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Palace Pier - O/T - Argus Article



Aug 11, 2003
2,728
The Open Market
Have to agree with him about the Marina and Madeira Drive:

Quote Originally Posted by Julian Caddy
But for the endless stream of car rallies and charity events, Madeira Drive would be an utter wasteland.


In other words, if it wasn't used on a regular basis, it would be empty.

No shit, Sherlock.
 




Grombleton

Surrounded by <div>s
Dec 31, 2011
7,356
Quote Originally Posted by Julian Caddy
Brighton Marina had the chance to become something the rest of Brighton seafront never was, but instead became a tacky, cynical, empty, commercial pastiche of what is already everywhere else. What a waste[/I].

If he had his way, the Pier would end up like that.

For an apparent fan of the city, he knows very little about it.
 


Tony Meolas Loan Spell

Slut Faced Whores
Jul 15, 2004
18,067
Vamanos Pest
This is someone who has no concept of the heritage, culture and history of Brighton.

To think the pier should be made exclusive by adding a 'Michelin-starred' restaurant completely misses the point. Brighton has always been a magnet for high and low-brow visitors - the rich, and the spivs; the Establishment and the criminals. Most of the time, they will rub shoulders. A lot of the time, they are the same people.

If he wants Brighton to thrive, he's got to realise it caters for everyone, not just his ignorant, self-important form of the social elite. All he wants to do is to bring his own blinkered, narrow, spoiled, irrelevant life to Brighton, and pretend he's educating the provincials.

Get out of Brighton.

Better still - GET IN THE SEA.

Perfectly put sir.

Indeed I believe even 1901 is AWASH with "high and low-brow visitors - the rich, and the spivs; the Establishment and the criminals. Most of the time, they will rub shoulders. A lot of the time, they are the same people".
 








Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,220
Brighton
Leaving my hometown next month as I can't afford to buy a property here (whilst still on a fairly decent wage).
Will move away from football, friends and family, but am stuck in the rent-trap whilst property prices increase monthly.
I don't want to rent anymore.

A bit gutted tbh, but my only hope of owning a home is to leave. :shrug:

Sorry to hear that, but I'm sure you're making the right decision.
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,207
Goldstone
This is someone who has no concept of the heritage, culture and history of Brighton.

To think the pier should be made exclusive by adding a 'Michelin-starred' restaurant completely misses the point. Brighton has always been a magnet for high and low-brow visitors - the rich, and the spivs; the Establishment and the criminals. Most of the time, they will rub shoulders. A lot of the time, they are the same people.

If he wants Brighton to thrive, he's got to realise it caters for everyone, not just his ignorant, self-important form of the social elite. All he wants to do is to bring his own blinkered, narrow, spoiled, irrelevant life to Brighton, and pretend he's educating the provincials.

Get out of Brighton.

Better still - GET IN THE SEA.
I agree with you, yet I also think the pier could be better used. Am I being silly?

With it's nice views etc, it would be a nice place for decent basic food (not at all posh or overpriced, just nice) and beers on outside tables. I wouldn't get rid of all the seaside style gubbins, but maybe shift the balance a bit.
 


StonehamPark

#Brighton-Nil
Oct 30, 2010
9,785
BC, Canada
Have done the same, but only to Newhaven - so not far away from football! Where are you off to?

I looked into Newhaven a couple of years ago, as a potential for the future (didn't have a deposit then).
Got my deposit together about 2 months ago and had another look and now it's out of my budget.

Made a fairly drastic decision and have gone for Canada.
I could have gone for Littlehampton, being the closest place within my budget, but I don't think I could hack it!
So logically I've increased the search radius to 4,744 miles. :clap2:

Sorry to hear that, but I'm sure you're making the right decision.

Cheers :cheers:

Not all doom and gloom though, I might end up being better off across the pond.
Poutine on every corner! :drool:
 




Aug 11, 2003
2,728
The Open Market
I agree with you, yet I also think the pier could be better used. Am I being silly?

With it's nice views etc, it would be a nice place for decent basic food (not at all posh or overpriced, just nice) and beers on outside tables. I wouldn't get rid of all the seaside style gubbins, but maybe shift the balance a bit.

I'm sure the new owners may well tart it up. But not to the extent Caddy suggests - there's no need, and no desire for it.

If the city wishes to aspire to the status he is banging on about - fine. The pier caters for those who don't want, or can't afford 'fine dining' or 'Michelin-starred restaurants'. So there's something for everyone.

If the rest of the city was a shithole, his point may well be a bit more valid. But it isn't, and the pier is far from an embarrassment or PR disaster.
 


Aug 11, 2003
2,728
The Open Market
Cllr Lee Wares on social media puts the point very well too...

"It is rare that something or someone will provoke rage in me.

"When Julian Caddy talks so dispassionately and in derogatory terms about my, our, beloved Brighton and Hove, I take it no differently than if it were a verbal assault on my family.

"Brighton and Hove is about history and heritage, antiquities and quirkiness blended with the new and shiny, the steel and glass.

"It is about the weird and wonderful, the kiss-me-quick hats, the candy floss and chips on the pier – Palace Pier that is. Our city is unique.

"Thank goodness for Primark. Blessed are we that coachloads of visitors wish to come to see us.

"Since when has a three-star Michelin restaurant been the bench mark?

"Thankfully, we have many small restaurants, some tucked away in alleys serving fantastic food that leave me feeling full, with money left."
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,207
Goldstone
I'm sure the new owners may well tart it up. But not to the extent Caddy suggests - there's no need, and no desire for it.

If the city wishes to aspire to the status he is banging on about - fine. The pier caters for those who don't want, or can't afford 'fine dining' or 'Michelin-starred restaurants'.
Yeah I wasn't suggesting fine dining. I like the bars on the seafront between Brighton and Hove, it's like being on holiday down there.

I haven't been to the pier for a while, but when I have it hasn't felt like it's catered for many people. I'd like it to keep the fast food and some arcades (although perhaps not as many as it has), but also have nicer areas for people to sit and eat and drink - and I don't mean fine dining, I mean standard stuff.
 




Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,207
Goldstone
I looked into Newhaven a couple of years ago, as a potential for the future (didn't have a deposit then).
Got my deposit together about 2 months ago and had another look and now it's out of my budget.

Made a fairly drastic decision and have gone for Canada.
Wow. I like Canada. Could have lived there if it wasn't for family. Do you know where yet?
 


Notters

Well-known member
Oct 20, 2003
24,869
Guiseley
I looked into Newhaven a couple of years ago, as a potential for the future (didn't have a deposit then).
Got my deposit together about 2 months ago and had another look and now it's out of my budget.

Made a fairly drastic decision and have gone for Canada.
I could have gone for Littlehampton, being the closest place within my budget, but I don't think I could hack it!
So logically I've increased the search radius to 4,744 miles. :clap2:



Cheers :cheers:

Not all doom and gloom though, I might end up being better off across the pond.
Poutine on every corner! :drool:

Best of luck with the move. Canada's a great country.
 


Aug 11, 2003
2,728
The Open Market
Yeah I wasn't suggesting fine dining. I like the bars on the seafront between Brighton and Hove, it's like being on holiday down there.

I haven't been to the pier for a while, but when I have it hasn't felt like it's catered for many people. I'd like it to keep the fast food and some arcades (although perhaps not as many as it has), but also have nicer areas for people to sit and eat and drink - and I don't mean fine dining, I mean standard stuff.

Watch this space, I guess.

Like Leon Best, the previous owners couldn't have been more inappropriately named.
 




Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,207
Goldstone
Like Leon Best, the previous owners couldn't have been more inappropriately named.
So although they were called cun*s, they weren't actually named cun*s?
 


StonehamPark

#Brighton-Nil
Oct 30, 2010
9,785
BC, Canada
Best of luck with the move. Canada's a great country.
Thanks. :smile:

Wow. I like Canada. Could have lived there if it wasn't for family. Do you know where yet?

Initially it'll be Vancouver, as I've already seen Toronto and Montreal (both decent).
I like the thought of a £100 return flight to Los Angeles or a road trip down the PCH.
Plus, slightly better weather

Any recommendations?
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,207
Goldstone
Initially it'll be Vancouver, as I've already seen Toronto and Montreal (both decent).
I like the thought of a £100 return flight to Los Angeles or a road trip down the PCH.
Plus, slightly better weather

Any recommendations?
I'm in no position to give recommendations, I've only been a couple of times. Vancouver is obviously really nice and not too far from skiing in Whistler (which I'd like), that's where I'd go. But we've got some fans on here who live in Canada, start a new thread with Canada in the title and ask them.

I prefer Canada to the US because there are fewer Americans in Canada. I prefer it to Australia because there are fewer Australians :)
 






beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,322
this Caddy fella is a bit of pillock isnt he? even when trying to make amends today:

[the pier] should also reflect other sides of Brighton: its creative, artistic nature but also its amazing food scene, its independent businesses and its incredible heritage.

why ffs? why do people want everything to be for everyone, inclusive to the point of confusion and appeal to no one. the joy of Brighton is the different bits to it: the Lanes, the north Laine, the seafront, the pier, Churchill Sq, Kemp Town, Preston Park, the marina, that before we even look west. something for everyone. dont try and shoehorn that on to a few hundred square meters, like some miniature cultural Epcot centre.
 


Aug 11, 2003
2,728
The Open Market
An elitist DFL snob writes on Facebook...

I’m writing in response to the criticism directed at me following the pieces in the Argus yesterday.

Firstly, I deeply regret the offence caused. It would never and has never been the intention to cause offence. Brighton and Hove is a city that I love and have been brought up around. My grandfather went to school here, as indeed did I for a time and I have given five years of my life to building up Brighton Fringe to being the festival that it is today.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though. As is rereading emails before sending them at 11:30 on a Friday night, mistaking at the time just *which* Adrian you are sending it to who had asked for some comments on improving the pier, getting carried away but not checking properly or thinking it through, and then realising it was in fact to an Argus journalist and finding out early on Tuesday morning that not only has this gone into the Argus as an actual ‘piece’, it has gone on the front page and a double page spread with opinion pieces attached.

I can’t actually even blame the Argus. I walked right into it and they, as journalists saw a story and ran with it. I wish I had had the chance to see it before it went out or even have prior warning of the prominence, but I guess that is their prerogative. The aftermath has been perhaps the worst 24 hours of my life and, on reading the pieces and opinion, it’s easy to see why. “What was I thinking?” Well I wish I knew.

Also for the record as I wrote to Nijel Twirley in a post to this group earlier, the reference to Primark, Sports Direct and coaches was entirely directed at the thousands of teenage foreign students that pass my window between their visit to the Pavilion.

Those shops, on their way to the pier and back to their coaches, not as some snobbish reference, more to direct attention to the day-tripper market being dominant, rather than somewhere that more local residents might wish to go to on a regular basis.

I also wish I hadn't said the M word for a restaurant- just somewhere nice to eat on the pier would be amazing. I’ve never even ever been to a Michelin star restaurant. Basically more diverse attractions to get even more people than currently go.

I really, truly, don't hate the pier - it is an iconic, vital part of what makes Brighton what it is and I have worked my arse off for the past five years here. I'm completely invested in this place and care passionately about its past, present and future.

Yes, I happen to live in London, but that should not exclude me from having a view. I have been dealing with the inevitable feedback, some threatening actual physical violence, all day and night yesterday, some with the frankly disturbing “f*** off back to London”.

I've learned my lesson for sure and apologise profoundly for the offence caused. What is more, running a festival like Brighton Fringe, the very last thing that I would ever wish to do is create divisions and that is exactly what has happened, and how.

Brighton Fringe as it’s open-access is, literally, all about inclusiveness and being as welcoming as possible and to go against that is absolutely unthinkable. I’ve been working at in fringe festivals for over 20 years now and believe me, it’s anything but Michelin star restaurants and poshness, so to come across like that (“a typical view from an elitist London a-hole” and similar) is dreadful.

I don’t know what more I can do than say this - and to get it out to as many people as possible. Not everyone will want to hear it, and that is fine. What was written in the paper was appalling and I’d probably have the same view if I’d read them myself. This year we are launching the Fringe with fireworks and I seem to have started an uncontrollable fire before it has even begun and for that, I am deeply sorry.
 


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