Completely RANDOM things about Brighton & Hove...

[Lord Bracknell]

On the subject of which ... does anyone here remember Howard Marks when he lived in Brighton in the early seventies?

 

[Man of Harveys]

The tunnel was filled with rubbish by the council in the early 70s. Shame as I always thought it would have made a great perserved railway with the large yard area at Kemp Town

Agreed - an urban Bluebell Railway through Brighton would have been great.

Geek alert but I've long been a bit fascinated by the Kemp Town railway; not just because old railway lines are (I think) quite interesting but I think it says loads about Victorian Britain that it made sense to build a line that pointless and that laborious - it was twice as far by rail than it was as the crow flies, not to mention the man hours needed to build that vast old viaduct and tunnel - merely in order to prevent any competitors from building another railway line into Brighton.

Mental - not the exactly greatest example of how the unplanned market provides well-planned transport infrastructure.

 

[The Spanish]

Agreed - an urban Bluebell Railway through Brighton would have been great.

Geek alert but I've long been a bit fascinated by the Kemp Town railway; not just because old railway lines are (I think) quite interesting but I think it says loads about Victorian Britain that it made sense to build a line that pointless and that laborious - it was twice as far by rail than it was as the crow flies, not to mention the man hours needed to build that vast old viaduct and tunnel - merely in order to prevent any competitors from building another railway line into Brighton.

Mental - not the exactly greatest example of how the unplanned market provides well-planned transport infrastructure.

I will see your geek and raise you a nerd.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/k/kemp_town/index.shtml

 

[WATFORD zero]

I know the one you mean, but can't remember its name. Gamut certainly specialised in plastic tat - much of it pillar box red.

The aromas around those joss sticks have done my memory in as well.

Could it be Ananda's ?

 

[skipper734]

Ex Mayor visits ex swimming pool. What's that kid doing underneath Carol?
That's the Black Rock pool, for the youngsters out there.

 

[8ace]

The Hovis bakery on The Drove

Called Perry's IIRC

 

[Garage_Doors]

What was the shop that sold posters, tat and more tat down Dukes Street called? Or did the joss sticks confuse my sense of location?

I think i remember it being called Athena.

 

[Gwylan]

Could it be Ananda's ?

Ananda's was in Bond St. I think it was there until relatively recently.

Who remembers the original Body Shop in Kensington Gardens? I remember buying henna there to dye my hair in the punk days.

 

[BeardyChops]

I think i remember it being called Athena.

Wasn't Athena on the corner of Ships Street and North Street?

 

[muswellgull]

The Taj Mahal in Duke Street,...one of the first Indian restaurants in B & H, flock wallpaper and all.

I think they got fined/ closed down after some strange meat was found in their fridge!

 

[The Spanish]

Wasn't Athena on the corner of Ships Street and North Street?

Yes.

Always your first port of call if you had just run out of posters of tennis players scratching their arses or naked men holding babies.

 

[Man of Harveys]

The old record shops in Brighton were great - it seems a real shame to me that places that were such a crucial focus for socialising are being replaced by something as solitary as downloading.

It would be class to see any pics of the interiors of the old WHSmiths and HMV ones in Churchill Square; I worked in the latter one Christmas and a fine old time of it was had (somewhere there's a probably still video of me vomiting into a kitchen sink at a party, sadly not for sale in the shop). I suspect that in contrast to the brash marketing-led modern record shops they resembled Romanian lending libraries.

 

[Jamon Jamon]

my old man worked at Acres the Bakers in Woodingdean in the early 70's when someone there died a horrible death, but I was too young to remember the details

 

[Dave the OAP]

On the subject of which ... does anyone here remember Howard Marks when he lived in Brighton in the early seventies?

Whe I first came to Brighton in 1974ish, I joined a local cricket club, St Mary's in Patcham ( which merged with Cryptics) and we played a team called Maccabi, who were full of guys called Marks. ( I think there were three brothers)

 

[The Oldman]

1963 The Blue Gardenia Club: Club owner Harvey Holford was found guilty of manslaughter after shooting and killing his wife. Shortly after Holford's conviction, lights in the building would turn themselves on and off and kitchen utensils moved themselves around the room. The poltergeist left after a medium visited the club.

 

[Garage_Doors]

Yes.

Always your first port of call if you had just run out of posters of tennis players scratching their arses or naked men holding babies.

I bought my Sid poster there

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Whe I first came to Brighton in 1974ish, I joined a local cricket club, St Mary's in Patcham ( which merged with Cryptics) and we played a team called Maccabi, who were full of guys called Marks. ( I think there were three brothers)

Not the same Marks family, Dave.

Howard was a fledgling international crook from Maesteg. The film of his life is about to be released, starring Super Furry Animal, Rhys Ifans. Amongst other things, I remember watching most of the 1970 world cup in his company - in a pub in Kemp Town.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Not the same Marks family, Dave.

Howard was a fledgling international crook from Maesteg. The film of his life is about to be released, starring Super Furry Animal, Rhys Ifans. Amongst other things, I remember watching most of the 1970 world cup in his company - in a pub in Kemp Town.

Was he Bonged out of his swede?

 

[User removed 4]

The old record shops in Brighton were great - it seems a real shame to me that places that were such a crucial focus for socialising are being replaced by something as solitary as downloading.

It would be class to see any pics of the interiors of the old WHSmiths and HMV ones in Churchill Square; I worked in the latter one Christmas and a fine old time of it was had (somewhere there's a probably still video of me vomiting into a kitchen sink at a party, sadly not for sale in the shop). I suspect that in contrast to the brash marketing-led modern record shops they resembled Romanian lending libraries.

what was the record shop that is now waterstones, was it subway ?

 

[Gwylan]

Whe I first came to Brighton in 1974ish, I joined a local cricket club, St Mary's in Patcham ( which merged with Cryptics) and we played a team called Maccabi, who were full of guys called Marks. ( I think there were three brothers)

Ah, Maccabi cricket club

At least two members of NSC played for Maccabi - and I was one of them - it was a pretty good team to play for. There were a couple of Markses but there also seemed to be a lot of guys called Panto too. There were also a few guys called De Freitas too.