Brighton’s independent seafood restaurant, The Salt Room, reopens 22nd May 2026 after a four-month refit, with Executive Chef Kim Woodward at the pass…
After a four-month closure for a full refurbishment, The Salt Room returns to Brighton’s seafront on Friday 22nd May, ahead of the bank holiday weekend. A multi-award-winning fixture of the city’s independent dining scene since 2015, the restaurant reopens with a refreshed look, a brand-new bar, a fully weather-glazed, 60-cover seafront terrace designed for year-round dining, a new open kitchen and a reworked menu led by Executive Chef Kim Woodward.
Set on King’s Road with uninterrupted views of the West Pier, The Salt Room has long been a meeting point for Brighton locals, day-trippers from across Sussex and weekenders down from London. The next chapter has been shaped around what Brighton actually wants from a restaurant on its doorstep: somewhere local and generous; somewhere you can drop in for a dozen oysters and a glass of Wiston Estate sparkling or settle in for a long table-shared meal as the sun goes down over the pier.
The redesign brings a lighter, brighter feel to the room, with terracotta floor tiling, off-white lime-washed walls and a stronger focus on the natural light off the sea. A brand-new bar sits at the heart of the space, giving the restaurant a clearer drinks-led identity. The seafront terrace is the defining feature of the refurbishment. Fully weather-glazed, it has been designed to work all year, not just on a sunny weekend, and a new open kitchen allows guests to watch the theatre of the pass: fish broken down, fire stoked, plates landing under the lights.
What Food To Expect at The Salt Room Brighton?
The menu has been reworked from the ground up. Gone is the rigid starter-main-pudding structure, replaced by a more flexible, section-led approach designed to suit how people eat on the coast: a handful of plates to share, a few oysters with a cold drink, a full sit-down occasion or anything in between.
Seafood remains at the heart of the offer, sourced as locally and sustainably as possible. The kitchen has built its supply around Brighton & Newhaven Fish Sales at Shoreham Harbour, working with the inshore day-boat fleet that lands fish back into the harbour within hours of being caught. The daily-changing fish board, turbot, brill, John Dory and locally landed octopus is priced by weight and reflects exactly what the boats came in with that morning. Among the seasonal highlights, line-caught Cornish bluefin tuna — part of the remarkable return of bluefin to British waters — arrives whole and is butchered in-house. Crowd-pleasers from the original Salt Room return: oysters by the half-dozen, whole grilled fish to share and shellfish by the bowl.
Cooking over fire stays central to The Salt Room’s identity. Coal-fired techniques deliver bold, smoky flavour across seafood, premium British meat (including British wagyu for sharing) and vibrant vegetarian dishes drawn from the South Downs growing season. Theatre runs through the room: a new and bespoke fish press will be used for a show stopping turbot dish with the juices flambéed tableside, and a chef’s table puts guests at the centre of the action.
How about The Drinks at The Salt Room Brighton?
The drinks list has been built with the same local-first thinking. The cocktail menu evolves with the seasons, weaving in coastal botanicals, herbs and saline notes. A growing partnership with Wiston Estate, the family-run Sussex winery on the South Downs, anchors the still and sparkling list, alongside further independent Sussex producers across the back bar.
Who is Kim Woodward at The Salt Room Brighton?
Executive Chef Kim Woodward joins The Salt Room with one of the strongest CVs in British restaurant kitchens. A Gordon Ramsay protégée, she trained within the Gordon Ramsay Group from 2007, working her way up from Junior Sous Chef at Boxwood Café to three years as Head Chef at York & Albany, before being appointed the first female Head Chef of the Savoy Grill in its 126-year history. She went on to lead the kitchen as Executive Chef at Skylon on the South Bank and is a familiar face from BBC’s MasterChef: The Professionals and Great British Menu. Brighton is her first project outside London.
Chef Kim Woodward said: “For me, it all starts with the plate, what’s on it and how we get there. The new open kitchen completely shifts the dynamic. Guests can see it all unfold, the fire, the fish, the team in action. It’s like a live show. That kind of openness is really inspiring to me. Then there’s the terrace, the sea right at your feet. It all adds to the experience. We’ll be working with local fish, that’s landed fresh that morning, just down from the coast and preparing it in a way that honors its quality.
The Salt Room has been a key part of Brighton for years, and I’m genuinely thrilled to be involved in its next chapter.”
Founder Razak Helalat says: “There’s a feeling you get on holiday by the sea, where everything slows down, the food tastes better, and for a moment, life just feels easy. That was the starting point for this refurbishment. We wanted to create a space that captures that feeling here on Brighton’s seafront; somewhere bright, generous, and unhurried, where the sea feels part of the experience. We’ve always had the view. Now we finally have the space to match it.”
As the British summer arrives, the focus is on capturing that just-back-from-the-beach feeling: easy, generous, and centred on great food, good drinks and the people you want to share them with.
The Salt Room reopens from Friday 22nd May 2026, with the bank holiday weekend marking its first full weekend of trading. Bookings are open now.
The Salt Room
106 King’s Road, Brighton, BN1 2FU
saltroom-restaurant.co.uk | @thesaltroombrighton
Opening hours from 25 May 2026:
Monday to Thursday: 12pm to 11pm
Friday to Saturday: 12pm to 1am
Sunday: 12pm to 10:30pm
