Brighton on a Budget: 12 Cheap Eats
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You can eat well in Brighton for under £10 a meal without trying hard. The city’s cheap-eats scene runs on Japanese noodle bars, Malaysian and Mexican street food, an indoor market, and one 100-year-old chippy that beats anything the pier sells. Here are 12 places that keep the bill down without cutting the quality.
Cheap eats under £10
| Where | What | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Pompoko (Church Street) | Japanese noodles and donburi | Under £10, cash only |
| Roti King (Ship Street) | Malaysian and Singaporean | Under £10 |
| Goemon Ramen Bar (Gardner Street) | Tonkotsu ramen made from scratch | Around £10-12 |
| La Choza (North Laine) | Mexican street food | Around £8-12 |
| Halisco (Preston Street) | Pulled pork quesadillas, good-value margaritas | Around £10 |
| FilFil Cafe (Gardner Street) | Falafel, vegan doner option | Under £8 |
| Fatto a Mano | Wood-fired Neapolitan pizza | Around £10-13 |
| Brighton Open Market (off London Road) | 50+ stalls: Mexican, Greek, Indian, Swedish bakery | £5-10 per stall |
That’s eight in the table above, all consistently under £13 a head for a proper meal. If you’d rather have someone else pick the stalls, browse budget Brighton food tours that work through the Open Market and North Laine in one sitting. The other four below are worth the small step up.
The four worth stepping up for
Bardsley’s of Baker Street. Family-run since 1926, four generations in, and where locals actually send visitors for fish and chips, not the pier’s food stalls. Sit-down annex with a sun roof or takeaway, Tuesday to Saturday. Expect £12-16 for a proper sit-down portion, still cheaper than most seafront cafes and considerably better.
Purezza. The UK’s first vegan pizzeria, opened in Brighton in 2015, sourdough bases and vegan mozzarella. Built to convert sceptics, not to serve a niche, and priced like any decent pizza place, around £10-14.
Doughnuts on the Pier. Family-owned for 30-plus years, made fresh to order. A couple of pounds each, and the one bit of pier food that’s genuinely worth the queue.
Petit Pois. French bistro prix fixe, two courses £23 or three for £28. Not a £10 meal, but it’s a proper sit-down dinner for less than most Lanes restaurants charge for one course, worth the mention if you’re saving one nicer meal for the trip.
Where do locals actually eat cheap in Brighton?
Pompoko, Roti King and the Brighton Open Market come up again and again in local recommendations, alongside Bardsley’s for fish and chips. None of them are on the seafront, and none of them are aimed at tourists, which is exactly why they’re cheap.
Is Brighton good for vegetarian and vegan food on a budget?
Yes. Purezza covers vegan pizza at a normal price point, FilFil does a vegan doner, and Brighton Open Market has multiple vegetarian-friendly stalls. Terre à Terre is the city’s best-known vegetarian restaurant and worth knowing about, but it’s a sit-down splurge rather than a budget pick.
Skip these if you’re watching the bill
The pier’s own food stalls, aside from the doughnuts, run £10-14 for fish and chips you can get better and cheaper at Bardsley’s. Seafront cafes along the main promenade also charge a view premium, walk two streets back into North Laine or The Lanes and the same coffee or sandwich costs less.
For the fuller picture of Brighton’s food identity beyond the budget picks, visitbrighton.com keeps a current list of opening hours and seasonal stalls at the Open Market.
Pair a cheap dinner with a free evening out and the daily food bill barely moves the needle. See our cheap and free things to do guide and our budget places to stay breakdown to keep the rest of the day on the same track. Booking a room near North Laine keeps most of this list within walking distance, check rates on Booking.com before the weekend rooms sell out.
The one number to remember: eight of these twelve are reliably under £10 a head, and the priciest, Petit Pois, is still less than a single main at most Lanes restaurants.