[Brighton] Is Brighton & Hove as a city getting better, or getting worse?

[Triggaaar]

Still here - thinking about leaving though.

Thanks.

Over the last 10-15 years - has Brighton & Hove got better, or worse?

It's gradually got a little worse, but there's a good chance it's about to get a lot better.

 

[PHCgull]

Whether it's gooder or badder than it was when Oasis last played a gig, Brighton remains the best place in the UK by a country firkin mile.

(If you're reading this from London, it's irony. Stay put, hun x)

 

[BN41Albion]

Take a walk along London Road, Level, Valley Gardens. In the past places you would avoid completely but now pretty nice on a sunny day. Generally unless you have a specific reason to moan, like you are chronically addicted to driving a car, Brighton is miles nicer now than when it was in the last 90s early Noughties.

North Laine and The Lanes have lost some of their quirkiness. The town centre has taken a bit of a hit, like most places. But generally they have survived relatively well. Lots of nice restaurants, still enough decent boozers. A lot more outdoor activities now accessible than in the past.

Still gets a bit grim between the months of November to April but then so does most places.

Agree, and there's quite a lot going that'll be great for the city - Valley Gardens phase 3, Black Rock, and Kingsway to the Sea will be superb addition to the city, for a start.

Any sizeable city has less desirable parts. Brighton and Hove has a whole host of brilliant areas to explore, both city centre, residential (the varied and architecturally interesting residential areas around the outside of the city are fantastic to stroll around, especially since they all without exception include great pubs) and along the coastal strip. Amazing array of restaurants and pubs, always events and festivals going on, diverse population.

I get it's all down to opinions, its not perfect (no city is), but folk moaning about some aspects of the city always makes me chuckle.

During the bleaker months the city still has a lot to offer imo too imo!

 

[Triggaaar]

Can get a lot more for your money elsewhere.

You certainly can.


You highlight some of the positives of the city, and why people are prepared to pay more to live in it. We could move away and live without a mortgage, but I wouldn't want to.

 

[BN41Albion]

That’s a good summary. Parts of the seafront have also improved. But then I cringe at the decline of Western Road, Madeira Drive arches and the state of our parks and roads and that food banks seem to have become a permanent feature. Of course this isn’t exclusive to Brighton but as a nation I feel we need to reset our spending priorities.

What's wrong with our parks!? Preston Park, Hove Park, the Level (not amazing but hardly in a state and the playground there's brilliant for kids), St Anns Well, Hollingbury Hillfort, Coney Wood, Benfield Valley, and of course Stanmer Park! All great parks

 

[Han Solo]

Utterly shite.

Nah honestly, I want to come over for something between a week and a month, explore and document every part of it, highfive, f*** and dance with the inhabitants. I want to lick the walls of random houses and make reviews on the cats strolling by.

Then I could give you a good answer to whether your city is going to be a sterile utopia or rotten dystopia in the future.

I'm going to have an entirely fresh pair of expectationless eyes, like David Attenborough in "A Blank on the Maps". If we want the real answer we're going to need to make a petition for National Geographic or someone to fund this thing.

Until then I don't really have an opinion. It looks nice when travelling around on Google Maps.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Brighton and Hove has declined sadly since I lived there. It has lost three of its greatest assets: the Goldstone Ground, the West Pier, and the Maytree.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I think London Road is a dump , it reminds me of Streatham high road , as do western road , Boundary Road,

Well they were all dumps in the 70s so what's changed?

 

[The Clamp]

They have never managed to make London Rd nice.

You can’t make a silk purse out of a cow’s ****.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Utterly shite.

Nah honestly, I want to come over for something between a week and a month, explore and document every part of it, highfive, f*** and dance with the inhabitants. I want to lick the walls of random houses and make reviews on the cats strolling by.

Then I could give you a good answer to whether your city is going to be a sterile utopia or rotten dystopia in the future.

I'm going to have an entirely fresh pair of expectationless eyes, like David Attenborough in "A Blank on the Maps". If we want the real answer we're going to need to make a petition for National Geographic or someone to fund this thing.

Until then I don't really have an opinion. It looks nice when travelling around on Google Maps.

I'd watch a six-parter on national geographic. Episode 4, Simon tries a game of darts in the Blue Anchor in Portslade.

When I was 16 and my mate Nils was 15, while supping our mild and bitter in the Blue Anchor, we were invited to a game of darts by two blokes in their 40s. Hoary handed sons of toil (them, not us. We were a pair of skinny whey-faces soft-handed schoolboys). There was always a spare set of darts behind many a bar. Bosh. Excellent evening.

When we were in our early 40s and visiting folks, we decided to pop into the Blue Anchor for old time's sake. Large glasses of red wine (probably).

The same two blokes were in there, playing darts. Naturally we offered them a game. You can guess the rest.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Where is the option for "The same"

I've not lived in Sussex since 1996 yet the only things that have changed since then are the Amex, the shitshow Churchill Square and the I360. When I first moved away, I lived in Solihull which is unrecognisable from when I first pitched up. In Brighton, it's all refreshingly similar.

Boots still dominates the corner of North Street, the arcades are still on West Street, the Brighton Centre still looks shit, the Lanes are identical and Donatello's is unchanged. Even the car park where I got my first blowie is still there and looks the same as I remember it.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Well I still bloody like it. It’s a brilliant city. The worst thing about it, is that is expensive. Property and pints cost a lot. When I head down to the beach on a hot day I pinch myself that I live here, it’s like being on holiday all the time. Pubs are good, loads of places to eat, thriving live music scene with some of the best grassroots venues in the country. England’s greatest arts festival, access to some of the best countryside in the country and the Albion. There is more to Brighton than West Street. Just a shame it is pricing so many people out.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Even the car park where I got my first blowie is still there and looks the same as I remember it.

What exactly were you expecting to have changed since last Tuesday?

 

[kevo]

I think if you did a survey among 'our generation' of the residents of any town or city and asked the same question, the majority would say 'worse'. It's the nostalgia thing. I think Brighton now is one of the most desirable places to live in the UK. It certainly wasn't 20 or 30 years ago. The downside to that, as lots have said, is that property is really expensive (although still cheaper than London and - come to think of it - Lewes).

 

[StonehamPark]

I do think the answer/opinion may vary wildly via age or generational group.

Those who were able to buy property, settle and enjoy the city for all it has to offer, would likely have a more positive opinion, than those say under 35, who are likely still struggling.

 

[wehatepalace]

Haven’t really been into Brighton for years now, the Amex is about as far as I come.
Is Dukes Mound still a good spot for tourists ?

 

[Hamilton]

The place needs a lick of paint and there’s some crumbling infrastructure that needs replacing. Homelessness is a problem but always has been.

But on balance, it’s no better or worse. I love the place.

I don’t know what business rates are like, but we probably need to do something to encourage more small businesses, and there needs to be far better park and rides to get people in an out of the city.

 

[Brovion]

I've lived here since 1990 and I can't honestly say. Some bits are better, some bits are worse, some bits have changed but are neither better or worse, and some bits have stayed the same.

HTH

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

It's definitely become more gentrified and the proliferation of luxury apartments feels antithetical to what I like about the city. There was also a period where Aroe / Gary and other locals were producing an unreal amount of world class graffiti in prime spots and that era is sadly over.

Are they luxury though, or cheap builds that will look depressing and weathered in 10 years or less? Those small apartment houses they built behind London Road, near Sainsbury's, look awful now, faded, rain ruined wooden exteriors/cladding, whatever you call it, (why use wood in this climate?) cramped and dark inside, plus I imagine the soundproofing is minimal.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Haven’t really been into Brighton for years now, the Amex is about as far as I come.
Is Dukes Mound still a good spot for tourists ?

It's a good spot for SOME tourists