[Brighton] Brighton Town and City (for those that were there and are here)

[Icy Gull]

Remember Kings club. Run by the Huttons and remember doorman called Brian. Spent a lot of time there and not once did I see any trouble. Do member only night clubs still exist ?

I may have mistaken Brian for the owner, was he always dour and grumpy? Short and a bit dumpy? Oh and pretty old to this early 20’s kid

 

[WATFORD zero]

In order (I think)

Southlands hospital
Courthope
Easthill yoof club
The Stag
Sherry's
The Clarence, where I first saw a stripper aged 14 (me, not her !)
Hungry Years (where Pepa banned me for something completely unrelated, while I was still only 16)
Alhambra
The Crypt
Basketmakers
The Volunteer
Then there's a few hazy years
The Ship after Sunday Morning football
Sergeant York's
Kings Club
Hove Place
Hove Sporting club
Savannah

I could go on but i'm boring myself now Brighton, what a place to grow up/live

 

[Mexican Seagull]

Born in 1952, went to Carden & Varndean Grammar School for Boys, never though I would leave, but left in 1971 after falling in love with a danish girl (the joys of the foreign students during the summer) and have lived abroad ever since, though with many trips back...Memories, 44th Scout troup, Hollingbury camp, the Palace pier which I worked on for 2 summers, missing the last 19 bus and walking home with my mates, the King & Queen, Abinger and Dr Brightons - before it changing focus...working at Amex for a few weeks and getting drunk every lunch time at the local pub (Marlborough??), fantastic place and time to grow up in.

 

[amexer]

I may have mistaken Brian for the owner, was he always dour and grumpy? Short and a bit dumpy? Oh and pretty old to this early 20’s kid

Pleased with my memory. Owners were Dick and Pat Hutton.. Brian was the one who looked thru opening in door before letting you in

 

[Silverhatch]

Pleased with my memory. Owners were Dick and Pat Hutton.. Brian was the one who looked thru opening in door before letting you in

Brian was my mate’s dad. That was handy.

 

[Guinness Boy]

In response to another thread... Acrostic

Born (1960) and bred Brightonian. Formative years until 19 in this town/city (then 20+ years elsewhere until return to have kids).
Ridiculously good place to grow up. Downs to the North, Beach - yes it's got ****ing pebbles - to the South.
Incredible pubs and clubs: Shades, Sussex, Druids, DC, Sherry's, Suite, Bonsoir, Papillion
Growing up in a town that was "Helping Police with its enquiries" was ****ing ace if you were post pubescent and Brighton did not disappoint
Hove was a place where you went to wine bars and (tried to) pick up girls over 25
Two o'clock was when you were thrown out onto West Street when everything shut
Only got a drink after closing time if you had a bowl of chips/scampi in your lap
No it isn't what it was, it's probably better now, but Brighton is a BRILLIANT place

It may well have been my thread so let's make it clear I'm a proud Brightonian, born and bred and I still love the place. I was irked by the way negative headlines always seemed to have a picture of Brighton beach on them. Of course, the gammons "hilariously" hijacked the thread. Anyway......

Born RCH 48 years ago and lived here all my life apart from 2001-2006 when I was abroad for work in Australia and Asia. Grew up Poets Corner which is where I got my taste for the Albion from. On a Saturday people would park in my road and you'd see them off to football. A real event decked out in Blue and White scarves, pipes and cigars wafting interesting smells and a whole new group of people in The Eclipse where my dad was a local. You could hear the crowd roar when we scored from my back garden and the dad next door was Brighton mad and a bit of a boy. Old men moaning in the street when we lost, but we didn't much in the 70s. Had I not grown up around there I don't know whether I'd have been into football or not.

Anyway, Goldstone Ground, West Hove and Hove Park, first pint in that pub outside Hove Station (Cliftonville?) aged 14.

Getting older me and my mates were regulars in the Edinburgh and from there on into town. Top Rank / The Event to start with but soon worked out that was shit and moved on to Shark Bar / Zap / Escape with my dance mates or The Gloucester and All Night Caff with work mates or the indie crew. Days were spent working for [MENTION=396]WATFORD zero[/MENTION] and weekday evenings in the Fiddler's Elbow. Smashing.

Got married and left for Asia. Came back with a bun in the oven (not my oven but definitely my bun, aged 13 he now has a season ticket in the WSU, flicks Vs at Palace players when he thinks I'm not looking and eats his bodyweight in curry). Then another. And it's the ideal place to bring up kids and do the later adult thing. Beach and downs for days out and running (running routes round here never cease to amaze me). Open minded people, unbelievably good beer in great pubs, cracking restaurants, lively vibe in town and, of course, The Amex. Would not want to live anywhere else. OK schools but ones where they get to mix with different people, no middle class ghetto schools. Oh, and still many of the old casualties around (even saw Perv on a door in a low rent place in town a few months ago) though most have calmed down and now we talk about our growing families over that great food and great beer.

*sobs happily*

FFS what a terrible Acrostic

 

[Silverhatch]

Born in 1952, went to Carden & Varndean Grammar School for Boys, never though I would leave, but left in 1971 after falling in love with a danish girl (the joys of the foreign students during the summer) and have lived abroad ever since, though with many trips back...Memories, 44th Scout troup, Hollingbury camp, the Palace pier which I worked on for 2 summers, missing the last 19 bus and walking home with my mates, the King & Queen, Abinger and Dr Brightons - before it changing focus...working at Amex for a few weeks and getting drunk every lunch time at the local pub (Marlborough??), fantastic place and time to grow up in.

Used to love the Abinger.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

1st Hove Cubs and scouts, and then 10th Hove
Davigdor Infants and Goldstone Juniors.
HGS
Saturday mornings at the Regent and then at Top Rank Suite.
Very early teens getting served at the Neptune on Hove seafront, the Downsman and Grenadier at Hangleton.
Then early teens to Sloopys at the back of M&S where you couldn’t buy alcohol but had the attraction of female foreign students from Sweden.
Early teens saw rum and blacks coming up on the bus home after a Sunday night at the Suite.
Late teens and twenties we’d start at the Sussex Sunday League sports centre at the clock tower followed by a crawl through the Bosun, Queen Anne, Pickwick, Posada, Henekys, before ending up at Sherry’s and its subsequent names.
We also used the bar at the bottom of Oriental place, name escapes me, that I think has been knocked down twice since the 60’s
On a long session we’d end up at Jenkinson’s where you could get late drinks with chicken in a basket.

 

[Silverhatch]

1st Hove Cubs and scouts, and then 10th Hove
Davigdor Infants and Goldstone Juniors.
HGS
Saturday mornings at the Regent and then at Top Rank Suite.
Very early teens getting served at the Neptune on Hove seafront, the Downsman and Grenadier at Hangleton.
Then early teens to Sloopys at the back of M&S where you couldn’t buy alcohol but had the attraction of female foreign students from Sweden.
Early teens saw rum and blacks coming up on the bus home after a Sunday night at the Suite.
Late teens and twenties we’d start at the Sussex Sunday League sports centre at the clock tower followed by a crawl through the Bosun, Queen Anne, Pickwick, Posada, Henekys, before ending up at Sherry’s and its subsequent names.
We also used the bar at the bottom of Oriental place, name escapes me, that I think has been knocked down twice since the 60’s
On a long session we’d end up at Jenkinson’s where you could get late drinks with chicken in a basket.

Saturday mornings at the Suite. Now you’re talking. Has that ever had a thread on here?

 

[amexer]

Anybody remember King Jerry the DJ

 

[Nitram]

Prior to moving here in 1986.
Pickwick steak house
Great American Disaster
Browns when all it did was Spag Bol and salads
Samson’s
Uncle Sams opposite St Peter’s after a night on the beer before driving home.
Athena B
1986
Al Duomo, Al Forno, Clem’s Al Caminetto
Better half is from Brighton and went to Queens Park so have many Brighton friends who are born and bred.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Saturday mornings at the Suite. Now you’re talking. Has that ever had a thread on here?

Don’t know but it was sure a good intro to Motown when it started out.

Oh, And I forgot to mention Leadbelly’s. Great atmosphere and even greater burgers.

 

[Weststander]

As a kid in the 70’s - countless trips to the Odeon, ABC, initially some of the older cinemas that then closed (Embassy, Astoria), with parents visiting the cafe under Miss Selfridges for Rombouts coffee, Louis Toussards, exploring large under staffed shops (Hanningtons, Walter Gillet in Market Street, Courts furniture store on the seafront, posh car dealers Ferrari in St.James St, BMW up North Road then Silwood Street, one on Western Road under Mitre House). Generally being a nuisance eg exploring staff only areas of the Odeon instead of watching the Saturday morning kids specials. A crafty technique of one of us buying an ABC film ticket, then going through empty corridors to the old front doors on the seafront to let a bunch of mates in for free. Sorties into Brighton city centre to try to pinch from WHS, Woolworths, HMV, Beals of East Street.

Music - by age 10 started buying vinyls, including from smaller shops such as Rounders, and a load of tiny shops in the North Laine eg Vinyl Demand. Started gigging from 1978, eventually seeing dozens of New Wave, post Punk, synth bands, The Stranglers. Always made our way to the front of the crush, great memories, the Top Rank Suite was my favourite.

Boozing & clubbing In the centre of town - this began properly for me in 1982, the start of an 20 years plus odyssey:

Pubs - Shades, Market Fleece, Pump House, Fagans, Deryk Carver, Druids Head, Cricketers, The Star Inn, Frock & Jacket, Electric Grape, Swifts, plus loads of others that came and went, and some outliers such as The Montpelier.

Clubbing - As a school kid I/we loathed disco, but once clubbing almost overnight fell in love with dance music and dancing. A gallon of lager gave Dutch Courage to dance and meet females. The best musically was Coasters, DJ Rory played tracks rarely heard outside of the gay nightclub Heaven in London. Rounder Records was quality for European and US imports, I still play that music today. Also, great times at Top Rank Suite, Pink Coconut, the original Savanna under The Queens Hotel, Subterfuge, Gloucester, Busby's, Brighton Belle. In later years, The Junction, Midnight Blues and the place under the Metropole. In my teens and early 20’s clubbing 3 or 4 times a week, meeting visitors to our town from across Europe and the UK.

Washed down at 3am by either Uncle Sams or doner kebabs up by Brighton Train Station, or The Market Diner.

What a town, it always meant that returning from a great holiday, not the end of the world.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Oh and [MENTION=1200]Harry Wilson's tackle[/MENTION] [MENTION=29192]Brighton Lines[/MENTION] [MENTION=1663]Scoffers[/MENTION] and probably a few others will remember my very Brighton wedding at the hotel by the West Pier (was the Hilton, think it's now Holiday Inn) complete with Bridesmen, photos on the beach and on a Fire Engline when the fire alarm interrupted the second part of the set by the very "Columbian influenced" disco band we'd hired. I still don't know which of my scrote mates set it off but I'd still have a tenner it was one of them.

I was then very much out-Brightoned by Mendoza's wedding last summer at the i360.

Great place for a wedding, Brighton.

 

[Frutos]

Great place for a wedding, Brighton.

Yep.

I'm getting married next year, C-19 permitting, and even though we live Oop North we've chosen Brighton to get married in - I certainly wouldn't have wanted it anywhere else.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Yep.

I'm getting married next year, C-19 permitting, and even though we live Oop North we've chosen Brighton to get married in - I certainly wouldn't have wanted it anywhere else.

Fingers crossed for you. Hopefully all will be back to normal here by then.

 

[schmunk]

I'm waiting for a certain DULLARD to turn up. He is an expert at inadvertent acrostics that randomly say rude things about people.

I think technically they're "advertant acrostics"...

 

[Dick Swiveller]

I think technically they're "advertant acrostics"...

That is not what he claims..

 

[sams dad]

Anybody remember King Jerry the DJ

The self styled King of the Mods.
His knowledge of Soul and Motown was legendary, and he imported some great records when he worked at Sounds Unlimited in North Street.

 

[sydney]

used to do acid and skate around Brighton all night in the 80's ....either skate over from worthing in the evening get on one and skate all lover town and get the train home in the morning or get the train over in the evening and skate back in the morning ......never get those days back ....priceless.