The last weekend of the Brighton Festival

Starting tomorrow is the final weekend of the 2010 Brighton Festival (and the Fringe Festival). If you're coming into Brighton, there's loads to do - including wandering round the Artists Open Houses that surround The Laine Deli. Alternatively, if you're wondering what to do with the family on Sunday, why not pop down to Brighton Marina for the Big Splash; a free day of alfresco fun. This year's events include street entertainers and special hands-on activities for children. The event concludes with a firework display over the Marina.

Make sure your vote counts!

Apparently over 1000 people have voted in the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards since they were launched in March. If you've already voted for us - thank you!

If not, please head for BrightonFoodAwards.com, where you can vote for Best Cafe (that's the category we're in!), Best Restaurant, Best Food Pub and Best Food Shop. Voting remains open until September.

The Brighton Festival Of Artists Open Houses

We're big fans of the Artists Open Houses festival, which takes place during the city-wide Brighton Festival in May. This year we're particularly excited because The Laine Deli actually appears in one of the paintings that's on display. The painting is called 'Kensington Place from Horatio House', the artist is Vincent Donlin and his work - along with that of Paul Emerson - can be seen during the first four weekends this month at 12 Carlyle Street. The Places, Faces, Time and Spaces house is open from 12 noon until 5pm, Saturday & Sunday until 23rd May 2010.

The 2010 Brighton Festival starts tomorrow

Saturday 1st May marks the start of this year's Brighton Festival, with events taking place across the city. One of tomorrow's biggest events is the Children's Parade, which is a procession that starts from Sydney Street at 10.30am and finishes at Madeira Drive. Around 4,000 participants from 70 schools and community groups are expected to parade through the city's streets before enjoying a musical finale by the beach.

Happy Birthday to The Laine Deli

The Laine Deli reopened with new management - Natasha and her team - on 21st April 2009. That's exactly a year ago.

So much has happened since then. Thank you to all our customers, to our friendly neighbours in the North Laine area and to our suppliers.

And now we're going to have a slice of anniversary cake before we get too emotional!

Voting in the Foodie Awards

Voting in the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards is open until September, with The Laine Deli nominated in the 'Best Cafe' category. (Just select The Laine Deli from the list). You can also vote in categories for Best Restaurant, Best Food Pub and Best Food Shop.

Farmers Markets in Brighton and Hove

We've previously talked about our enthusiasm for local food producers. But did you know it's easy to meet some of those producers face-to-face?

There's a Farmers Market on the first Sunday of each month at Ralli Hall, which is near Hove Station. It runs from 10am until 3pm, with free parking available at Hove railway station.

And every week there's a Farmers Market at Brighton's Churchill Square. It takes place on Wednesdays from 10am until 4.30pm on the Piazza in front of the Churchill Square shops.