In term time, I’m lucky enough to live in Bournemouth, with its beautiful beaches, lively nightlife and cheap entertainment. However, each time I leave my permenant address in Brighton, I feel a great sense a loss. Brighton has so much to offer that I don’t feel Bournemouth can compete with it. And I was so keen to show just how great Brighton is that, like an excited tourist, I went around town taking pictures of all my favourite parts of Brighton life. So these are the reasons I’m proud to call Brighton my true hometown…
Independent shops-Not only does Brighton have all your usual high street shops, but it also has dozens of wonderfully weird alternative shops. The North Lanes in particular is home to a range of peircing and tattoo parlours, hand made jewellery stores, vintage emporiums and hippy clothes shops.
Independent store in North Lanes
Neon shop in North Lanes
Creativity– As well as having beautiful buildings and public art, some people express their own creativitywith graffiti.Far from the tacky tags and images sprayed on bridges and houses by wannabe rebels, Brighton boasts some spectacular graffiti. It’s dotted around Brighton, with a lot situated around the back of the North Lanes.
Graffiti in the North Lanes
Graffiti
Leisure- The youth of Brighton also express their creativity through sport and past times. The beach is full of skate boarders, jugglers, hacky sackers and basket ball players- another reason why Brighton is buzzing and naturally entertaining. There’s also a volleyball court along the seafront as well as numerous places for people to play football, bike or run.
The basketball courts along the beach
Alternative couple skating along promenade
History– Ok, so Brighton’s history isn’t amazingly interesting but it does have some great historical buildings. The Royal Pavillion, built in the 1800s is a great example. There’s also numerous unique buildings and old churches scattered around the town, adding to its beauty. A perhaps less sightly, but interesting all the same example is the West Pier. Once an entertainment spot for tourists in the 1960s, this building’s suffered a few too many fires. It’s now a popular view amongst photographers and artists.
The Royal Pavillion
The West Pier
Public art-Brighton boasts some weird and wonderful art around its seafront, including a strange donut shaped thing over-looking the sea and the Kiss Wall along the promenade. There’s also an interestingly shaped sculpture on the beach itself.
Art on the seafront
The Kissing Wall
The gay scene– Brighton is the UK’s most gay friendly city. It has numerous gay bars, clubs and pubs and hosts gay pride every year which is full of fun and entertainment. This just shows how diverse and accepting Brighton is.
Brighton's gay pride parade
Pubs-Brighton is notorious for having a huge range of pubs, from traditional inns to flashy bars.
Brighton Pub
Nightlife– Brighton is a top destination for students and hen/stag nights due to its diverse nightlife. Brighton’s nightclubs range from gay clubs, to indi clubs, to drum and base nights, to mainstream clubs and so on. It is also renowned for hosting fantastic live music, as well as comedy nights.
Comedy club
Subcultures- Brighton is tolerent of all different kinds of people so is a hotspot for hippies (by the way, Brighton was the only town to elect The Green party!), goths, punks, grunges, skaters etc. It’s great being around such a diverse group of people and it makes it easy for everyone to be themselves.
Punk kids in North Lanes
To find out more about visiting Brighton, visit its tourism website here.
Lauren's Lounge 