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Brighton

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Great
Britain

                            Brighton

   Image:dot4gb.svg
                           Statistics
   Population:          155,919
                         Ordnance Survey
   OS grid reference:   TQ315065
                         Administration
   District:            Brighton & Hove
   Region:              South East England
   Constituent country: England
   Sovereign state:     United Kingdom
                              Other
   Ceremonial county:   East Sussex
   Historic county:     Sussex
                            Services
   Police force:        Sussex Police
   Fire and rescue:     {{{Fire}}}
   Ambulance:           South East Coast
                    Post office and telephone
   Post town:           BRIGHTON
   Postal district:     BN1, BN2
   Dialling code:       01273
                            Politics
   UK Parliament:       Brighton Kemptown and Brighton Pavilion
   European Parliament: South East England

   Brighton is located on the south coast of England, and together with
   its immediate neighbour Hove forms the city of Brighton and Hove.
   Brighton is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in the
   United Kingdom.

   With origins dating before Domesday, the ancient settlement of
   Brighthelmston emerged as an important health resort during the 18th
   century and a popular destination for day-trippers after the arrival of
   the railway in 1841. Brighton experienced rapid population growth
   reaching a peak of over 160,000 by 1961. Modern Brighton forms the part
   of a significant conurbation stretching along the coast West to
   Littlehampton, stretching to the east of Brighton, encompassing
   smaller, less built up areas like Rottingdean and Saltdean with a
   population of around 480,000.

   Brighton is a popular tourist resort with numerous hotels, restaurants
   and entertainment facilities which additionally serve a substantial
   business conference industry. The modern city of Brighton & Hove is
   also an important educational centre with two universities and many
   English language schools.

History

   In the Domesday Book, Brighton was called Bristelmestune and a rent of
   4,000 herring was established. In June 1514 Brighthelmstone was burnt
   to the ground by French raiders during a war between England and
   France. Only part of St. Nicholas's Church and the street pattern of
   what is now The Lanes survived the attack. The first known drawing of
   Brighthelmstone was made in 1545 and depicts what is believed to be the
   raid of 1514.
   Royal Pavilion
   Enlarge
   Royal Pavilion

   During the 1740s and 1750s Dr Richard Russell of Lewes began
   prescribing the medicinal use of the seawater at Brighton to his
   patients. By 1780, development of the Regency terraces had started and
   the fishing village quickly became the fashionable resort of Brighton.
   The growth of the town was further encouraged following the patronage
   of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) after his first visit in
   1783. He spent much of his leisure time in the town and constructed the
   exotic and expensive Royal Pavilion during the early part of his
   Regency.

   The arrival of the railway in 1841 brought Brighton within the reach of
   day-trippers from London and rapid population growth from around 7,000
   in 1801 to over 120,000 by 1901. The Victorian era saw the building of
   many of the famous landmarks in Brighton including the Grand Hotel
   (1864), the West Pier (1866) and the Palace Pier (1899).

   After a number of boundary changes made between 1873 and 1952, the land
   area of Brighton had increased significantly from 1,640 acres in 1854
   to 14,347 acres in 1952. New housing estates were established in the
   acquired areas including Moulsecoomb, Bevendean, Coldean and Whitehawk.
   Closer to the centre of town, a major slum-clearance development was
   initiated in the Hanover area. The replacement council housing,
   including Tarnerland near Richmond Street, stretches from the bottom of
   Albion Hill to the tower blocks at Mount Pleasant, and radically
   changed the local street layout.

   More recently, gentrification of much of Brighton has seen a return of
   the highly fashionable image which had characterised the growth of the
   Regency period. Recent housing developments in the North Laine, for
   instance, have been kept in keeping with the local make up of the area.

   In 1997 Brighton and Hove were joined together to form the unitary
   authority of Brighton and Hove, which in turn was granted city status
   by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the millennium celebrations in 2000.

Landmarks

   Palace Pier
   Enlarge
   Palace Pier

   The Royal Pavilion is a former Royal palace built as the home for the
   Prince Regent during the early 1800s and is notable for its Indian
   architecture and Oriental interior design. The building and surrounding
   grounds were purchased by the town in 1849 for £53,000.

   Brighton Pier (or the Palace Pier) was opened in 1899 and is the
   largest pier in Brighton. It features a large funfair, restaurants and
   arcade halls.

   The West Pier was built in 1866 and has been closed since 1975 awaiting
   renovation. The West Pier was one of only two Grade I listed piers in
   the United Kingdom until the pier burnt down in 2003. Plans for
   erecting a new landmark in its place – the i360, a 183m observation
   tower designed by London Eye architects Marks Barfield – were announced
   in June 2006. Plans were approved by the City council on 11 October
   2006.

   Created in 1883, Volk's Electric Railway runs along the inland edge of
   the beach from the Palace Pier to Black Rock. It is the world's oldest
   operating electric railway.

Culture

   Brighton beach
   Enlarge
   Brighton beach

Beaches

   A major tourist attraction is the pebble beach, which has a variety of
   bars, restaurants, night clubs and amusement arcades. Together with the
   attractions further inland, these contribute to Brighton being
   sometimes erroneously referred to as "London-by-the-sea"; it certainly
   offers one of the most accessible tourist beaches from London.

   Brighton beach has a designated official nudist area (south of the
   easterly part of Kemptown). This is unusual in that very few naturist
   beaches in the United Kingdom are located within urban areas.

   Since the 1978 demolition of the open-air swimming lido at Black Rock,
   the most easterly part of Brighton's seafront, the area has been
   developed considerably and now features one of Europe's largest
   marinas. However, the site of the pool itself remains empty except for
   a skate park and graffiti wall, and further development is planned for
   the area including a high-rise hotel which has aroused public and media
   debate, mirroring the situation with proposals for the site of the King
   Alfred leisure centre nearby in Hove.
   July 17, 2002. The Big Beach Boutique II over 250,000 fans saw Fatboy
   Slim play live.
   Enlarge
   July 17, 2002. The Big Beach Boutique II over 250,000 fans saw Fatboy
   Slim play live.

Night-life & popular music

   Brighton is associated with notable popular music artists including The
   Levellers and Fatboy Slim. There are a large number of pubs and
   nightclubs. There are also many live music venues including the large
   Brighton Centre.
   Seafront display of Minis after a London to Brighton drive
   Enlarge
   Seafront display of Minis after a London to Brighton drive

Public events

   Brighton hosts a number of conferences including those held annually by
   major political parties, often based around the Brighton Centre, Grand
   Hotel and Metropole Hotel.

   A wide range of sport and leisure clubs, in particular cycling and
   motoring clubs, annually hold London to Brighton events, culminating in
   a display on the Madeira Drive section of the seafront, which is closed
   to traffic for this purpose on many Sundays throughout the summer
   months.

Brighton Festival

   Each May the city of Brighton and Hove hosts an arts festival. This
   includes organised processions such as the Childrens' Parade, outdoor
   spectaculars often involving pyrotechnics, and theatre, music and
   visual arts in venues throughout the city, some of which are brought
   into this use exclusively for the festival. The earliest feature of the
   festival, "Open Houses", are homes of artists and craftspeople, opened
   up to the public as galleries and usually selling the work of the
   inhabitant and their friends.

Museums and galleries

   Brighton has a number of museums including the City-run Brighton Museum
   and Art Gallery, the Booth Museum of Natural History, the Brighton
   Fishing Museum and the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. There are many
   privately run galleries, including some in the arches on the seafront.
   A widespread practice is to display and sell art in cafés, and even
   bars.

Theatre and cinema

   Major theatres in Brighton include the recently expanded Komedia and
   the Theatre Royal, and there are also several smaller theatres such as
   the Marlborough Theatre and Nightingale Theatre, both above pubs, which
   attract a variety of mostly local productions.

   Brighton also has a long history of involvement with the film industry,
   and the Duke of York's Picturehouse has been in operation since 22
   September 1910.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community

   Brighton has a substantial LGBT community, served by a high number of
   "scene" shops, bars and night-clubs in addition to a range of support
   organisations. It is often referred to as "the gay capital of Britain".

   Brighton hosts a Gay Pride carnival every August, which attracts
   thousands of participants and spectators. It consists of a carnival
   style parade through the city and a party and funfair in Preston Park.

Ethnicity

   Brighton and Hove has a range of organisations supporting many of the
   faiths and ethnic minorities in the city, such as MOSAIC, a black- and
   mixed-parentage family group. The City Council promotes diversity in
   its charter.

Commerce

   The Jubilee Library pictured in 2006
   Enlarge
   The Jubilee Library pictured in 2006

   The Lanes is a retail, leisure and residential area with the seafront
   at its southern edge. Partly characterised by a collection of narrow
   alleyways following the street pattern of the original fishing-based
   settlement, the resident businesses in The Lanes are predominantly
   jewellers, antique shops, restaurants and pubs.

   Churchill Square is an indoor shopping centre with a floor space of
   470,000 sq ft (43,663 m²) and includes 85 shops, 5 restaurants and
   1,600 car parking spaces. It was originally built in the 1960s as an
   open-air pedestrianised shopping centre, but was completely rebuilt in
   1998. Further mainstream retail areas include Western Road and London
   Road.

   The North Laine area (a name often confused with The Lanes) is a
   retail, leisure and residential area situated immediately north of The
   Lanes. Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon word "Laine" meaning a
   type of agricultural plot. The North Laine contains a mix of businesses
   dominated by cafés, avant-garde shops, and theatres. However, its
   character is gradually changing. Due to property price rises and the
   expense of local council taxes, many small privately owned businesses
   are being literally "priced out" of the area and being replaced by
   larger entertainment chains and leisure companies. To counterbalance
   this, Orbit housing association and the city council have built some
   affordable properties in the North Laine for people on low incomes.

   Brighton has a high density of businesses involved in media in general,
   particularly digital or "new media" companies, and since the 1990s has
   sometimes been referred to as "Silicon Beach"; there is even a suite of
   offices with this name. The new media community in Brighton has been
   supported by a number of initiatives, in particular Wired Sussex – a
   not-for-profit business development agency for over 1,200 digital media
   companies across the South East of England.

   American Express has a distinctive (former headquarters) building in
   Edward Street.

Education

   Brighton & Hove City Council is responsible for 80 schools in Brighton
   and Hove of which 54 are in Brighton.

   The University of Brighton, the former Brighton Polytechnic, has a
   student population of 20,017 of which 80% are undergraduates. The
   University is located on several separate sites in Brighton, with
   additional buildings in Falmer and Eastbourne.

   The University of Sussex is a " plate glass university" based on a
   campus between Stanmer Park and Falmer, four miles from the city
   centre. It has a student population of 10,563 of which 70% are
   undergraduates.

   A wide range of non-university courses for students aged over 16,
   mainly in vocational education subjects, is provided at the further
   education college, City College Brighton & Hove.
   Roedean School, Brighton
   Enlarge
   Roedean School, Brighton

   There are various private schools, including Brighton College, Roedean
   School, a Steiner School and a Montessori School. There are also
   numerous state schools, some of them faith schools. Notable state
   schools include Varndean and Cardinal Newman a large Roman Catholic
   secondary school, which also caters for the children of the city's
   large Coptic Orthodox community.

   In the summer, thousands of young students from all over Europe gather
   in the city to attend language courses at some of the many language
   schools across Brighton and Hove.

   There is also a specialist music college, The Brighton Institute Of
   Modern Music.

Politics

   The city of Brighton and Hove is covered by part of the Brighton
   Kemptown constituency, Brighton Pavilion constituency and Hove
   constituency in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. All three Members
   of Parliament elected at the 2005 General Election were from the Labour
   Party. The city is within the European Parliament constituency of
   South-East England.

   The Green Party held a relatively high 22% of the vote in the Brighton
   Pavilion constituency in the 2005 general election, compared with 1%
   nationally, in addition to holding one of the ten European Parliament
   seats for the constituency.

   The political campaigning group Justice? and its SchNEWS newspaper are
   based in Brighton, as is the Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity
   Campaign.

   The presence of a British subsidiary of the United States arms company
   EDO Corporation in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, has been the cause of ongoing
   protests outside their premises since 2004.

Sport

   Brighton is the home of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club and the
   Brighton Bears basketball team. There is also an annual beach soccer
   competition held in a temporary stadium erected on a patch of specially
   imported sand on the beach. The inaugural contest in June 2002 featured
   football stars such as Éric Cantona and Matthew Le Tissier.

   Brighton also has a horse-racing course with the unusual feature that
   when the full length of the course is to be used, some of the grass
   turf of the track has to be laid over the tarmac at the top of Wilson
   Avenue, a public road, which therefore has to be closed for the
   duration of races.

   Brighton is also home to Brighton Football Club (RFU) which is one of
   the oldest Rugby Clubs in England.

Transport

   Brighton & Hove Bus showing mid-1990s non-METRO-route livery
   Enlarge
   Brighton & Hove Bus showing mid-1990s non-METRO-route livery

   Railway services operate from Brighton Station. Destinations include
   London Victoria, Portsmouth and Bedford. Twice-daily services also
   operate to Birmingham and Manchester, and via Bristol to Wales. The
   fastest service from London Victoria takes 51 minutes.

   Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company operates a local bus service with
   a fleet of approximately 300 buses. There is also a limited night-bus
   service.

Miscellanea

   According to a display in Brighton Museum, Brighton has the oldest
   continuous electricity supply in the world, which commenced in 1882.
   Other towns had electricity supplies slightly earlier, but these have
   not been running continuously to the present day. Brighton's first
   power station has been listed as the first "large" power station in the
   world.

   Brighton's nearby neighbour, Hove, is seen by some as a more desirable
   location than Brighton and it is often referred to by locals as "Hove,
   actually". This is because when a questioner asks a Hove resident
   whether they live in Brighton, they are frequently met with the
   response "Hove, actually!".

   The Parker Brothers game, Monopoly has been produced in a special
   Brighton edition.

   According to the Boho Britain creativity index developed by United
   States economic regeneration expert Richard Florida, the city of
   Brighton and Hove ranks sixth amongst the largest 40 of 66 British
   cities when measured against the three criteria of his creativity
   index. Florida states that the index measures the appeal of cities to
   the new " creative class" and are a key indicator of a city’s economic
   health. In forming this result he also rates the city as first in terms
   of sexual diversity, eight for patent applications, and sixteenth for
   ethnic diversity.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
