The Gull has been hiding her beak under a wing lately as climate change soars spring temperatures into summer-style heatwaves, and the hoards head to the beach.  Her vision of Brighton and Hove barbecuing locally caught fish on the promenade, whetting the whistle of the tourists and locals alike into the finest selection in the country of restaurants serving locally, seasonal, ethical meat, vegetables, fruits, dairy is dimming by the year. Money talks, and it seems that the human foodie is less discerning than your average scavenger, having very little beef about the source of a steak, however it spent its life. Look at the recent clutch of awards celebrating the Best of Brighton to see where the votes go. It’s enough to make a Gull very glum indeed.

But there’s work to do, and up on that thermal hops your Gull for another swoop around the restaurants which go the extra mile to serve the unparalleled flavour of uncaged meat and to seek out the fruit and veg grown on organic or regenerative farms which put life back in our soil: Amari, Dilsk, Flint House, Little Fish Market, Furna, Palmito, 64 degrees, Wild Flor, Oeuf – just some of the best of the bunch doing the right thing for your Gull’s wider wildlife community.

A quick ask will sort the meat from the cack. The kitchen crew at The Reading Room, led by former Junk Food Project chef, Karen Lloyd appears to have taken a leaf out of your bird’s (bestselling) A Gull’s Guide to Scavenging. Its latest supper menu is plucked from the best of the Sussex larder, and your Gull could barely decide between the early asparagus with wild garlic mayo or confit Pig Cheek with broad beans, apple, caper & lovage dressing. Ever the pro, she manages to find room for both.

 Flying west down the beach, she swerves onto Food Street where the high priests of hospitality at No No Please, Ewan and Mel tell her that they buy their meat from Rogmans Butchers in Hove, all of which is free range, apart from the chicken which is grown in barns. A quick pop around the bins for a little pick at the belly pork leftovers, and your Gull soars up the West Hill happy in the knowledge that her porcine pals have enjoyed a happy life.

Hovering for a quick peck at the brand-new Canopy on Dyke Road before the sun sets, she finds the King of Cuisine, Michael Bremner himself swapping his kitchen blow torch for hammer and saw as he puts the final touches to his latest offering in her very own backyard. 

His first Brighton restaurant, 64 Degrees still sets the gull world a-squawk 13 years after it opened in The Lanes, but your Gull is still mourning the more bird-friendly outside seating at Murmur where genuine food fans could watch the sunset while the local pest control hoovered up the occasional pickings on the patio. 

Now the former home of Coggings and Co, Atelier Du Vin and Brighton Cocktail Company, , this ‘community café’ in Seven Dials, Michael’s home for 12 of the 20 he’s been in Brighton, will be bringing ingredients from 64’s suppliers to Dyke Road. 

Your Gull has watched many a shifty cocktail bar coming and going in the time it takes to catch a thermal, but this co-working, dog and baby friendly cafe with yoga in the garden and plants by Between Two Thorns, interiors by the good folk at Café Rust and coffee from Skylark, the non-profit which supports coffee farmers, all served up on tables made from the recycled wood yard just down the road, might be just what the neighbourhood ordered. As the sun sets over West Hill, your Gull whistles her way home, beak happily now under wing, dreaming peacefully that her vision of Brighton may just come true.