Smokemart

Smoke mart is a little family owned off license come news agent on London road. I’ve always found it difficult to figure out why they base their name around the theme of smoking as their stock of smoking paraphernalia and tobaccos isn’t all that big. The shop is owned by a friendly old Arabic chap called John and between him and the team of young men he employs this place never seems to be closed. When the May Day marches happened John was there, when Brighton saw all those anti arms trade demonstrations last year, yes that rights smoke mart was still open.
So as you’ve probably guessed this place is going to be there for you when all else fails. Aside from the great local shop atmosphere and the long old opening hours this is what you might expect from a news agent on London Road. Dry goods like Cake and sweets, essentials like milk and bread and a solid selection of spirits and smoking equipment.

For a street filled with some of the worst shops you could hope for, it is a surprise that London Road has so few off licenses. As such, Smokemart is something of a London Road essential.
They sell reasonably priced alcohol until the early hours of the morning, something of an essential really. Beyond that, you can also pick up some tasty snacks like those small bags of wasabi peanuts or ‘bombay mix’.
This is also a perfectly useful newsagents, stocking all the daily newspapers along with your basic items like bread and eggs.
If you’re ever in a squeeze and needing any of the above, here is the place.

Smokemart stocks a lightly bolstered range of tobacco products, with the cigars and the like sitting alongside the usual fair of lighters and cigarettes. It doesn’t quite have the range of smokers heaven (which stocks electric grinders) but it sure beats it on its range of magazines. There’s about a third of the entire store dedicated to them here!
There’s a few surprising additions in the form of green and blacks chocolate which come as a surprise, but its not the best layed out I’ve seen on London Road.

This is a nice, friendly newsagent and off licence on London Road, which always seems to be open when other places are shut.
They stock a decent range of alcohol, including the oblilgatory two for a fiver bottles of vinegary wine, and are also a great place to pick up a last minute birthday card on the way into town.