Brighton () is a
seaside resort
A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the Germa ...
and one of the two main areas of the City of
Brighton and Hove in the county of
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...
, England. It is located south of
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
,
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
and
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
periods. The ancient settlement of "Brighthelmstone" was documented in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'' (1086). The town's importance grew in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
as the Old Town developed, but it languished in the
early modern period, affected by foreign attacks, storms, a suffering economy and a declining population. Brighton began to attract more visitors following improved road transport to London and becoming a boarding point for boats travelling to France. The town also developed in popularity as a health resort for
sea bathing as a purported cure for illnesses.
In the
Georgian era, Brighton developed as a highly fashionable seaside resort, encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent, later
King George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...
, who spent much time in the town and constructed the
Royal Pavilion in the
Regency era
The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 1810 and, by the Regency Act 1811, ...
. Brighton continued to grow as a major centre of tourism following the arrival of the railways in 1841, becoming a popular destination for day-trippers from London. Many of the major attractions were built in the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...
, including the
Grand Hotel, the
Hilton Brighton Metropole, the
Palace Pier
The Brighton Palace Pier, commonly known as Brighton Pier or the Palace Pier, is a Grade II* listed pleasure pier in Brighton, England, located in the city centre opposite the Old Steine. Established in 1899, it was the third pier to be const ...
and the
West Pier
The West Pier is a ruined pier in Brighton, England. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be Grade I listed in England and Wales but has become increasingly derelict since its closure to the public ...
. The town continued to grow into the 20th century, expanding to incorporate more areas into the town's boundaries before joining Hove to form the
unitary authority of Brighton and Hove in 1997, which was granted
city status in 2000. Today, Brighton and Hove district has a resident population of about and the wider
Brighton and Hove conurbation has a population of 474,485 (2011 census).
Brighton's location has made it a popular destination for tourists, renowned for its diverse communities, quirky shopping areas, large and vibrant cultural, music and arts scene, and
its large LGBT population, leading to its recognition as the "unofficial gay capital of the UK".
Brighton has been called the UK's "
hippest city" and "the happiest place to live in the UK".
Etymology
The earliest attestation of Brighton's name is ''Bristelmestune'', recorded in the ''
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
''. Although more than 40 variations have been documented, ''Brighthelmstone'' (or ''Brighthelmston'') was the standard rendering between the 14th and 18th centuries.
"Brighton" was originally an informal shortened form, first seen in 1660; it gradually supplanted the longer name and was in general use from the late 18th century, although ''Brighthelmstone'' remained the town's official name until 1810.
The name is of
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
origin. Most scholars believe that it derives from ''Beorthelm'' + ''tūn''—the
homestead of
Beorthelm, a common Old English name associated with villages elsewhere in England.
The ''tūn'' element is common in Sussex, especially on the coast, although it occurs infrequently in combination with a personal name.
An alternative etymology taken from the Old English words for "stony valley" is sometimes given but has less acceptance.
''Brighthelm'' gives its name to, among other things, a church,
a pub in Brighton,
some halls of residence at the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
.
Writing in 1950, historian Antony Dale noted that unnamed
antiquaries had suggested an Old English word "brist" or "briz", meaning "divided", could have contributed the first part of the historic name Brighthelmstone. The town was originally split in half by the Wellesbourne, a
winterbourne which was culverted and buried in the 18th century.
Brighton has several nicknames. Poet
Horace Smith called it "The Queen of Watering Places", which is still widely used,
and "Old Ocean's Bauble".
Novelist
William Makepeace Thackeray referred to "Doctor Brighton", calling the town "one of the best of Physicians". "London-by-the-Sea" is well-known, reflecting Brighton's popularity with Londoners as a day-trip resort, a commuter dormitory and a desirable destination for those wanting to move out of the metropolis. "The Queen of Slaughtering Places", a pun on Smith's description, became popular when the
Brighton trunk murders came to the public's attention in the 1930s.
The mid-19th-century nickname "School Town" referred to the remarkable number of boarding, charity and church schools in the town at the time.
History
The first settlement in the Brighton area was
Whitehawk Camp, a
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
encampment on
Whitehawk Hill which has been dated to between 3500 BC and 2700 BC.
It is one of six
causewayed enclosures in Sussex. Archaeologists have only partially explored it, but have found numerous
burial mounds, tools and bones, suggesting it was a place of some importance.
There was also a
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
settlement at
Coldean.
Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...
arrived in Britain in the 7th century BC,
and an important Brythonic settlement existed at
Hollingbury Castle on Hollingbury Hill. This Celtic
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
encampment dates from the 3rd or 2nd century BC and is circumscribed by substantial earthwork outer walls with a diameter of .
Cissbury Ring, roughly from Hollingbury, is suggested to have been the tribal "capital".
Later, there was a
Roman villa at
Preston Village, a
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
from London ran nearby, and much physical evidence of Roman occupation has been discovered locally.
From the 1st century AD, the
Romans built a number of villas in Brighton and
Romano-British Brythonic Celts formed farming settlements in the area. After the Romans left in the early 4th century AD, the Brighton area returned to the control of the native Celts.
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...
then invaded in the late 5th century AD, and the region became part of the
Kingdom of Sussex, founded in 477 AD by
king Ælle.
['']Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of A ...
'' (Parker MS)
E-text)
Anthony Seldon identified five phases of development in pre-20th century Brighton.
The village of ''Bristelmestune'' was founded by these Anglo-Saxon invaders, probably in the early Saxon period. They were attracted by the easy access for boats, sheltered areas of raised land for building and better conditions compared to the damp, cold and misty
Weald to the north.
By the time of the
Domesday survey in 1086 it was a fishing and agricultural settlement, a rent of 4,000
herring was established, and its population was about 400.
By the 14th century there was a
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
, a market and rudimentary law enforcement (the first town constable was elected in 1285).
Sacked and burnt by French invaders in the early 16th century—the earliest depiction of Brighton, a painting of 1520, shows Admiral
Pregent de Bidoux's attack of June 1514—the town recovered strongly based on a thriving
mackerel-fishing industry.
The grid of streets in the Old Town (the present
Lanes
In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...
area) were well developed and the town grew quickly: the population rose from 1,500 in 1600 to 4,000 in the 1640s.
By that time Brighton was Sussex's most populous and important town.
Over the next few decades, though, events severely affected its local and national standing, such that by 1730 "it was a forlorn town decidedly down on its luck". More foreign attacks, storms (especially the devastating
Great Storm of 1703), a declining fishing industry, and the emergence of nearby
Shoreham as a significant port caused its economy to suffer.
By 1708 other parishes in Sussex were charged rates to alleviate poverty in Brighton, and
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
wrote that the expected £8,000 cost of providing sea defences was "more than the whole town was worth". The population declined to 2,000 in the early 18th century.
From the 1730s, Brighton entered its second phase of development—one which brought a rapid improvement in its fortunes. The contemporary fad for drinking and bathing in seawater as
a purported cure for illnesses was enthusiastically encouraged by
Dr Richard Russell from nearby
Lewes. He sent many patients to "take the cure" in the sea at Brighton, published a popular treatise on the subject, and moved to the town soon afterwards (the
Royal Albion, one of Brighton's early hotels, occupies the site of his house).
Others were already visiting the town for recreational purposes before Russell became famous, and his actions coincided with other developments which made Brighton more attractive to visitors. From the 1760s it was a boarding point for boats travelling to France; road transport to London was improved
when the main road via
Crawley
Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of ...
was
turnpiked in 1770;
and spas and indoor baths were opened by other entrepreneurial physicians such as
Sake Dean Mahomed and
Anthony Relhan (who also wrote the town's first guidebook).
From 1780, the development of the
Georgian terraces had started, and the fishing village developed as the fashionable resort of Brighton. The growth of the town was further encouraged by the patronage of the Prince Regent (later
King George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...
) after his first visit in 1783.
He spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the
Royal Pavilion during the early part of his
Regency. In this period the modern form of the name Brighton came into common use.
A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of
Preston Barracks in 1793. It was rebuilt in 1830.
The population increased rapidly throughout the 19th century from 7,339 in 1801 to 46,661 in 1841, and by 1901 the population had reached more than 120,000.
The arrival of the
London and Brighton Railway in 1841 brought Brighton within the reach of day-trippers from London. Many of the major attractions were built during the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...
, such as the
Grand Hotel (1864), the
West Pier
The West Pier is a ruined pier in Brighton, England. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be Grade I listed in England and Wales but has become increasingly derelict since its closure to the public ...
(1866), and the
Palace Pier
The Brighton Palace Pier, commonly known as Brighton Pier or the Palace Pier, is a Grade II* listed pleasure pier in Brighton, England, located in the city centre opposite the Old Steine. Established in 1899, it was the third pier to be const ...
(1899). Prior to either of these structures, the famous Chain Pier was built, to the designs of Captain Samuel Brown. It lasted from 1823 to 1896 and is featured in paintings by both
Turner and
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...
.
Because of boundary changes, the land area of Brighton expanded from
1,640 acres (7 km2) in 1854 to
14,347 acres (58 km2) in 1952. New housing estates were established in the acquired areas, including
Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb () is a suburb of Brighton, Sussex, England, on the northeast side around Lewes Road, between Coldean and Bevendean, north of the seafront. The eastern edge adjoins Falmer Hill on the South Downs. It is often divided into smaller ...
,
Bevendean,
Coldean and
Whitehawk. The major expansion of 1928 also incorporated the villages of
Patcham,
Ovingdean and
Rottingdean, and much council housing was built in parts of
Woodingdean after the Second World War. By the 1970s, the town had acquired a reputation as a retirement destination, with an elderly population.
However, this was reversed in the 1990s, as
gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...
saw Brighton regain the fashionable status it held in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In 1997, the town of Brighton and its neighbouring town Hove were joined to form the
unitary authority of
Brighton and Hove, which was granted
city status by Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...
as part of the
millennium
A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannus, kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...
celebrations in 2000.
Demography
, the
Brighton and Hove district, of which Brighton is the largest area, has an estimated resident population of residents. It is
ranked the most populous district in England. Compared to the national average, Brighton has fewer children and old residents but a large proportion of adults aged 20–44.
Brighton has long had an
LGBT-friendly history. In a 2014 estimate, 11–15 per cent of the city's population aged 16 or over is thought to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. The city also had the highest percentage of same-sex households in the UK in 2004 and the largest number of civil partnership registrations outside London in 2013.
Religion
Brighton is identified as one of the least religious places in the UK, based upon analysis of the 2011 census which revealed that 42 per cent of the population profess
no religion, far higher than the national average of 25 per cent.
Brighton has been described as the UK's most "Godless" city. The largest religion is
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
, with 43 per cent reporting an affiliation. The second-largest religion is
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
, with 2.2 per cent, which is lower than the national average.
As part of the
Jedi census phenomenon in 2001, 2.6 per cent claimed their religion was 'Jedi Knight', the largest percentage in the country.
Homelessness
In December 2021, new data released by
Shelter, revealed that "one in 78 people in Brighton and Hove are homeless". The report also records the city as having the third highest rate of homelessness in England, with
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
claiming the top spot followed by
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
.
In a previous charity report issued in November 2016, three areas in Brighton & Hove, East Brighton, Queen's Park, and Moulsecoomb & Bevendean ranked in the top ten per cent nationally for deprivation.
Although deprivation in Brighton is distributed across the city, it is more concentrated in some areas. The highest concentration is in the Whitehawk, Moulsecoomb, and Hollingbury areas but is also found around the St. James's Street and Eastern Road areas. A 2015 government statistic showed that the area around Brighton's Palace Pier roundabout and to the east towards St James's Street in
Kemptown is the seventh-worst
living environment in England. On 19 January 2017, Brighton council announced they were looking at certain initiatives to try to alleviate some of the increasing homelessness seen on Brighton's streets and were hoping to open the first in-house temporary housing for homeless people in the city.
Homelessness figures released by
Crisis in December 2018 reported a record high in the UK, with figures in
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...
, including Brighton and Hove, reported as being "high".
At a meeting of the full B&H Council on 25 March 2021, Brighton and Hove became the first UK City to adopt the
Homeless Bill of Rights.
The bill was passed by 31 votes to 11, with 7 abstentions.
Geography
Brighton lies between the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...
and the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...
to the north and south, respectively. The Sussex coast forms a wide, shallow bay between the
headland
A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, J ...
s of
Selsey Bill and
Beachy Head; Brighton developed near the centre of this bay around a
seasonal river, the Wellesbourne (or Whalesbone), which flowed from the South Downs above
Patcham.
This emptied into the English Channel at the beach near the East Cliff, forming "the natural drainage point for Brighton".
Behind the estuary was a stagnant pond called the Pool or Poole, so named since the medieval era. This was built over with houses and shops from 1793, when the Wellesbourne was
culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdo ...
ed to prevent flooding,
and only the name of the road (Pool Valley, originally Pool Lane)
marks its site.
One original house survives from the time of the pool's enclosure.
Behind Pool Valley is
Old Steine
The Old Steine () is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of Ci ...
(historically ''The Steyne''), originally a flat and marshy area where fishermen dried their nets. The Wellesbourne occasionally reappears during times of prolonged heavy rain; author
Mark Antony Lower referred to an early 19th-century drawing of the
Royal Pavilion showing "quite a pool of water across the Steyne".
Despite 16th-century writer
Andrew Boorde's claim that "Bryght-Hempston
samong the noble ports and havens of the realm",
Brighton never developed as a significant port: rather, it was considered as part of
Shoreham. Nevertheless, the descriptions "Port of Brighthelmston" or "Port of Brighton" were sometimes used between the 14th and 19th centuries, as for example in 1766 when its notional limits were defined for customs purposes.
The East Cliff runs for several miles from Pool Valley towards
Rottingdean and
Saltdean, reaching above sea level. The soil beneath it, a mixture of
alluvium
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...
and clay with some flint and chalk
rubble, has experienced erosion for many years.
The cliff itself, like the rest of Brighton's soil, is chalk.
Below this are thin layers of
Upper and
Lower Greensand separated by a thicker band of
Gault clay
The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in ...
.
The land slopes upwards gradually from south to north towards the top of the Downs.
Main transport links developed along the floor of the Wellesbourne valley, from which the land climbs steeply—particularly on the east side. The earliest settlement was by the beach at the bottom of the valley,
which was partly protected from erosion by an underwater
shale-bar. Changes in sea level affected the foreshore several times: disappeared in the first half of the 14th century,
and the
Great Storm of 1703 caused widespread destruction. The first sea defences were erected in 1723,
and a century later a long sea wall was built.
Climate
Brighton has a
temperate climate: its
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
is ''Cfb''. It is characterised by cool summers and cool winters with frequent cloudy and rainy periods.
Average rainfall levels increase as the land rises: the 1958–1990 mean was on the seafront and about at the top of the South Downs above Brighton.
Storms caused serious damage in
1703, 1806, 1824, 1836, 1848, 1850, 1896, 1910 and
1987. Heavy snow is rare, but particularly severe falls were recorded in 1881 and 1967.
Boundaries and areas
At the time of the
Domesday survey in 1086, Brighton was in the
Rape of Lewes and the
Hundred of Welesmere. The new Hundred of Whalesbone, which covered the parishes of Brighton,
West Blatchington
West Blatchington is an area in Hove, East Sussex, England.
The area grew rapidly in the inter-war period, but unlike nearby Hangleton it had more infrastructure, with St Peter's Church, a working farm, a windmill and an industrial area group ...
,
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
and
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ...
, was formed in 1296. Parishes moved in and out several times, and by 1801 only Brighton and
West Blatchington
West Blatchington is an area in Hove, East Sussex, England.
The area grew rapidly in the inter-war period, but unlike nearby Hangleton it had more infrastructure, with St Peter's Church, a working farm, a windmill and an industrial area group ...
were included in the Hundred.
In its original form, Brighton parish covered about between the English Channel, Hove, Preston,
Ovingdean and
Rottingdean. The borough (but not the civil parish) was first extended from 31 October 1873, when was annexed from Preston civil parish. In 1894 the part outside the borough became Preston Rural civil parish and Preston civil parish continued in the borough. On 1 April 1889 Brighton became a county borough.
On 1 October 1923, were added to Brighton borough and to Preston civil parish from Patcham parish: Brighton Corporation was developing the
Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb () is a suburb of Brighton, Sussex, England, on the northeast side around Lewes Road, between Coldean and Bevendean, north of the seafront. The eastern edge adjoins Falmer Hill on the South Downs. It is often divided into smaller ...
estate there at the time. On 1 April 1928, Brighton civil parish was extended to include Preston civil parish. On the same date the borough grew by nearly five times by adding Ovingdean and Rottingdean parishes in their entirety and parts of
Falmer, Patcham and West Blatchington; it also exchanged small parts with Hove municipal borough. All the areas added to the borough became part of Brighton civil parish.
From 1 April 1952, more of Falmer and part of the adjacent
Stanmer parish were added; 20 years later, land and marine territory associated with the new
Brighton Marina development also became part of Brighton. Except for a small addition of rural land in 1993 (from
Pyecombe parish), Brighton Borough's boundaries remained the same until it was joined to Hove Borough in 1997 to form the
unitary authority of Brighton and Hove.
The old boundary between Brighton and Hove is most clearly seen on the seafront, where the King Edward Peace Statue (1912) straddles the border, and in a
twitten called Boundary Passage which runs northwards from Western Road to Montpelier Road.
There is a
Grade II-listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
parish boundary marker stone in this passageway.
Between Western Road and the seafront, the boundary runs up Little Western Street (pavement on eastern side, in Brighton), but it is not visible.
Northwards from Western Road, it runs to the west of Norfolk Road, Norfolk Terrace, Windlesham Road and Windlesham Gardens in the
Montpelier area, then along the south side of Davigdor Road to
Seven Dials. From there it runs along the west side of Dyke Road as far as Withdean Road in
Withdean, at which point it crosses Dyke Road so that the section north of that is part of Hove parish. The boundary continues to follow Dyke Road towards
Devil's Dyke on the South Downs.
Governance and politics
Brighton is covered by two constituencies in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
:
Brighton Kemptown
Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP.
The consti ...
and
Brighton Pavilion. Both are
marginal constituencies which were held by
Labour from 1997 to 2010. In the
2017 general election, Brighton Kemptown elected the Labour MP
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, replacing a
Conservative MP; he was re-elected in the
2019 general election. In the
2010 general election Brighton Pavilion elected
Caroline Lucas
Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elect ...
, the first and only
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
MP; she was re-elected in
2015, 2017 and again at the 2019 general election.
There are 21 wards in the city of Brighton and Hove, of which 12 are in Brighton. Regency, St Peter's & North Laine, Preston Park, Withdean, Patcham, Hollingdean & Stanmer and Hanover & Elm Grove are part of the Brighton Pavilion constituency; Moulsecoomb & Bevendean, Queen's Park, East Brighton, Woodingdean and Rottingdean Coastal are covered by the Brighton Kemptown constituency.
The newly created Borough of Brighton consisted of six wards in 1854: St Nicholas, St Peter, Pier, Park, Pavilion and West. When the territory was extended to include part of
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
parish in 1873, the new area became a seventh ward named Preston. The seven were split into 14 in 1894: Hanover, Kemp Town (renamed King's Cliff in 1908), Lewes Road, Montpelier, Pavilion, Pier, Preston, Preston Park, Queen's Park, Regency, St John, St Nicholas, St Peter, and West. Preston ward was extended in 1923 to incorporate the area taken into the borough from Patcham parish in 1923 for the construction of the Moulsecoomb estate, and in 1928 the ward was divided into four: Hollingbury, Moulsecoomb, Preston and Preston Park. Elm Grove and Patcham wards were created at the same time, bringing the total to 19. There were further changes in 1952, 1955 and 1983, at which time there were 16 wards.
This situation continued until 1 April 1997, when Hove and its wards became part of the new
unitary authority of
Brighton and Hove.
Brighton Town Hall occupies a large site in
the Lanes. Medieval Brighthelmston had a town hall, although it was called the Townhouse and functioned more like a market hall. A later building (1727) known as the Town Hall was principally used as a
workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...
. Work on the first purpose-built town hall began in 1830;
Thomas Read Kemp laid the first stone, and Thomas Cooper designed it on behalf of the Brighton Town Commissioners (of which he was a member). Brighton Corporation spent £40,000 to extend it in 1897–99 to the
Classical design of Brighton Borough Surveyor Francis May. Despite this, the building was too small for municipal requirements by the mid-20th century, and extra council buildings were built in locations throughout Brighton Borough Council's existence: the most recent, Bartholomew House and Priory House next to the town hall, were finished in 1987.
The town hall ceased to be responsible solely for Brighton's affairs when Brighton and Hove were united in 1997, but it is still used by Brighton & Hove City Council—particularly for weddings and civil ceremonies.
The presence of a British subsidiary of the United States arms company
EDO Corporation on the Home Farm Industrial Estate in
Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb () is a suburb of Brighton, Sussex, England, on the northeast side around Lewes Road, between Coldean and Bevendean, north of the seafront. The eastern edge adjoins Falmer Hill on the South Downs. It is often divided into smaller ...
has been the cause of protests since 2004. The premises were significantly damaged in January 2009 when protesters broke in.
Economy
In 1985, the Borough Council described three "myths" about Brighton's economy. Common beliefs were that most of the working population commuted to London every day; that tourism provided most of Brighton's jobs and income; or that the borough's residents were "composed entirely of wealthy theatricals and retired business people" rather than workers.
Brighton has been an important centre for commerce and employment since the 18th century. It is home to several major companies, some of which employ thousands of people locally; as a retail centre it is of regional importance; creative, digital and new media businesses are increasingly significant; and, although Brighton was never a major industrial centre, its
railway works contributed to Britain's rail industry in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in the manufacture of steam locomotives.
Since the amalgamation of Brighton and Hove, economic and retail data has been produced at a citywide level only. Examples of statistics include: Brighton and Hove's tourism industry contributes £380m to the economy and employs 20,000 people directly or indirectly; the city has 9,600 registered companies; and a 2001 report identified it as one of five "supercities for the future".
In the past couple of years tourists to Brighton and Hove have fallen in numbers. Over 2016, day visitors to Brighton and Hove dropped by an average of 2,400 per day. In August 2017, new figures for the year showed Brighton's tourism had fallen by a further 1 per cent on the previous year.
Commerce and industry
Brighton's largest
private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government.
Employment
The ...
employer is
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation specialized in payment card industry, payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Man ...
, whose European headquarters are at John Street. As of 2012, about 3,000 people work there.
Planning permission
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...
to demolish the old Amex offices and build a replacement was granted in 2009, and work started in March 2010. Other major employers include
Lloyds Bank,
Legal & General,
Asda (which has hypermarkets at
Hollingbury and
Brighton Marina),
Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company and call-centre operator Inkfish.
In 2012, it was reported that about 1,500 of
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...
's 21,000 workers lived in the city of Brighton and Hove.
Brighton is a popular destination for conferences, exhibitions and trade fairs, and has had a purpose-built conference centre—the
Brighton Centre—since 1977. Direct income from the Brighton Centre's 160 events per year is £8 million, and a further £50 million is generated indirectly by visitors spending money during their stay. Events range from political party conferences to concerts.
The Hollingbury Industrial Estate is one of the largest such facilities in Brighton; in its early days about 6,000 people were employed, principally in industrial jobs, but in the late 20th and early 21st centuries its focus has switched to commercial and retail development,
limiting Brighton's potential for industrial growth. Brighton Corporation laid out the estate on of land around Crowhurst Road in 1950. By 1956, large-scale employment was provided at a bakery, a typewriter factory and a machine tools manufacturer among others. Most of the large factories closed during the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s, employment fell to 1,000, and structural changes started in the mid-1980s with a move towards small-scale industrial units (the Enterprise Estate was finished in October 1985) and then retail warehouses.
Asda's superstore opened in November 1987,
MFI followed two years later, and other retail units were built in the 1990s.
Two large headquarters buildings were vacated in quick succession when British Bookshops left in March 2011
and ''The Argus'' newspaper moved out of its headquarters in 2012—although the
Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company signed a contract to move its 1,250 employees into the latter building.
Brighton has a high density of businesses involved in the media sector, particularly digital or "
new media", and since the 1990s has been referred to as "Silicon Beach".
By 2007, over 250
new media business had been founded in Brighton.
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is a social media suite company owned by Cision. Brandwatch sells two different solutions: Consumer Intelligence and Social Media Management.
Consumer Intelligence is made up of three different products: Consumer Research and add-ons Vi ...
is a
social media monitoring company based in offices near Brighton station. Computer game design company
Black Rock Studio
Black Rock Studio Limited was a British video game developer based in Brighton, England. It was a division of Disney Interactive Studios. The studio was founded by Tony Beckwith in 1998 as Pixel Planet. It was acquired by the Climax Group in 1 ...
was founded in 1998 and was taken over by
Disney Interactive Studios,
who closed it down in 2011.
The Gamer Network, whose portfolio of websites relating to computer gaming (including
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EG ...
) and creative industries was founded in 1999, is based in Brighton.
By the early 21st century, the market for office accommodation in the city was characterised by fluctuating demand and a lack of supply of high-quality buildings. As an example, the Trafalgar Place development ( 1990), "now considered a prime office location", stood partly empty for a decade.
Exion 27 (built in 2001), a high-tech, energy-efficient office development at
Hollingbury, remained empty for several years and is still not in commercial use: it houses some administrative departments of the
University of Brighton. It was Brighton's first ultramodern commercial property and was intended for mixed commercial and industrial use, but its completion coincided with a slump in demand for high-tech premises.
Retail and shopping
Brighton is well known for the great shopping, with a high number of independent shops, which add to the character of the city.
Walking from Brighton station towards the seafront, first, is the
North Laine
North Laine is a shopping and residential district of Brighton, on the English south coast. Once a slum area, it is now seen as Brighton's bohemian and cultural quarter, with many pubs, cafés, theatres and museums.
History
"Laine" is a Su ...
area, stretching from Trafalgar Street, Kensington Gardens, Sydney Street, Gardner Street and Bond Street and is mostly pedestrianised. The
North Laine
North Laine is a shopping and residential district of Brighton, on the English south coast. Once a slum area, it is now seen as Brighton's bohemian and cultural quarter, with many pubs, cafés, theatres and museums.
History
"Laine" is a Su ...
area is a retail, leisure and the residential area immediately north of the Lanes. Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon "Laine" meaning "fields", although the misnomer "North Lanes" is often used to describe the area. The North Laine contains a mix of businesses dominated by cafés, bars, theatres, and over 400 shops independent and avant-garde shops including an erotic shop and indoor flea markets.
The Lanes which is characterised by a labyrinth of narrow alleyways form a retail, leisure and residential area near the seafront, following the street pattern of the original fishing village. The Lanes contain predominantly clothing stores, jewellers, antique shops, restaurants and pubs.
Churchill Square is a shopping centre with a floor space of and over 80 shops, several restaurants and 1,600 car-parking spaces. It was built in the 1960s as an open-air, multi-level pedestrianised shopping centre, but was rebuilt and enlarged in 1998 and is no longer open-air. Further retail areas include Western Road and London Road, the latter of which is undergoing extensive regeneration in the form of new housing and commercial properties.
There are two weekly flea market / bootfairs in Brighton on Sunday mornings, one at Brighton Marina on the top open-air level of the carpark, and another at
Brighton Racecourse.
Landmarks
The
Royal Pavilion, a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
, is a former royal palace built as a home for the
Prince Regent
A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illne ...
during the early 19th century, under the direction of the architect
John Nash. It is notable for its
Indo-Saracenic
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...
architecture and Oriental interior. Other Indo-Saracenic buildings in Brighton include the
Sassoon Mausoleum
The Sassoon Mausoleum is the former grave of Sir Albert Sassoon and other members of his family, including Sir Edward Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, of Kensington Gore. It stands at 83 St. George's Road in Brighton, England. The single-storey buildin ...
, now, with the bodies reburied elsewhere, in use as a chic supper club.
Brighton Marine Palace and Pier (long known as the Palace Pier) opened in 1899, it was meant to be a replacement for the Royal Suspension Chain Pier, but became a pleasure pier instead. It features a
funfair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
, restaurants and arcade halls. The
West Pier
The West Pier is a ruined pier in Brighton, England. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be Grade I listed in England and Wales but has become increasingly derelict since its closure to the public ...
was built in 1866 and is one of only two Grade I listed piers in the United Kingdom; it has been closed since 1975. For some time it was under consideration for restoration, but two fires in 2003, and other setbacks, led to these plans being abandoned. Nevertheless, publicity material presented in question-and-answer form during the building of the
British Airways i360 observation tower (see below) maintained that the building of the tower would not prove prejudicial to the eventual restoration of the pier. The first of Brighton's 3 piers was the
Royal Suspension Chain Pier
The Royal Suspension Chain Pier was the first major pier built in Brighton, England. Opened on 25 November 1823, it was destroyed during a storm on 4 December 1896.
History
Generally known as the ''Chain Pier'', it was designed by Captain Sa ...
, which was destroyed in a storm in 1896. All that remains of the pier are small lumps of wood and stone, which are only visible at low tide. It was primarily intended as a landing stage for
packet boats to
Dieppe, France, but it also featured a small number of attractions including a
camera obscura.
The
i360
Brighton i360 is a moving observation tower on the seafront of Brighton, East Sussex, England at the landward end of the remains of the West Pier. The tower opened on 4 August 2016. From the fully enclosed viewing pod, visitors experience 360- ...
, an observation tower located at the shore end of the West Pier, opened on 4 August 2016. At high, and with an observation pod rising to , it is Britain's highest observation tower outside London – taller even than the
London Eye. With a diameter of , it is also the thinnest tower in the world, with a height-to-width ratio of 41.15 to one.
Brighton Clock Tower, built in 1888 for
Queen Victoria's jubilee, stands at the intersection of Brighton's busiest thoroughfares.
Volk's Electric Railway runs along the inland edge of the beach from Palace Pier to
Black Rock and
Brighton Marina. It was created in 1883 and is the world's oldest operating
electric railway.
The
Grand Hotel was built in 1864. The
Brighton hotel bombing occurred there. Its nighttime blue lighting is particularly prominent along the foreshore.
Churches and other places of worship
St Nicholas Church may be the oldest building in Brighton (the Domesday Book records the presence of an Anglo-Saxon church, valued at
£12)
and is commonly known as "The Mother Church". Other notable Anglican churches include the very tall (the highest church interior in Britain) brick-built
St Bartholomew's (1874) designed by the architect Edmund Scott;
St Peter's (1828); and
St Martin's (1875), noted for its ornate interior. Brighton's
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
run the
Friends Meeting House in the Lanes. There is an active
Unitarian community based in a Grade II listed building in New Road. Brighton has six listed Roman Catholic churches;
St John the Baptist's Church (1835) in Kemptown is the earliest surviving Roman Catholic church in the city.
Brighton and Hove has five synagogues: New Church Road Synagogue; Holland Road Synagogue;
Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue
Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue, also known as Adat Shalom Verei’ut (Congregation of Peace and Friendship), is a Liberal synagogue in Hove, Sussex, England. It was established in 1935 and now has more than 300 members.
Elizabeth ...
;
Brighton and Hove Reform Synagogue
Brighton and Hove Reform Synagogue is a synagogue in Hove, Sussex, England. It has 500 adult members.
History and affiliation
The community was founded in 1955 with temporary accommodation and the synagogue was dedicated in 1967 to serve a r ...
; and
Middle Street Synagogue. The Middle Street Synagogue is a Grade II listed building built in 1874–75; it is being gradually restored by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
. There are also several mosques and
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
centres.
Beaches
Brighton has a expanse of
shingle beach,
part of the unbroken section within the city limits. Neighbouring Hove is known for its hundreds of painted timber beach huts, but brick-walled chalets are also available on Brighton seafront, especially towards
Rottingdean and
Saltdean.
Especially east of the Palace Pier, a flat sandy foreshore is exposed at low tide.
The Palace Pier section of the beach has been awarded
blue flag status.
Part of the beach adjoining Madeira Drive, to the east of the city centre, has been redeveloped into a sports complex and opened to the public in March 2007, with courts for pursuits such as beach volleyball and
ultimate Frisbee among others.
The city council owns all the beaches, which are divided into named sections by
groyne
A groyne (in the U.S. groin) is a rigid hydraulic structure built perpendicularly from an ocean shore (in coastal engineering) or a river bank, interrupting water flow and limiting the movement of sediment. It is usually made out of wood, concr ...
s—the first of which were completed in 1724. Eastwards from the Hove boundary, the names are Boundary, Norfolk, Bedford, Metropole, Grand (referring to the four hotels with those names), Centre, King's, Old Ship, Volk's, Albion, Palace Pier, Aquarium, Athina (where the
MS ''Athina B'' ran aground), Paston, Banjo, Duke's, Cliff, Crescent and Black Rock. Cliff Beach is a
nudist beach.
Beyond Black Rock, the cliffs (part of the
Brighton to Newhaven Cliffs
Brighton to Newhaven Cliffs is a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Geological Conservation Review site, which stretches along the coast between Brighton and Newhaven in East Sussex. An area of is the Castle Hi ...
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
) rise to more than and there are three small beaches at Ovingdean Gap, Rottingdean Gap and Saltdean Gap. All are connected by the Undercliff Walk,
which has been affected by several cliff falls since 2000.
Since the demolition in 1978 of the Black Rock open-air
lido at the eastern end of Brighton's seafront, the area has been developed and now features one of Europe's largest
marinas. However, the site of the pool itself remains empty except for a skate park and graffiti wall. Since 2003 a series of developments have been proposed but have come to nothing, including housing, a
five-star hotel
Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotels according to their quality. From the initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating have expanded into a focus on the hotel experi ...
with a
winter garden, and an 11,000-seat sports arena.
The seafront is also home to many restaurants, sports facilities, amusement arcades, nightclubs and bars.
Liz Williams Butterfly Haven
The Liz Williams Butterfly haven () is a purpose-built area that has been created to attract and provide a habitat for butterflies. It is situated between
Dorothy Stringer and
Varndean College
Varndean College is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove that serves the needs of sixth form students and adults.
Location
Varndean College is on Surrenden Road, in the northern part of Brighton. It shares the Surrenden campus with Balfou ...
, north of Stringer Way. It was the brainchild of Dr Dan Danahar with funding from the
BBC, in conjunction with the
National Lottery, through the Breathing Places scheme.
This site was created between 2006 and 2007, and by September 2008 the late Liz Williams, botanist, had recorded 97 wildflower species and 10 species of grass. This was an order of magnitude increase in the floral diversity of the site within one year. As a tribute to her work, the site will be renamed the Liz Williams Butterfly Haven during 2011.
Since its creation to 2021 an amazing twenty seven species of butterfly have been recorded here including
Adonis blue
The Adonis blue (''Lysandra bellargus'', also known as ''Polyommatus bellargus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It inhabits the Palearctic realm (Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Southern Russia, Iraq, Iran, Caucasus, ...
,
chalkhill blue,
green hairstreak
The green hairstreak (''Callophrys rubi'') is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.
Etymology
The genus name '' Callophrys'' is a Greek word meaning "beautiful eyebrows", while the species Latin name ''rubi'' derives from ''Rubus'' (bramb ...
,
dingy and
chequered skipper.
The Woodvale Cemeteries
Woodvale () is actually five linked cemeteries that cover the western side of Race Hill. The cemeteries are east of Lewes Road and either side of Bear Road. Their cultural significance and importance to wildlife to the city were described evocatively by the Sussex field naturalist,
David Bangs (p. 303).
"They are a profoundly peaceful place of little woods and glades, sunny banks and shady paths. They have become, in the last 150 years, reservoirs for much of the wildlife of the surrounding countryside. Some of the big beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...
trees down in Woodvale are as old as the cemeteries. The marbles, limestones, and granites of the memorials are a detective story for geologists. Yaffles call across the trees. The rare greater horseshoe bat has hibernated in the funerary buildings. Badgers pit the mossy turf in their search for earthworms, and violet and celandine cheer the turf in early spring"
Culture
Cafes and restaurants
Brighton is characterised by small dining establishments and independent coffeehouses. Brighton has about 250 restaurants.
Media
Brighton receives news and television programmes from
BBC South East
BBC South East is the BBC English region serving Kent, East Sussex, most parts of West Sussex and southern parts of Surrey.
The BBC region was created in September 2001 by the joining of the Heathfield transmitter (formerly part of the BB ...
and
ITV Meridian
ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise for the South and South East England, South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadca ...
from the
Whitehawk Hill transmitting station.
Cinema
Brighton featured in a number of popular movies including ''
Carry on at Your Convenience'' (1971), ''
Quadrophenia'' (1979), ''
The End of the Affair'' (1999), ''
Wimbledon'' (2004), ''
MirrorMask
''MirrorMask'' is a 2005 dark fantasy film designed and directed by Dave McKean and written by Neil Gaiman from a story they developed together. The film stars Stephanie Leonidas, Jason Barry, Rob Brydon, and Gina McKee.
The music used in the f ...
'' (2005), ''
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging'' (2008), ''
The Young Victoria'' (2009), ''
Brighton Rock'' (2010 and 1947) and ''
The Boat that Rocked'' (2009).
The
Duke of York's Picturehouse
The Duke of York's Picture House is an art house cinema in Brighton, England, which lays claim to being the oldest cinema in continuous use in Britain. According to cinema historian Allen Eyles, the cinema "deserves to be named Britain's oldes ...
,
dating from 1910,
was opened by
Violet Melnotte-Wyatt. It is the country's oldest purpose-built cinema and was Brighton's first Electric
Bioscope, which still operates as an
arthouse cinema
An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
. The Duke of York's Picturehouse expanded in 2012, adding two additional screens in a different location. The company now occupies the upstairs of
Komedia
Komedia is an arts and entertainment company which operates venues in the United Kingdom at Brighton and Bath, and a management and production company Komedia Entertainment. Beyond hosting live comedy, the venues also host music, cabaret, theat ...
, situated on Gardner Street, central Brighton. There are two
multiplex cinemas, the Odeon on North Street and Cineworld in the Marina.
Festivals and rallies
Each May the city hosts the Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe, the second largest arts festival in the UK (after
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
). This includes processions such as the Children's Parade, outdoor spectaculars often involving pyrotechnics, and theatre, music and visual arts in venues throughout the city, some brought into this use exclusively for the festival. The earliest feature of the festival,
the Artists' Open Houses, are homes of artists and craftspeople opened to the public as galleries, and usually selling the work of the occupants. Since 2002, these have been organised independently of the official Festival and Fringe.
Brighton Fringe runs alongside Brighton Festival, and has grown to be one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. Together with the street performers from Brighton Festival's "Streets of Brighton" events, and the
Royal Mile-esque outdoor performances that make up "Fringe City", outdoor spectacles and events more than double during May.
In 1974, the city was host to the 19th
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
on 6 April 1974, where
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...
won in the
Brighton Dome with their song
Waterloo.
Other festivals include The Great Escape, featuring three nights of live music in venues across the city; the Soundwaves Festival in June, which shows classical music composed in the 21st Century, and involves both amateur and professional performers; Paddle Round the Pier; Brighton Live which each September stages a week of free gigs in pubs to show local bands;
Burning the Clocks
Burning the Clocks is a winter solstice festival that takes place each year in Brighton, England, UK. It has taken place since 1994 as a response to Christmas commercialisation.
The event
Founded in 1993, the celebration is based on a procession ...
, a winter solstice celebration; Brighton Digital Festival, annually exploring digital technology and culture; and
Brighton Pride, the first of its kind in the UK, which attracts 450,000 to the city over the Pride weekend.
Disability Pride Brighton promotes acceptance and visibility for area residents who are disabled.
The
Kemptown area has its own small annual street festival, the Kemptown Carnival, and the
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
area similarly has a "Hanover Day".
Local resident
Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...
has put on three "Big Beach Boutique" shows, in 2002, 2006 and 2008. An inaugural White Nights (
Nuit Blanche) all-night arts festival took place in October 2008 and continued for 4 years until it was postponed in 2012 due to a lack of European funding. 2009 saw the first Brighton Zine Fest celebrating
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...
and
DIY culture within the city.
Brighton is the terminus of a number of London-to-Brighton rides and runs, such as the
veteran car run and bike ride. Transport rallies are also hosted on the seafront. Groups of
mods and
rockers still bring their
scooters and motorbikes to the city, but their gatherings are now much more sedate than the violent 1960s confrontations depicted in ''
Quadrophenia''.
Food and drink related festivals include the traditional Blessing of the Fisheries, where barbecued
mackerel are eaten on the beach and the more recent Fiery Foods
Chilli Festival. There is also a twice-yearly general food festival. The main Sussex beer festival is held in nearby
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ...
, and there is a smaller beer festival in the Hanover area.
Brighton is the home of the UK's first Walk of Fame which celebrates the many rich and famous people associated with the city.
LGBT community
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community in Brighton is one of the largest and most prominent in the UK, and Brighton has been named the "gay capital of the UK".
There is record of LGBT history in the city dating to the 19th century. Many LGBT pubs, clubs, bars and shops are located around Brighton and in particular around St James's Street in
Kemptown, including
Club Revenge. Several LGBT charities, publishers, social and support groups are also based in the city.
Brighton Pride is usually celebrated at the start of August.
Museums and galleries
Brighton museums include
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery is a municipally-owned public museum and art gallery in the city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. It is part of the "Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton and Hove". It is free for local residents ...
, which forms part of the pavilion
Preston Manor,
Booth Museum of Natural History,
Brighton Toy and Model Museum, and
Brighton Fishing Museum
The Brighton Fishing Museum is a registered independent museum established in co-operation with the local fishing community in 1994. This museum is dedicated to Brighton's fishing and seaside history. It is located a short distance to the wes ...
, which includes artefacts from the West Pier. The
Royal Pavilion is also open to the public, serving as a museum to the
British Regency.
Brighton has many galleries, including th
Brighton Centre for Contemporary Arts (Brighton CCA)based at the
University of BrightonPhoenix Art Space an
ONCA
Night-life and popular music
Brighton has many night-life hotspots and is associated with
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...
ians including
Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...
,
Omar,
Kirk Brandon,
Tim Booth,
Nick Cave,
David Van Day
David Van Day (born David Paul Day, 28 November 1956) is an English singer, songwriter and politician who was formerly a member of the pop vocal duo Dollar. He was also a member of the 1970s vocal group Guys 'n' Dolls (along with his Dollar part ...
from Dollar,
Adam Freeland,
Orbital and
Robert Smith. Live music venues include the Concorde2,
Brighton Centre and the
Brighton Dome, where
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...
received a substantial boost to their career when they won the
Eurovision Song Contest 1974. Many events and performance companies operate in the city. Brighton also has the most
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...
events in the UK.
Brighton is also host to
The Great Escape music festival every May. Brighton has produced several successful bands and music artists including
Beats International,
Norman Cook,
Carl Cox
Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England.
Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and ...
,
Dave Clarke,
Krafty Kuts
Krafty Kuts (real name Martin Reeves) is an English producer and DJ of electronic music and breakbeat.
His first album, ''Freakshow'', was released in 2006 on his Against The Grain label and contains guest artists Tim Deluxe and Ashley Slat ...
,
Ed Solo,
Evil Nine,
Electrelane,
Frazier Chorus
Frazier Chorus were an English pop group from Brighton, England. They were known for their unconventional instrumentation, including synthesizers, trumpets, flutes and clarinets, as well as frontman Tim Freeman's "soft, heavily accented ... ta ...
,
Peter and the Test Tube Babies
Peter and the Test Tube Babies are an English punk rock band, formed in the small town of Peacehaven, England in 1978, by Derek "Strangefish" Greening and Peter Bywaters. Due to their humorous tongue-in-cheek lyrics, they have been considered ...
,
the Levellers
The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populis ...
,
The Maccabees,
Electric Soft Parade,
British Sea Power,
the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster (often referred to as Eighties Matchbox, 80s Matchbox, TEMBD, TEMBLD or shortened to just Eighties or 80s) were an English rock band from Brighton, formed in 1999. They released three albums, '' Hörse of t ...
,
The Xcerts
The Xcerts are a British alternative rock band, originally formed in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2001. They have released four studio albums, with their latest being '' Hold On To Your Heart'' (2018).
Biography
The Xcerts were originally formed ...
,
Architects
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
,
The Go! Team,
Royal Blood,
The Kooks
The Kooks () are an English pop-rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals/rhythm guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar/synthesizer/bass) and Alexis Nunez (drums).
Their music is primarily influenced by the ...
,
Freemasons
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
,
Blood Red Shoes
Blood Red Shoes are an English alternative rock duo from Brighton consisting of Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell. They have released six full-length albums, '' Box of Secrets'' (2008), '' Fire Like This'' (2010), '' In Time to Voices'' (2012), ...
,
Lovejoy,
Birdeatsbaby
Birdeatsbaby is an English progressive rock band from Brighton, United Kingdom, formed in 2008. At their start, the band's music was considered to be within the dark cabaret genre, but later began to incorporate aspects of heavy metal, klez ...
and
Rizzle Kicks
Rizzle Kicks are a British hip hop duo from Brighton, England, consisting of Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens (born 25 January 1992) and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule (born 1991). Their debut album, ''Stereo Typical'', was released in 2011. As o ...
. Brighton is also home to several independent record labels. The second half of 1973 rock opera
Quadrophenia by
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
takes place at Brighton Beach.
Theatre
Theatres include the
Brighton Dome and associated Pavilion Theatre, the expanded
Komedia
Komedia is an arts and entertainment company which operates venues in the United Kingdom at Brighton and Bath, and a management and production company Komedia Entertainment. Beyond hosting live comedy, the venues also host music, cabaret, theat ...
(primarily a comedy and music venue but also a theatre),
the Old Market which was renovated and re-opened in 2010 and the
Theatre Royal which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2007. The Attenborough Centre for the Creative arts is nearby, part of the University of Sussex campus. There are also smaller theatres such as the
Marlborough Theatre, the New Venture, and the Brighton Little Theatre. The city has the purpose built
Brighton Open Air Theatre
Brighton Open Air Theatre, also known as B•O•A•T, is a British theatre built in Dyke Road Park, Brighton, which opened in May 2015. It has been paid for not by corporate funding or public grants, but by private donations. The theatre is the ...
, or B•O•A•T, which opened for the
Brighton Festival
Brighton Festival is a large, annual, curated multi-arts festival in England. It includes music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and family events, and takes place in venues in the city of Brighton and Hove in Engla ...
in May 2015.
Parks
Stanmer Park
Stanmer Park is a large public park immediately to the west of the University of Sussex, and to the north-east of the city of Brighton in the county of East Sussex, England, UK. It is a Local Nature Reserve and English Heritage, under the Na ...
sits on the northern edge of Brighton and extends into the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the eas ...
. The largest urban park in the city is
Preston Park and
The Level was recently developed. Other parks include
East Brighton Park,
Queen's Park and
Wild Park
Wild Park is a Local Nature Reserve in Brighton in East Sussex. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove City Council. It includes Hollingbury Castle, an Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehis ...
.
Education
The
University of Brighton has been part of the city of Brighton & Hove since 1859, starting as a school of art in the kitchens of the Royal Pavilion. It was granted university status in 1992, and now has a student population of around 18,000 of which 79 per cent are undergraduates. The university is based on four campuses - City campus in the heart of Brighton; Falmer campus set in the South Downs; Moulsecoomb campus on Lewes Road and Eastbourne campus.
The
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
, established in 1961 as the first of the plate-glass universities, is a
campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-li ...
research intensive university between
Stanmer Park
Stanmer Park is a large public park immediately to the west of the University of Sussex, and to the north-east of the city of Brighton in the county of East Sussex, England, UK. It is a Local Nature Reserve and English Heritage, under the Na ...
and
Falmer, four miles (6 km) from the city centre. The university is home to the
Institute of Development Studies and the
Science Policy Research Unit, amongst over 40 other established research centres, and has been ranked first in the world for Development studies by the World University Rankings. Served by trains (to
Falmer railway station
Falmer railway station is in East Sussex, south-east England, from on the East Coastway line. It is operated by Southern.
The station serves the village of Falmer as well as the University of Sussex campus and the University of Brighton Fa ...
) and 24-hour buses, it has a student population of around 20,000 students of which about a quarter are postgraduates. The university has been ranked 41st in the UK by the Complete University Guide in its 2022 rankings and 246th in the world by the World University Rankings of 2021.
In 2001 the music college BIMM (
British and Irish Modern Music Institute) opened in Brighton under the name The Brighton Institute of Modern Music. The college has approximately 1500 students across Brighton, its degree courses at BIMM are validated by the
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
and diploma courses are taught at the
Brighton Aldridge Community Academy
Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) is a coeducational academy school in Brighton. It opened on 1 September 2010.
The school replaced Falmer High School and is part of the Aldridge Education multi-academy trust. Dylan Davies became Brig ...
. Notable alumni have included
James Bay
James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost p ...
,
The Kooks
The Kooks () are an English pop-rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton. The band consists of Luke Pritchard (vocals/rhythm guitar), Hugh Harris (lead guitar/synthesizer/bass) and Alexis Nunez (drums).
Their music is primarily influenced by the ...
and
Tom Odell. Since the college opened it has expanded to become Europe's largest music college with 6500 students studying at eight campuses across Europe including
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
,
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
and
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
.
In 2003, the universities of Brighton and Sussex formed a medical school, known as
Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The school was one of four new medical schools to be created as part of a government programme to increase the number of
NHS doctors. The school is based at the University of Sussex campus and works closely with the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Brighton & Hove City Council is responsible for 80 schools, of which 54 are in Brighton.
A range of non-university courses for students over 16, mainly in
vocational education
Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an i ...
subjects, is provided at the
further education collegeGreater Brighton Metropolitan College(previously City College). More academic subjects can be studied by 16–18-year-olds at
Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College
Brighton, Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College, usually abbreviated to BHASVIC (pronounced "Baz-vic"), is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove, England for 16- to 19-year-old students. The college is in the Prestonville area of the city. It is ...
(BHASVIC) in the Seven Dials area.
Varndean College
Varndean College is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove that serves the needs of sixth form students and adults.
Location
Varndean College is on Surrenden Road, in the northern part of Brighton. It shares the Surrenden campus with Balfou ...
in North Brighton occupies a commanding position. The 1920s building is celebrated for its façade and internal quads. The college offers academic
A levels, The International Baccalaureate and vocational courses.
As Brighton is home to public universities and colleges, it also home to private colleges such as
Hove College
Hove College is a private not for profit further education provider in Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom, UK which offers training in multimedia, business, and design studies.
History
Hove College was formerly part of the British Study Centres ...
located near the
County Cricket Ground, the college was established in 1977 and offers higher educational courses such as vocational, certificate, professional, diploma and Advanced Diploma qualifications and has a close partnership with the
University of Brighton.
There are
state schools and some
faith schools
A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious or faith-based organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded fai ...
. Notable state schools include
Longhill High School
Longhill High School is a co-educational secondary school for 11 to 16 year-olds, which is located in Rottingdean, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex.
History
The school was officially opened in 1964, although took its first intake in 1963. The s ...
,
Varndean School
Varndean School is a secondary school serving a large area of Brighton, England.
In 2013, 2017 and 2022, Ofsted inspectors described Varndean as a 'Good' school. Varndean shares the Surrenden Campus with Balfour Primary School, Dorothy String ...
,
Patcham High School,
Dorothy Stringer School
Dorothy Stringer School is a secondary school located in Brighton, East Sussex, England. It has over 1,600 pupils and 115 members of staff. There are 64 forms, each with an average of 26 students.
Location and history
The school, named after ...
,
Blatchington Mill School and Sixth Form College
Blatchington Mill School is a coeducational secondary school in Hove, Brighton and Hove for 11 to 16-year-olds.
Admissions
It is a school of non-denominational religion. The total number of pupils in 2019, of all ages, was 1,553. It is in West ...
,
Hove Park School
Hove Park School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form centre located over two sites in Hove, East Sussex, England.
The school is located over two sites in Hove: The Valley campus educates pupils aged 11 to 13 and 17-19 (academic years ...
,
Brighton Aldridge Community Academy
Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) is a coeducational academy school in Brighton. It opened on 1 September 2010.
The school replaced Falmer High School and is part of the Aldridge Education multi-academy trust. Dylan Davies became Brig ...
and
Kings School Hove.
There are a number of
independent schools, including
Brighton College,
Roedean School,
Steiner School
Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical s ...
,
BHHS and a
Montessori
The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...
School. As with the state schools, some independents are faith-based; Torah Academy, the last Jewish primary school, became a Pre-K/Nursery School at the end of the 2007. The
Brighton Institute of Modern Music
The British and Irish Modern Music Institute, now styled as the BIMM Institute, is a group of eight independent colleges which specialise in the provision of creative education in Brighton, Bristol, London, Dublin, Manchester, Berlin, Birmi ...
, a fully accredited music college, opened in 2001 and has since expanded to five locations throughout Britain.
Brighton has been ranked a top 10 student city in the UK, by QS rankings.
Sport
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club is the city's professional association football team. After playing at the
Goldstone Ground for 95 years, the club spent 2 years ground-sharing 70 miles away at
Gillingham F.C. before returning to the town as tenants of the
Withdean Stadium. At the start of the 2011–12 season the club moved permanently to Falmer Stadium, a Premier League level stadium colloquially known as
'the Amex'. Notable achievements include winning promotion to the
Football League First Division
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
in 1979 and staying there for 4 seasons. They reached the
1983 FA Cup Final drawing 2–2 with
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
before losing in the replay 5 days later. The
2017–18 football season saw Brighton's debut in the Premier League after a win against
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
guaranteed automatic promotion to the top flight.
Whitehawk Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in
a suburb in east Brighton.
They play in the
Isthmian League
The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 t ...
South East having won promotion three times in the space four years between 2009 and 2013, before getting relegated twice in quick succession in the 2017–18 and 2018–19 season. Games are played at
The Enclosed Ground
Whitehawk Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Whitehawk, a suburb of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. The club currently plays in the . Whitehawk's home ground is the 3126-capacity Enclosed Ground, ...
,
which is set into the South Downs close to
Brighton Marina.
Brighton Football Club (RFU) is one of the oldest Rugby Clubs in England founded in 1868 before the RFU. They currently play in the Premier division of London and South-East RFU League.
Brighton was chosen as one of the 13
Rugby World Cup 2015
The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was on ...
host cities, with two games being played at the 30,750 capacity
Falmer Stadium
The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31, ...
. (Although it was named the "Brighton Community Stadium" throughout the tournament for sponsorship reasons.) One of the two games played was one of the biggest shocks in the history of Rugby Union, with
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
defeating
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
34 points to 32, with a try in the dying minutes of the game. The other game was between
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
and the
United States.
Brighton & Hove Hockey Club is a large
hockey club that train and play their matches at
Blatchington Mill School
Blatchington Mill School is a coeducational secondary school in Hove, Brighton and Hove for 11 to 16-year-olds.
Admissions
It is a school of non-denominational religion. The total number of pupils in 2019, of all ages, was 1,553. It is in West B ...
. The men's 1XI gained promotion in 2013 to the
England Hockey League system, Conference East.
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The ...
play at Eaton Road in Hove.
Motoring events take place on Madeira Drive, a piece of roadway on Brighton's seafront, throughout the year. It was originally constructed to host what is commonly held to be the world's oldest motor race, the
Brighton Speed Trials
The Brighton Speed Trials, in full The Brighton National Speed Trials, is commonly held to be the oldest running motor race. The first race was held 19–22 July 1905 after Sir Harry Preston persuaded Brighton town council to tarmac the surface ...
, which has been running since 1905. The event is organised by the
Brighton and Hove Motor Club The Brighton and Hove Motor Club (BHMC) is best known as organiser of the Brighton Speed Trials.
History
The club's origins date to the early 1920s when it was known as the Brighton and Hove Motor Cycle and Light Car Club. The earliest known ref ...
and normally takes place on the second Saturday in September each year.
Brighton has a
horse-racing course,
Brighton Racecourse, with the unusual feature that when the full length of the course is to be used, some of the grass turf of the track has to be laid over the tar at the top of Wilson Avenue, a public road, which therefore has to be closed for the races. A
greyhound racing circuit – the
Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium – in Hove is run by
Coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...
, at which
Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in 1928.
Brighton Sailing Club has been operating since the 1870s.
The Brighton and Hove
Pétanque Club runs an annual triples, doubles and singles competition, informal KOs, winter and summer league, plus Open competitions with other clubs. The club is affiliated to Sussex Pétanque, the local region of the English Pétanque Association, so they can also play at a Regional and National level. The Peace Statue terrain is the official
pétanque terrain situated on the seafront near the West Pier.
Brighton has two competitive swimming clubs: Brighton SC formed in 1860 claims to be the oldest swimming club in England; and Brighton Dolphin SC was formed in 1891 as Brighton Ladies Swimming. Casual sea swimming is also a popular activity in Brighton, rising in popularity since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amateur track cycling is held at the
Preston Park Velodrome, the oldest velodrome in the UK, built in 1877.
There are three recognised surfing breaks close to Brighton, including East of the Marina, by the West Pier and at Shoreham harbour.
Transport
Brighton has several railway stations, many bus routes, coach services and taxis. A Rapid Transport System has been under consideration for some years.
[
: ] Trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
es, trams, ferries and
hydrofoil
A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains s ...
services have operated in the past.
Roads
Brighton is connected to the trunk road network by the
A23 (London Road) northwards, and by two east–west routes: the
A259
The A259 is a road on the south coast of England passing through Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and is the longest Zone 2 A road in Great Britain. The main part of the road connects Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, Rye and Folkes ...
along the coast and the
A27 trunk route inland which joins the
M27 motorway
The M27 is a motorway in Hampshire, England. It is long and runs between Cadnam and Portsmouth. It was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983, providing the largest two urban areas in Hampshire ( Southampton and Portsmouth) with a direct m ...
near
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most d ...
. The A23 joins the
M23 motorway at
Pease Pottage near
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...
.
The A27 originally ran through the urban area along Old Shoreham Road and Lewes Road, but it now follows the route of the Brighton Bypass (final section opened in 1992) and the old alignment has become the A270. A bypass was first proposed in 1932, six routes were submitted for approval in 1973, and the
Department of the Environment
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...
published its recommended route in 1980. Public inquiries took place in 1983 and 1987, construction started in 1989 and the first section—between London Road at
Patcham and the road to
Devil's Dyke—opened in summer 1991.
By 1985, there were about 5,000 parking spaces in central Brighton. The largest car parks are at London Road, King Street and the Churchill Square/Regency Road/Russell Road complex.
In 1969, a 520-space
multi-storey car park
A multistorey car park ( British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a bui ...
was built beneath the central gardens of
Regency Square.
Railway
Frequent trains operate from
Brighton railway station. Many Brighton residents commute to work in London
and destinations include
London Victoria,
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...
and
St Pancras International
St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...
. Most trains serve
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...
and those operated by
Thameslink
Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...
continue to
St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...
,
Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...
,
Luton Airport Parkway
Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is down the line from London St Pancras between to the south and to ...
and
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...
. The fastest service from London Victoria takes 51 minutes.
The
West Coastway Line serves stations to
Hove
Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ...
,
Worthing,
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most d ...
and
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
; the
East Coastway Line runs via
Lewes to
Newhaven,
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...
and
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
, crossing the landmark
London Road viaduct
The London Road Viaduct is a brick railway viaduct in Brighton, part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England. It carries the East Coastway Line between Brighton and London Road railway stations. Built in the 1840s for the B ...
en route and providing "a dramatic high-level view" of Brighton.
A wider range of long-distance destinations was served until 2007–08 when rationalisation caused the ending of
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
services via
Kensington (Olympia)
Kensington (Olympia) is a combined rail and tube station in Kensington, on the edge of Central London. Services are provided by London Overground, who manage the station, along with Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. ...
and
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
to
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, Manchester and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
Twice-daily long-distance services to
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
and
Great Malvern
Great Malvern is an area of the spa town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and ...
are operated by
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
via the West Coastway Line.
Buses
Until
deregulation in 1986, bus services in Brighton were provided by
Southdown Motor Services
Southdown Motors Services Ltd (although this was the legal name of the company (until 1992) it was normally referred to as Southdown Motor Services) was a bus and coach operator in East and West Sussex and parts of Hampshire, in southern En ...
and Brighton Borough Transport under a joint arrangement called ''Brighton Area Transport Services''. Southdown were part of the nationalised
NBC group and were based at Freshfield Road in the
Kemptown area; Brighton Borough Transport were owned by the council and used the former tram depot at Lewes Road as their headquarters. Joint tickets were available and revenue was shared.
The
Brighton & Hove Bus Company, owned by the
Go-Ahead Group since 1993, now runs most bus services in Brighton. It has a fleet of about 280 buses.
Compass Travel,
The Big Lemon
The Big Lemon is a bus and coach operator in Brighton, East Sussex, Bristol and Bath. It is registered as a Community Interest Company.
History
The Big Lemon was founded by Tom Druitt in 2007. After gaining an operator licence, the first pu ...
,
Metrobus,
Stagecoach South operate services to central Brighton. The city had 1,184 bus stops in 2012, 456 of which had a shelter.
Real-time travel information displays are provided at many stops.
The only
park and ride facility in Brighton is based at the
Withdean Stadium. It does not offer a dedicated shuttle bus service: intending passengers must join the Brighton & Hove Bus Company's route 27 service to
Saltdean—which travels via Brighton railway station, the
Clock Tower
Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...
and
Old Steine
The Old Steine () is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of Ci ...
—and pay standard fares.
The 20-year City Plan released in January 2013 ruled out an official park-and-ride facility, stating it would be an "inefficient use of public money, particularly in an era of declining car use". Councillors and residents in
Woodingdean and
Rottingdean have claimed that streets and car parks in those areas have become unofficial park-and-ride sites: drivers park for free and take buses into the city centre.
Air
Shoreham Airport, which offers chartered and scheduled flights using light aircraft,
is west of Brighton near the town of
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England.
The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on t ...
. In 1971, the borough councils of Worthing, Hove and Brighton bought it and operated it jointly as a municipal airport,
but since 2006 it has been privately owned.
Gatwick Airport, one of Britain's major international airports, is north on the A23; regular coach and rail services operate from Brighton.
Notable people
See also
*
List of people from Brighton and Hove
This is a list of notable people born or inhabitants of the city of Brighton and Hove in England. This includes the once separate towns of Brighton and Hove.
Note that in the case of persons still living, they may not ''currently'' live within ...
*
''The Argus'' (Brighton)
*
Musicians from Brighton and Hove
*
Brighton Borough Council elections for the political history of the former borough council which governed the town from 1974 to 1997.
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
; Works cited
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; General references
*
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*The Daniel Wakeford song "It's a wonderful city" is filmed in the center of Brighton City, and often mentions Brighton with the phrase 'I'm in the Brighton'.
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Towns in East Sussex
Former non-metropolitan districts of East Sussex
Market towns in East Sussex
Populated coastal places in East Sussex
Seaside resorts in England
Beaches of East Sussex
Unparished areas in East Sussex
Brighton and Hove
Former boroughs in England