[Brighton] Abandoned areas of the King Alfred

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

There was also a small underground ice skating rink there back in the day.

Really? Never heard that before!

 

[PeterT]

When I was at my primary school we had our swimming galas there. My job for the evening was to look after the guest of honour, none other than Tony Grieg!

He called me over mid way though and in his Saffa twang asked me to get himself and Mrs an ice cream. I had to jump the queue to get them and them take the precarious walk along the side of the pool to where he was sitting, clutching these two ice cream cones convinced I was about to slip and head straight into the pool with them! Luckily I didn’t but probably would have provided amusement for plenty if I had done!

Shame to see it in such a state today, a barometer of how Brighton and Hove is run

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Whatever happened to Joshua Arghiros and his grandiose plans for the site?

The man who kidnapped Gehry

Brighton developer Josh Arghiros is the kind of man who knows what he wants and sets out to get it. And if what he wants happens to be the world's most famous architect, well ... He tells George Hay what happened next.

www.building.co.uk

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

View attachment 173022

And all because I didn't return a set of bowling shoes. Goodness knows why I kept them - they were awful.

After The Jam played in Crawley the local bowling alley lost nearly their entire stock of bowling shoes

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Where I spent much of my youth !

There was /( is?) a whole other area which was a warren of corridors and little rooms just next to the bowling alley. No pics of this in the article.

There was also a crown green bowls area and rooms to play table tennis in. I used to play TT there with my dad on Wednesday afternoons in the early 80s.

 

[allystrat]

Really? Never heard that before!

It was in the underground car park, was short lived running from 1976-1977

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

It's a disgrace that the council don't want to have a leisure centre there

They did. I went to an open meeting for people in construction just after I think the crinkly tower’s development failed. The head of planning stood up and said the Council welcomed proposals from developers who would build private homes there but as well as the affordable housing provision, the Council also wanted free replacement leisure facilities either on or nearby including a 50m swimming pool. And not surprisingly, a few titters went round the room.

 

[Tristram Fourmile]

My Dad taught life saving in the 70's at the old small pool. Was salt water and freezing. I was taught to swim there on a Monday night. Used to have to dive for the rubber brick and swim in pyjamas in case I was on a ship that got torpedoed I imagine. Learnt how to tie a knot in the pyjama trouser legs, whip it through the air to fill them up and create a float.
The changing rooms had these metal cages for your clothes that you hung off a chain and hoisted in the air.
We used to park in the underground carpark and worm our way through all the dingy corridors. It went on forever.

 

[Triggaaar]

They did. I went to an open meeting for people in construction just after I think the crinkly tower’s development failed. The head of planning stood up and said the Council welcomed proposals from developers who would build private homes there but as well as the affordable housing provision, the Council also wanted free replacement leisure facilities either on or nearby including a 50m swimming pool. And not surprisingly, a few titters went round the room.

Yes, we'd like the best sporting facility in the country, for free, or failing that just build a load of flats and fill your boots

 

[Brovion]

It was definitely open when I went there in about 2001! Maybe they closed it down and reopened it?

Yep I definitely bowled there in the mid 90s

Hmmm. You may be right. I got the date of 1989 from this article:

History of Tenpin Bowling in the UK Part 3 – King Alfred Lanes, Hove, West Sussex

By Tenpin Bowling Proprietors Association President John Ashbridge In the late 1930’s Hove Council decided to build what was to become The King Alfred Leisure Centre. Just as the original building …

uktenpinhalloffame.co.uk

However this one says 1999:

The King Alfred Site, Hove

History of King Alfred Site Hove, HMS King Alfred, King Alfred Swimming Baths Hove, Gehry Towers Hove, King Alfred Hove Re-development Schemes, History of Hove by Judy Middleton,

hovehistory.blogspot.com

However I really don't remember it then, I was taking my kids bowling by then and we went to the Marina. We used to go to the KA for the water slides, and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a bowling alley as well. Weird.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

When I saw this thread headline I thought it may have been about the mini submarine facility under the complex. I was told about this years ago by someone who worked at the KA, and they said it was all concreted in after the war. Some workshop where they were trying to develop small one person subs for the war effort. Anyone else know about this.

 

[raymondo]

I worked at the car wash underneath, Saturday mornings, 16 shillings for four hours, freezing cold in the winter. This money paid for concerts at the Dome and the Big Apple (). Aahh, teenage memories.

 

[raymondo]

A friend of mine worked as a mechanic/maintenance operative in the bowling alley, I went behind the scenes where the skittles were loaded and all the walls there were plastered from top to bottom with porn!

No wonder the pins used to stick sometimes!

 

[BNthree]

Yep they are becoming really irritating at the moment, what with the go ahead of the VG 3 phase, closing Blackman Street at the Trafalgar Street End, and swathes of shitty build to rent apartments everywhere and then wonder why there are so many f***ing cars everywhere!!

The amount of big developments being given permission to close roads to facilitate the work is really annoying me. Would be ok if just for a day or 2 but 6 months to a year of closure is not on.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

So how come the council can get away with just turning the area into a mass of flats, with no leisure centre for the city (other than building further out, where fewer people live)?

Money

 

[stewart12]

Hmmm. You may be right. I got the date of 1989 from this article:

History of Tenpin Bowling in the UK Part 3 – King Alfred Lanes, Hove, West Sussex

By Tenpin Bowling Proprietors Association President John Ashbridge In the late 1930’s Hove Council decided to build what was to become The King Alfred Leisure Centre. Just as the original building …

uktenpinhalloffame.co.uk

However this one says 1999:

The King Alfred Site, Hove

History of King Alfred Site Hove, HMS King Alfred, King Alfred Swimming Baths Hove, Gehry Towers Hove, King Alfred Hove Re-development Schemes, History of Hove by Judy Middleton,

hovehistory.blogspot.com

However I really don't remember it then, I was taking my kids bowling by then and we went to the Marina. We used to go to the KA for the water slides, and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a bowling alley as well. Weird.

I had my, I think 7th or 8th birthday party at the bowling alley which would have been 1993 or 1994 so it lasted until at least then. I think it carried on for a few years but died almost immediately after the Marina one was built (early 00's?)

the lazer thing lasted a little bit longer

 

[Brovion]

I had my, I think 7th or 8th birthday party at the bowling alley which would have been 1993 or 1994 so it lasted until at least then. I think it carried on for a few years but died almost immediately after the Marina one was built (early 00's?)

the lazer thing lasted a little bit longer

Yeah, I would have sworn blind that it wasn't there in the 1990's, but enough of you have memories of using it then so fair enough, I stand corrected. Also the Marina one didn't open until 1998 (I just looked it up) and I KNOW I took the kids bowling before then, so maybe I took them to the King Alfred - even though I have no memory of it still being there!

My memory, jeez.. I'm off for a lie down ...

 

[TheDuke]

I went to Hove College, just across the road from King Alfred late 50’s early 60’s…. spent far too much time on the bowling alleys… but got quite good at it.

 

[stewart12]

I just remember the KA bowling alley being very old school. Even down to players having to write down their own scores with a PENCIL

then the Marina opened and it was all automatic and felt so modern that it simply BLEW everyone's MINDS

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Was only talking to someone today about birthday parties in the 70’s in Brighton or Hove, standard was King Alfred Ten Pin Bowling then next year down the Dolphinarium, I think one year we did break trend and went motor biking near Fontwell Race Course

I think you're the only other person I've ever heard mention that place! No-one at school ever believed me as a kid that I used to go bike riding there, but I used to go regularly when we were camping down at Graffham...this pic of me and my mate Daz must be from about '83-'84 I reckon?