If five years ago (hell, two years ago) you would have told me that the grotty little strip of retail opposite St. Peters Church would have been transformed into a food destination I'd have laughed in your face. Back then you'd have a job weaving through the drugged up and the drunks and most of the run down shop fronts were boarded up or grime splattered convenience stores selling nothing more than two dried out onions and a dusty can of beans with sausages. 

After a bit of property development, the area remained empty until out-of-towners Meat Liqor took one of the units to the raised eyebrows of, well, practically everyone in Brighton. Then Hisbe, an independent supermarket moved in and Carlito Burrito will be opening soon. And the clean, white, shiny new space of Nordic Coffee Collective couldn't be more removed from those old days either. It's such a pleasure to see a dodgy area so quickly cleaned up and I hope it spreads to London Road too - the only place in the world that looks worse in the sunshine.

Whilst the independent coffee shops are taking hold of Brighton again (last month saw the CLOSURE of Starbucks in a prime area) we don't really have one like Nordic anywhere else in the city. And it's really worth a journey.