It has had a wide variety of uses in the 20th century, and is now owned by Brighton and Hove City Council, protected as a Grade II listed building.

[5] Between 1909 and 1966 it was a Xaverian Roman Catholic college, but it fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1972 despite being a Grade II* listed building.

[2][3][6][7] Research in 2011, based on a record in the Arcana of Science and Art (published in 1836), suggested that the tower stood above a well and housed a steam engine which drew the water out.

George Duddell bought Attree's estate in 1863, and used the Pepper Pot to print and publish his local newspaper, the Brighton Daily Mail.

[2][3][7] Three years later, it (along with the park, the villa and all associated buildings) had passed to the Brighton Corporation,[3] the municipal forerunner of the present city council.

The main building material was said to be cement by English Heritage in its listing description,[3] but research undertaken during the 2011 restoration work discovered that the core of the Pepper Pot is made of a pioneering type of concrete known as "Ranger's Artificial Stone" or "Ranger's Lime Concrete"—making it one of the oldest buildings in England to use this material.

[1] In the same month, the Friends of the Pepperpot announced that three new uses were being considered for the building—conversion into a bed and breakfast, a community centre or a café—and that they were in negotiations with the city council about the possibility of taking over the ownership of the building.