it can feel crowded. Go early or go midweek. Roughly 7am to 5pm, but it’s worth checking before you set off. FIKA has two more sites, both in Hove: Norton Road and Victoria Grove.

Google Maps: Sea Lanes, 300 Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1BX

Coffee Shops in Kemptown

The Open Bakery

My go-to coffee (and almond croissant) stop in Kemptown. The Open Bakery is part of the Real Patisserie chain and there are a few dotted around Brighton, including a stall outside of Brighton train station. In my mind, the small Kemptown branch is still the best. Sit in on their long wooden table and benches with a coffee and a croissant, or take-away a loaf of freshly baked bread for the week. Up there with the best of the coffee shops in Brighton.

Google Maps: 34 St George’s Rd, Brighton BN2 1ED

Starfish & Coffee

If you’re in the Queen’s Park area of Brighton, then Starfish & Coffee is a weekend brunch must. Grab a luscious avocado smash on sourdough with a freshly brewed coffee. The cafe gets busy on weekends so make it over early if you can.

Google Maps: 32 Egremont Pl, Brighton BN2 0GA

Marmalade

Marmalade is a beautiful shabby chic cafe situated just up from the Kemptown area. The cafe is a little out of town but worth the walk up if you’re on Brighton seafront. Expect artisan sandwiches, huge salad bowls and wonderful latte art. Another great cafe to explore the Brighton coffee scene.

Google Maps: 237 Eastern Rd, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN2 5JJ

Coffee Shops in Hove

In our opinion, aside from Komodo, coffee shops in Hove are better quality than those in Brighton. Hove is our home neighbourhood, so we frequent coffee shops here weekly. These are our favourites:

Stoney Point

One of our two locals, and the one we head to for an early morning coffee and a sit outside on a spring or summer day. There are no inside seats here, it’s on-street seating only, so it works best as a takeaway stop or as somewhere to perch with a coffee in the sun. The coffee is strong. They pour Monmouth and sell ground bags too.

Google Maps: 15 Montpelier Place, Brighton BN1 3BF (technically in Brighton, but it’s right on the border of Hove)

Wolfox Lab

Our other local and the one we choose when we want a nice sit-down coffee. Wolfox Lab sits at the top of Brunswick on Western Road, and its tables are on the sunny side of the road, which makes it close to perfect for a morning coffee. You can look down across Brunswick Square to the sea while you drink it. Ander (Anderson Locatelli), Wolfox’s Head of Coffee since 2018, is regularly in, and when he is you can be sure of a beautiful smooth coffee.

Wolfox has a lot of sites now, including the roastery on Preston Street, a workshop in the Lanes and a kiosk at Brighton station. This one is called Lab and it’s our favourite of the Wolfox sites.

Google Maps: 109 Western Road, Hove BN3 1FA

Sugardough Bakery

One of the few bakeries open on a Sunday. We’ll sometimes stop by on our cycle rides along the seafront from Brighton to Hove for a pick-me-up coffee and something sweet. It’s an award-winning cafe and it’s reflected in the prices, so expect to pay a little premium here. Decor is tea-room style but you’ll be served good coffee, sourdough bread and plenty more. There is also a branch in Brighton Lanes.

Google Maps: 5 Victoria Terrace, Hove BN3 2WB

FLAT OUT

Deeper into Hove, and worth the walk. FLAT OUT is a coffee shop and a motorcycle supply shop in the same room, set up by two riders. Lovely tiled frontage, window seats and sofas inside, and a coffee garden out the back for when the weather behaves. Get the flat white or a cold brew. Their summer special vanilla iced coffee is a treat too.

Google Maps: 59 Church Road, Hove BN3 2BD

If you need more staple grub, check out our guide to the best vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Brighton.

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I’m always looking for more great cafes and coffee in Brighton. Where’s your favourite coffee shop in Brighton? Let me know in the comments or read our guide on the best things to do in Brighton.