A Brief History Of Brighton's Past

Brighton was a sleepy little fishing town up until the late 1700s when it’s status was propelled into being one of the most fashionable cities in the South of England. It’s thought that the arrival of the Prince Regent (who later became George IV) was the birth of Brighton as one of the more fashionable cities. Shortly after the Prince Regent’s arrival, the Theatre Royal opened in 1807 shortly followed by the Brighton Dome and St Annes Well Spa (originally a pump room).

The earliest maps of Brighton seem to suggest that the town was approximately a quarter of a square mile and had four main streets. The Lanes (now one of the quaint shopping districts in modern day Brighton) was used to inter-connect these main roads.

In the 1300's Brighton suffered from the continual erosion of it's coastland - eating up much of the towns farmland.

The sixteenth century was a tense one for Brighton - much of the town was destroyed by the French invasion. By the end of the century the town is thought to have had a population of just over 2,000 people.

In the 1800’s the strengthened significantly, with the opening of the London to Brighton railway line and the building of the Palace Pier.

During more recent times, the famous Quadrophenia Battle happened in Brighton in May 1964 – when two rival youth cultures, “the mods” and the “rockers” caused chaos in the town.

More recently still, in the 1970’s Brighton built a conference centre which put it on the world map as a destination for various international conferences.

Finally, it was in 1997 that “Brighton” and nearby “Hove” merged into the town we know it as today – Brighton & Hove.

Today, Brighton is well known for being a thriving tourist city, as well as a lively conference centre. It's earned a reputation as a town that's adored by the English youth (in fact it was voted as Englands trendiest town recently). The current population is approximately 140,000.