Can anyone remember the shops in the old Churchill Square?

[BUTTERBALL]

Natwest, BHS and Smiths are all still in the same place albeit indoors. Remember the Fortes restaurant with the Kenco coffee sign outside, they also had the one on the seafront which is now Harry Ramsdens. Used to love being taken to the Solarium cafe in the pictures, was a real treat as a little lad. And there was a little ice cream kiosk at the top of the stairs leading down to the big Tesco at the back, whose neighbours included 'Hall of Cards' 'Bejam' (frozen food) and Leaders (kitchenware). It's all a bit sterile now.

 

[ripper]

What about 'The Wall' where the skateboarders went near the old Churchill Square.

Seemed to be between the parking and shopping area, think you had to climb over fences and walls to get there.

I remember that

 

[donnygull]

I remember Bejams, Fortes and being dragged round Solitaire & BHS but I am sure there was a shop that had a big rocking horse in it just inside the door, not coin operated, the real thing, anyone else remember that ? Be around early 70's.

 

[somerset]

Wow... you know what?!... Is it just me or is there a direct correlation on this thread between the obvious age of the contributors and the impressive standard of the spelling and grammar therein?

 

[The Large One]

Doesn't it all seem narrow in the "olden days"? Doesn't it seem bleak in the "swinging sixties"?

The Art Deco style on the northern side of Western Road (in the sepia picture) I absolutely adore. Some of it is still there, but you'd have to squint.

The brutalist style of architecture of Churchill Square is horrific though.

 

[The Large One]

Wow... you know what?!... Is it just me or is there a direct correlation on this thread between the obvious age of the contributors and the impressive standard of the spelling and grammar therein?

Obvious, clear and sadly, completely pertinent.

 

[cmonbarrybringonwoody!]

Used to go to the solarium cafe every time we'd go shopping when I was a child. Apparently I once knocked a full glass of squash into an old mans trilby that he'd put upturned next to me!

 

[cmonbarrybringonwoody!]

Also my hip grandparents bought me a def jam recordings t shirt from hmv back in the day. Much more vivid shopping experiences back then!

 

[fork me]

The Churchhill Sq monolith

Now I remember trying to climb that with varying degrees of success many a drunken night!

Even though it was old and dilapidated and falling apart, I have fond memories of the old Churchill Square.

 

[rouseytastic]

Fond memories. It was skateboard heaven back then. I used spend whole days there

 

[fork me]

It is hard to explain to people who didn't grow up in Brighton just how dull and decrepit it was during the 80's.

I'm 44, I was born in Brighton and lived between Brighton and Portlsade most of my life (Temple Street -> Whitehawk -> Portslade as a kid, then Central Brighton as soon as I left home -with a brief gap elsewhere for Uni), and in none of my memories do I see Brighton as "dull and decrepit". My father was born in Brighton as well, in 1920, and they're not words I've ever heard him use to describe it either. In it's day, Churchil Square was a decent town centre. It had to go because it became old, dated and tatty.

 

[bennibenj]

The 50p shop - spent so much of my pocket money back in the day

 

[fork me]

It was originally Solitaire, a ladies' clothes shop which sold wedding dresses upstairs. At this time, Solitaire probably closed and that was when the building became a (Danish-inspired) cafe?

I remember it being a very difficult unit to fill. I remember it as a very cheap bookshop for a while as well.

 

[fork me]

I'm one of those people (one of the few judging by this thread) who never met anyone at this Wishing Well.

No, I did as well. Remember meeting a Swedish foreign student I'd met at a party there once, and when I got there, there were three of them waiting for people and I had no idea which was "mine".

 

[viscentaye]

I remember walking through WH Smiths, out the back and into the other mini WH Smith that had cassettes, VHS selection in. Staring in window at Rumbelows. Going down the stairs to the lower level out the back, there was a sports clothes shop (nothing but track suit bottoms and shell suits!) and on some days a market of stalls, one of which sold mini magic tricks and practical joke stuff. One day some kids bought a load of stink bombs and let them all off in one go, the smell was vile! Could spend hours and hours in Beatties and Gamleys and chocolate milkshakes in the cafe in the Imperial Arcade or the Miss Selfridge (?) cafe! Oh, and fainting in BHS, never did like clothes shopping!

 

[HovaGirl]

Now I remember trying to climb that with varying degrees of success many a drunken night!

Even though it was old and dilapidated and falling apart, I have fond memories of the old Churchill Square.

It wasn't that old. Just shows what rubbish they built in the 60s.

 

[Rowdey]

Fantastic thread - what memories!!



Beatties was brilliant - could spend hours in there just looking.

.

How i longed for a Tamiya Radio controlled car..

 

[viscentaye]

How i longed for a Tamiya Radio controlled car..

And Vanessa's Lunchbox!

 

[somerset]

And Vanessa's Lunchbox!

Didn't know her......

 

[Southern Scouse]

I remember paying £200 for a Washington Redskins bomber style jacket from a shop there. It had loads of NFL items and imported USA stuff, around 1980, no idea what it was called but I thought it was cool at the time.
Still have the jacket too!