Sea Lanes and Beach Box Sauna have given the seafront a glossy new hub, but the pier is still tacky and the stag dos are still relentless, and somehow that’s the whole point
Glossy New Additions, The Same Glorious Chaos Underneath
Time Out’s guide to the best seaside towns in the UK has once again given Brighton its due, landing at number eleven on this year’s list, and the specific reasoning behind the inclusion is worth dwelling on. Brighton local and Time Out travel writer Liv Kelly put it about as honestly as I’ve ever seen the town described in print: yes, the pier is tacky, and yes, hen and stag dos still tumble out of the train station at an alarming rate every weekend, but Brighton strikes an unusual, near-perfect balance of having everything a good city should, wrapped in the shape of a seaside town.
New arrivals like Sea Lanes, the open-air pool complex that has become the seafront’s most Instagrammed addition in years, and Beach Box Sauna, riding the very real wave of cold-water and sauna culture sweeping the entire country, have transformed a stretch of seafront that, frankly, needed exactly this kind of glossy refresh. The whole area now reads as a genuine hub rather than simply somewhere to walk past on the way to the pier.
The Old Brighton Hasn’t Actually Gone Anywhere
What I find genuinely reassuring, rather than disappointing, is that none of this glossy new investment has come at the expense of the Brighton that’s always mattered most, North Laine’s delightfully chaotic alleys and avenues remain exactly as browsable and slightly overwhelming as ever, the Royal Pavilion’s domes and minarets still look faintly absurd and completely wonderful against a British sky, and the fish and chips remain, by any honest national ranking, among the best this country has to offer.
The newer food scene has genuinely broadened things too, Mexican small plates at Halisco sitting comfortably alongside authentically executed Japanese cooking at Bincho Yakitori, proof that Brighton’s culinary ambitions have expanded well past the traditional seafront chippy without ever actually threatening its place in the rotation.
A Town That Refuses To Pick A Single Identity
This, I think, is Brighton’s actual genius, and the specific reason it keeps reappearing on these lists year after year despite never being anybody’s idea of a hidden gem. It has simply refused to choose between being a proper city and being a proper seaside town, and rather than that indecision producing an identity crisis, it’s produced somewhere that can offer you a genuinely excellent gallery opening, a slightly unhinged stag do soundtrack, and a perfectly good pebble beach nap, all within the same afternoon if you’re efficient about it.
I’ll admit some genuine affection here that borders on bias, but I don’t think that undercuts the point. Brighton earns its spot on these lists not despite its contradictions but specifically because of them.
Still Tacky, Still Glorious, Still Worth The Train Fare
Whatever glossy new addition arrives on the seafront next, Brighton’s actual appeal remains reassuringly unchanged underneath it all, a town confident enough in its own chaos to keep getting better without ever needing to grow up.
More from Rhiannon Foxe at her author page on prat.uk.
