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 Beach and sailing ships in Brighton, John Constable, 1824
Beach and sailing ships in Brighton, John Constable, 1824
 The Chain Pier, Brighton, John Constable, 1824-1827
The Chain Pier, Brighton, John Constable, 1824-1827
 Brighton Pier
Brighton Pier
 The West Pier, showing the collapse of the concert hall, before the fire.
The West Pier, showing the collapse of the concert hall, before the fire.
 The West Pier in January 2006, after the most recent collapse.
The West Pier in January 2006, after the most recent collapse.
 The Grand Hotel, on Brighton seafront in 2004, restored after the IRA bomb
The Grand Hotel, on Brighton seafront in 2004, restored after the IRA bomb
 Royal Pavilion, July 2001
Royal Pavilion, July 2001
Brighton remained a small fishing village up until the 18th century. Brighthelmstone began to change in 1753 when Dr Richard Russell of Lewes published his thesis on sea bathing, which proclaimed the benefit to health of the salt water of Brighton. He set up house there and before long, the rich and the sick had started to make their way to the seaside. Currently approaching the conclusion of its ambitious restoration, Marlborough House on the Steine was built by Robert Adam in 1765 and purchased shortly afterwards by the eponymous Duke. By 1780, development of the Regency terraces had started and the town quickly became the fashionable resort of Brighton. The growth of the town was further encouraged when, in 1786, the young Prince Regent later King George IV, rented a farmhouse in order to escape from public life. Eventually he spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the exotic-looking Royal Pavilion, which is the town's best-known landmark. The Kemp Town estate (at the heart of the Kemptown district) was constructed between 1823 and 1855, and is a good example of Regency architecture. Visitors were further encouraged by the arrival of the London and Brighton Railway in 1840, which also established one of the first railway-owned locomotive works.
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The Brighton Marine Palace and Pier, generally known as the Palace Pier before being unofficially renamed by its current owners as Brighton Pier in 2000 (something not recognised by the National Piers Society), opened in May 1899 after costing a record £137,000 to build. The theatre wasn't ready for opening until 2 years later. This theatre was controversially removed, on the condition that it was replaced. This never happened, and the seaward end building looks out of place compared to the rest of the structure. The pier suffered a large fire on 4 February 2003 but the damage was limited and most of the pier was able to reopen the next day.
The older West Pier, built in 1866 by Eugenius Birch, has been closed and deteriorating since 1975, awaiting renovation. The West Pier is one of only two Grade 1 listed piers in the UK, the other being Clevedon Pier. Plans by The West Pier Trust to renovate the pier with help from Heritage Lottery Fund were opposed by some local residents. Owners of Brighton Palace Pier, originally supporters of the restoration scheme (the 1996 "Year of the Pier" was launched from there by then Culture Secretary Virginia Bottomley) went on to back the objectors who claimed subsidised rebuilding, were it to happen, would be unfair competition. This was a short-sighted attitude, as the piers would have appealed to a different clientele. More people would have been attracted to Brighton, which was already seeing a sharp increase in tourism.
The West Pier partially collapsed on December 29, 2002 when a walkway connecting the concert hall and pavilion fell into the sea after being battered by storms. On January 20, 2003 a further collapse saw the destruction of the concert hall in the middle of the pier. On March 28, 2003 the pavilion at the end of the pier caught fire. Firefighters were unable to save the building from destruction because they could not reach the end of the pier - the previous collapse had destroyed the walkway. The cause of the fire remains unknown. On May 12, 2003, another fire broke out, consuming most of what was left of the concert hall. Arson was suspected. The West Pier Trust refers to the fires as the work of 'professional arsonists', (notwithstanding that there is no evidence linking the fires to the owners of the Palace Pier). On June 23, 2004 high winds caused the middle of the pier to completely collapse.
Despite all these setbacks, the owner of the site West Pier Trust remained adamant they would soon begin full restoration work. Finally, in December 2004, the Trust admitted defeat, after their plans were rejected by the Heritage Lottery Fund and subsequent less ambitious plans to restore only the oldest, structural parts of the pier were also rejected by English Heritage. However, in September 2005 the Trust revealed in their newsletter that they are forming further plans to rebuild the original structure with help from private funding.
Brighton had one further major pier, the Brighton Chain Suspension Pier ("Chain Pier") designed by Captain Samuel Brown, RN and built in 1823. The pier was primarily intended as a landing stage for packet boats to Dieppe, Brighton having no natural harbour, but it also featured a small number of attractions including initially a camera obscura. An esplanade with an entrance toll-booth controlled access to the pier which was roughly in line with today's New Steine. Turner and Constable both made paintings of the pier, King William IV landed on it, and it was even the subject of a song.
The Chain Pier survived the construction of the West Pier, but a condition for permission to build the Palace Pier was that the builders would dismantle the oldest pier. They were saved this task by a storm which destroyed the already closed and rather decrepit pier on December 4, 1896. The stubby remains of some of the pier's iron piles, sunk ten feet into bedrock, can still be seen at the most extreme low tides.
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In Brighton, the area occupied by the original fishing village has become The Lanes — a collection of narrow alleyways now filled with a mixture of antique shops, restaurants, bistros and pubs. That name was derived from 'Laine', which was apparently an old unit of Anglo-Saxon field measurement. The North Laine area still keeps the original spelling. Hilly Laine, on the east slope facing North Laine is now generally known as 'Hanover', such name coming from the early nineteenth century terraces at the base of the hill: Hanover Crescent, Hanover Terrace et al. named for the Hanoverian monarchy of the day. The city has a large Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, mainly based in the Kemptown area of the city. Some indicators suggest a gay population approaching 25%. Every August sees a large annual LGBT Pride event which has now become one of the most popular such events in the UK calendar.
Brighton's nearby neighbour, Hove, is seen by some as a more desirable location than Brighton and it is often referred to by locals as "Hove actually". This is because when a questioner asks a Hove resident whether they live in Brighton, they are frequently met with the response "No, Hove actually!". The pub next to Hove railway station was at one time called Bertie Belcher's Brighton Brewery Company At the Hedgehog and Hogshead - it's really in Hove, actually! - it has since been renamed The Station.
The biggest arts festival in England—the Brighton Festival—takes place in May each year.
Brighton is home to two universities, the London by the Sea' because of its lively atmosphere and cosmopolitan nature and also because of the large number of visitors from London. In the summer, thousands of young students from all over Europe gather in the city to attend language courses.
Part of the beach has been designated an official United Kingdom to be located adjacent to an urban area.
 July 17, 2002. The Big Beach Boutique II attracted thousands of fans to see Fatboy Slim play live.
July 17, 2002. The Big Beach Boutique II attracted thousands of fans to see Fatboy Slim play live.
Since the 1978 demolition of the Art Deco open-air swimming lido at Black Rock, the most easterly part of Brighton's seafront, the area has been developed considerably 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, and further development is planned for the area including a high-rise hotel which has aroused considerable local controversy, mirroring the situation with proposals for the site of the King Alfred leisure centre in neighbouring Hove.
Brighton is considered a fairly progressive town due to the large numbers of political movements and activities, for instance SchNEWS, a local newsletter. This has been demonstrated by the Green Party taking 22% of the vote of the Brighton Pavilion constituency in the 2005 general election, versus just 1% nationally.
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Brighton is the home of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. and the Hove ground of Sussex County Cricket Club, which is used for international one day matches, and the Brighton Bears.
In 1995 Brighton & Hove Albion's Goldstone Stadium, in central Hove, was sold without viable plans for an alternative. Near relegation from Division 3 in 1997, having played their last game at the Goldstone Stadium, saw a new board of directors installed. Two years of sharing Gillingham's stadium in Kent ended when the team was granted permission to play their home games at the Withdean Sports Complex in Brighton. Despite fans not having to make the 140 mile round trip to Kent, the 6000 seater stadium is not suitable for Championship games. Plans for a new 23,000 seater stadium had been in place since 1998, and Falmer, just north of the city, was chosen as the best location in 1999. On 28th October 2005 fans rejoiced when the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, granted Brighton & Hove Albion permission to build the stadium they had been waiting for since 1995.
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Richard Attenborough
Michael "Atters" Attree, satirist
Aubrey Beardsley, born in Brighton 1872, and for some time lived at Lower Rock Gardens, Kemptown
Patrick Bergin, star of films including Sleeping with the Enemy and Patriot Games
Björk
Steve Cornflower, Björk's new german boyfriend
Cate Blanchett
Dora Bryan
Julie Burchill, journalist
Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1880 to 1898
Nick Cave
Sir Winston Churchill, attended school
Julian Clary, comedian
Steve Coogan
Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, musician & DJ. Formerly of band The Housemartins (Hove)
Gaz Coombes, lead singer of Supergrass
Aleister Crowley, died in a nursing home in Brighton in December 1947. Ashes scattered at Devil's Dyke
Roger Dean
Chris Eubank, ex-boxer
Brighton and Hove Grammar School
Graham Greene
Phil Hartnoll, of band Orbital
James Herbert, author
Rudyard Kipling, 1897 to 1903
Prince Peter Alexeevich Kropotkin, 1912 to 1917
Vivien Leigh
London
Ida Lupino, C1914 to C1949
Paul McCartney, musician, and his wife Heather Mills McCartney, designer (Hove)
Bob Meek, journalist
Dame Anna Neagle, lived at Lewes Crescent, Kemptown
Lord Lawrence Olivier & Joan Plowright, lived at Royal Crescent, Kemptown 1960 to 1978
Patsy Palmer, ex-EastEnders television actress
Katie Price, model (also known as Jordan)
Robert Rankin, Fiction author
Dame Flora Robson, 1960 until her death in 1984
Captain Sensible
Jimmy Somerville, 1990s pop star formerly of band The Communards
The Springfields there
Keith Tyson, artist and Turner Prize winner
Rachel Whiteread, artist and Turner Prize winner
Mark Williams, star of The Fast Show and the Harry Potter films
Samuel Preston Lead singer of the band Ordinary Boys
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Hotels in United Kingdom - Brighton >>
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