Brighton Pier

Brighton: Two Piers, One Alive and One Beautiful Ruin

Brighton’s seafront is defined by a contrast that no amount of tourism language can soften. The Palace Pier, completed in 1899 and 524 metres long, is England’s most visited pleasure pier: fairground rides, slot machines, candy floss, fish and chips, and the collective weight of a century of British seaside entertainment. Four hundred metres west, the skeleton of the West Pier stands in the sea, burned in 2003, now a photogenic iron ruin. One structure is full of families and the smell of doughnuts; the other is empty and beautiful. Together they describe British seaside culture more accurately than any guidebook paragraph.

The Palace Pier is free to walk along; you pay individually for rides and in the arcade. Unlimited ride wristbands run around GBP 25 when available. Fish and chips on the pier cost GBP 10 to 14. You can eat the same meal on dry land for less. This is understood by everyone and accepted by most people, because being on the pier is part of the experience and the views from the seaward end are worth the premium.

The Beach and West Pier

Brighton beach is shingle, not sand. This eliminates sandcastles and comfortable lying down, and creates the distinctive sound of retreating waves over pebbles that everyone who has been to Brighton associates with the place. The water temperature in the Channel rarely exceeds 18 degrees Celsius even in August. People swim anyway.

The West Pier ruins photograph best from the beach to the east, in late afternoon when the sun is behind you. In autumn and winter, murmurations of starlings occur around the pier structure – sometimes hundreds of thousands of birds moving in the coordinated patterns that starlings produce at dusk. The timing is not predictable but the West Pier is one of the more reliable murmuration viewing locations in Britain. If you happen to be there at the right moment, it is one of the better natural spectacles available in England.

The Lanes and North Laine

The Lanes – a compact area of narrow streets in the old fishing village north of the seafront – is almost entirely antique and jewellery shops. It is architecturally intact, dense, and worth 30 minutes regardless of whether you buy anything. North Laine, slightly further north and less obviously tourist-facing, is different in character: record shops, vintage clothing, independent cafes, instrument dealers, second-hand bookshops. Gardner Street has the highest concentration of independent businesses.

The Royal Pavilion

The Royal Pavilion, two minutes from the seafront, is George IV’s seaside pleasure palace completed in 1822. The exterior is Indian Mughal and Ottoman. The interior is Chinese Regency – an elaborate fantasy of flying dragons, painted silk, and faux-bamboo furniture that bears no particular resemblance to anything actually Chinese but was considered convincing in 1820. Admission is GBP 15. The state rooms have been restored to their original decorative scheme and the upper floors are accessible.

Getting There

Trains from London Victoria and London Bridge to Brighton run every 10 to 15 minutes. The journey from London Bridge takes 55 to 60 minutes; fares booked in advance run GBP 10 to 18 each way. Brighton station is 10 minutes on foot from the seafront.