William IV and the Royal York Hotel

Cliff End

Violinist-on-Rope

The Van Alen Building
The Van Alen building in Marine Parade, completed in 2001, occupies the site of a former garage & petrol station. Generally agreed to be one of the more successful of the City's modern buildings it harmonises with the seafront architecture without resorting to pastiche,  and pleases the eye from every angle: its roofline from the beach; its building line from Marine Parade. Because of its location in a historic seafront, the

William IV and the Royal York Hotel
Unlike his successor, William IV was a Brighton enthusiast, visiting at least once a year during his reign. He visited the Devil's Dyke, took trips along the cliffs to Rottingdean and liked to walk on the Chain Pier and in the Kemptown enclosures. He worshipped here, had his solicitors in Ship Street and re-developed the Royal Pavilion estate. The original South Gate, now replaced with the Indian Gate, and the North Gate were erecte

The Brighton Society
The Brighton Society (BS) now has a new website which is really worth a visit. The Society was launched in April 1973 at a public meeting to oppose British Rail’s plans to demolish Brighton Station and replace it with a 14 storey hotel, moving the station underground. They later succeeded in getting the station listed Grade II.A  more recent success involved the  refusal on appeal of the  proposed Beethan tower on the station site which would have grossly overtopped the Grade 1 listed St. Batholomews.  In dismissing the appeal the Inspector quoted from the  BS chairman’s expert evidence. BS suppo

"Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species."
This was the title of the meeting on Wednesday 4th. of the Brighton & Hove Humanists Society. Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society gave a rivetting account of the circumstances and the furore that attended the publication of "Origins" and this was followed by an entertaining re-creation (written by Terry) of the historical debate between T.H. Huxley (“Darwin’s Bulldog”) and “Soapy Sam” Wilberforce (Bishop of Oxford).  Derek Lennard effectively took the part of Huxley and Terry Sanderson, appropriately attired and with appropriate accents played the Bishop. Keith Porteous-Wood, Dir

Pink Floyd star buys Hove Mansion
Pink Floyd star David Gilmour has bought this fine Grade II listed property on the corner of Medina Terrace and Kings Esplanade. Read full report by Andy Giles in the Argus.