Public houses, popularly known as pubs, are a significant feature of the history and culture of the English seaside resort of Brighton. The earliest pubs trace their history back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when present-day Brighton (now part of the city of Brighton and Hove) was a fishing village. Several coaching inns were founded in the 18th century as transport improved and communications with other towns developed, and around the same time other pubs became established in the fashionable Old Steine area in Brighton's early years as a resort. Many new pubs, originally beerhouses, were established after an Act of Parliament in 1830 loosened restrictions; two of these "Beerhouse Act" pubs remain in business. In the following decade the opening of Brighton's railway station provided another major boost to the pub trade, and by the late 19th century there were nearly 800 licensed venues in the town. Numbers declined gradually—as late as 1958 there was said to be "one pub for every day of the year"—and by the early 21st century around 300 pubs were still trading, with others having closed but surviving in alternative use.
Many of Brighton's pubs are architecturally important: a large number have either nationally or locally listed status. Some pubs have been converted from older buildings, usually houses; others are purpose-built; and some have been revamped into completely different styles, from Regency to Mock Tudor.
The first inn in the village of Brighthelmstone, which became modern Brighton, was the Cricketers Inn in The Lanes, Brighton's historic centre. It was founded in 1545 as the Laste and Fishcart and originally served the town's fishermen, but took its present name when it later became a coaching inn (evidence of the stables survived well into the 20th century). [1] The Old Ship, now a hotel, also served as an inn and was documented as such in 1665, [1] but may have even older origins: the Gilham family, which owned it in the 17th century, also owned "an unnamed house" in Brighton in 1559. [2] North Street, which formed the northern boundary of the old town, was lined with coaching inns for many years until it ceased to be the main route in and out of Brighton in the early 19th century: the former Clarence Hotel, built as the New Inn in 1785, is the only survivor. [3] [Note 1] Its stables could accommodate 80 horses. [1] The White Lion, which stood approximately where the Clock Tower was built in 1888, was a 16th-century building which was converted into an inn by 1790, and possibly as early as 1757. After its demolition in 1874, a replacement was built nearby but was in turn demolished for the Regent Cinema—as was the Unicorn Inn, opened in the mid-18th century in a building dating from 1597. [3]
In Brighton's early days as a seaside resort, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the open land of Old Steine was its focal point. The town's oldest pubs were in this area, including the Castle Tavern—converted from a house in 1752—and the King and Queen, a former farmhouse which was renovated as an inn in 1779. The Castle Inn catered mostly for wealthy visitors who were in town for the season, [5] [6] while the King and Queen was used mainly by agricultural workers and soldiers in the adjacent barracks, who could be supplied with alcohol through a secret hole in the rear wall of the pub. [7] [8] The Royal Pavilion Tavern near the Castle Inn was converted from a house into a hotel between 1816 [9] and 1820 [10] and soon became a pub, taking the place of the Castle Inn which declined and was demolished in 1823. [11]
The first stimulus to Brighton's pub trade was the rapid increase in stagecoach traffic in the 18th century, [12] encouraged both by the increasing popularity and fashionable status of the town as a result of its royal patronage and by its increasing importance as the commercial centre of Sussex. In the 1780s, a ferry service between Brighton and Dieppe in France was started; mail coaches started running between the town and London; and the Prince of Wales came for the first of his many visits. Coaching inns such as the Star and Garter and the White Horse were established to cater for the increasing traffic, and the Castle Inn grew in importance. [12] (None of these inns survive, and the present Black Lion Inn at Patcham, built in 1929, is a replacement on a different site of the historic coaching inn of that name at an important location on the main road to London.) [13] Some pubs from the town's early days remain in business though: in The Lanes, Brighton's historic core, the Cricketers, the Black Lion and the Spotted Dog all existed by 1791 and are still open. [12] [Note 2] In 1800 there were 41 licensed inns and pubs in Brighton, [12] which at the time had a population of about 7,500. [14]
The next significant event was the passing of the Beerhouse Act 1830, which allowed any member of the public to open their house or other premises as a beerhouse or beer shop (essentially a pub), and brew beer there if they wished, upon application to HM Excise and payment of a fee. The criteria were less strict than those applied to traditional inns and public houses. During the first week in which the Act was in force, 100 beerhouses were licensed in Brighton, [15] which at the time had a population of about 40,000. [14] Of these 100 newly established beerhouses, two survive as pubs: the Regency Tavern in Regency Square and the Druid's Head in The Lanes. [15] The Druid's Head, originally an 18th-century detached house with its own garden, became the focus for postal carrier arrivals and departures after it was converted into an inn. [16]
A decade later, the coming of the railway to Brighton further stimulated the local pub trade. Brighton station opened in 1841, and numerous pubs opened in the streets nearby: there were eight in Surrey Street alone by 1891, [17] and Queen's Road "became lined with [them]" after it was laid out in 1845 [18] (by 1891 there were 15 pubs on this road, [17] which leads south from the station to the seafront.) Survivors around the station include the Queen's Head, which retains "its typical mid-19th-century façade", [18] the Railway Bell, the Grand Central (formerly the Railway Inn), the Evening Star [17] (where the Dark Star brewery was founded in 1994), the Battle of Trafalgar and the Sussex Yeoman. At Preston Park station, the Station Hotel opened in 1894. [19] The Signalman (Railway Hotel) opposite London Road station is believed to have been built around the same time as the station opened in 1877. [20] A pub called the Railway Arms on Freshfield Road was built close to the former Kemp Town railway station but was disused by 1945. [21] The railway also inspired some pub names: the Good Companions (built in 1939) was named after a steam locomotive, [22] and former pubs include the Locomotive Inn and the Railway Guard. [23] Many other pubs commemorate local people and events: examples include the London Unity, named after a ship which rescued a hot air balloonist who had fallen into the English Channel in an attempt to fly from Brighton to France; the Queensbury [ sic ] Arms, behind the seafront, named after John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry who had a house nearby; the Constant Service, named after the local water company of that name; the Bat and Ball opposite The Level, named after the cricket and other bat-and-ball games which took place on The Level; and the Pedestrian Arms in the North Laine, whose landlord from 1869 was a "champion long-distance roadwalker". [24]
By 1860, 479 pubs were recorded in Brighton. [Note 3] The number of licensed premises continued to rise: 774 were recorded in 1889 (one per 130 inhabitants) [25] and about 700 were still open in 1900. By 1935 the number had reduced to 495. [26] In 1958 it was said [Note 4] to be possible for a person "to use a different pub each day of the year without leaving the boundaries of Brighton"; [27] but after World War II pubs everywhere went into decline as alternative leisure activities became more popular [28] and land values rose, encouraging failing pubs to be demolished and their sites redeveloped. [27] Many were lost during postwar urban renewal. For example, in 1930 there were nine pubs on Sussex Street in the Carlton Hill area, notorious for its slum housing; none survive. Carlton Hill itself, a road running through the area, had 13 in 1891; again, all have closed and most have been demolished. [26] In 2005 about 300 pubs survived in Brighton. [26]
Many of Brighton's pubs, including the historic Castle Inn, were centres of cock-fighting, bear- and badger-baiting and dog-fighting in the 18th and 19th centuries. [29] Bear-baiting gave its name to the 18th-century Bear Inn on Lewes Road and then to Bear Road (and by extension the whole residential area around it) when that road was laid out in the 19th century. The pub has been rebuilt but retains the name. [30] The White Lion on North Street was a significant local centre of cock-fighting. [3]
Central Brighton has always had the largest number of pubs. [25] Particular concentrations are found around Brighton railway station, The Lanes (the historic "old town") and St James's Street, a major road running from Old Steine towards Kemptown. Other main roads with numerous pubs include Ditchling Road and Lewes Road. [18]
The Hanover area northeast of central Brighton has always been well known for its high concentration of pubs. [31] From the area's earliest development in the mid-19th century "there was a beer house or inn on nearly every street corner". [32] There have been at least five pubs on Southover Street continuously since 1867; [32] as of 2015 the Southover (now Haus on the Hill; formerly The Pub with No Name and The Royal Exchange), the Sir Charles Napier, the Dover Castle, The Geese Have Gone Over the Water and The Greys were open. [31] The Fox Inn, which closed in the 1920s, was the first pub on the street: it opened in 1845 and preceded most of street's housing. [32] Other Hanover pubs include the Reservoir, the Hanover, the Islingword Inn (Duke of Beaumont), the Constant Service, [31] the Montreal Arms, the Independent (formerly the Walmer Castle) and the Cobden Arms. The London Unity (1880) closed in 2014, [33] and two other 19th-century pubs in the area closed the following year: the Horse and Groom [34] and the Albion Inn. [35] The Montreal Arms closed in 2020 and was sold in 2022, [36] and in March 2023 the owners of the Hanover pub announced it would close at the end of the month and would be demolished for housing. [37]
Many pubs in Brighton are owned by breweries or national pub chains. The Fuller's chain operates the Grand Central near Brighton station, the Sir Charles Napier in Hanover, the Basketmakers Arms in the North Laine and the Prestonville Arms in the Prestonville area. [38] The Shepherd Neame Brewery owns the Bath Arms in The Lanes, the Caxton Arms in the West Hill area, the Prince of Wales at Clarence Square, the Regency Tavern at Regency Square and the Dover Castle in Hanover. [39] Greene King operates the Druid's Head [40] and The Sussex [41] in The Lanes, the Fiveways at Hollingdean [42] and the White Horse Inn at Rottingdean. [43] Of the three Wetherspoons pubs in the city of Brighton and Hove, two are in central Brighton (in North Street and West Street) and one is at Brighton Marina. [44] [Note 5] There are also branches of the All Bar One, [47] BrewDog [48] and Walkabout chains. [49]
Local breweries which operate tied houses in Brighton include Harvey's of Lewes, which owns the Constant Service in Hanover, the Lord Nelson near Brighton station, the Mitre Tavern near London Road and the Maris and Otter taproom on Western Road; [50] the North Laine Brewery, which runs the North Laine Brewhouse pub on Gloucester Place; [51] The Holler Brewery, which acquired new premises in the New England Quarter and opened a taproom there in early 2019; [52] and the Brighton Bier brewery, which has three pubs. They took over a 200-year-old Grade II-listed pub on Edward Street in early 2017 and named it Brighton Bierhaus; [53] converted the former Southover pub on Southover Street in Hanover into the Haus on the Hill in late 2018; [54] and took over the former Reservoir pub, also in Hanover, in May 2019 and renamed it the Free Haus. [55]
Many pubs in Brighton are listed buildings. The Bath Arms is an early 19th-century house in The Lanes which became a pub later in that century. [56] The Black Horse at Rottingdean is a timber-framed 16th-century building, although much altered. [57] The oldest inn in continuous use in Brighton, the Cricketers Inn, dates from 1545 but was rebuilt in the 17th century, 1790, 1824 and 1886. [58] [59] The Druid's Head Inn, also in The Lanes, was converted from a late 18th-century house. [60] [Note 6] The Dyke Tavern (1895), Brighton's best example of a Tudor Revival/Arts and Crafts purpose-built pub, closed in 2016 and was listed the following year. [61] [62] The Font (formerly the Font and Firkin) occupies a historic chapel in The Lanes, rebuilt in 1825 by Amon Henry Wilds and Charles Busby on the site of a 17th-century Nonconformist meeting-house. [63] The street-corner building at 83 Gloucester Road in the North Laine, now an office, was a pub for many years and retains elaborate decoration on the façade. [64] The Bier Haus, formerly the Jurys Out and the Thurlow Arms, was built in the early 19th century and has the local speciality mathematical tiles on the façade. [65] The historic King and Queen was rebuilt in a fanciful, "striking" Tudor Revival style in the 1930s by local architects Clayton & Black. [66] [67] Two early 19th-century houses were combined in the 20th century to form the Market Inn in The Lanes. [68] The former Montpelier Inn dates from the 1830s, when the surrounding residential area was developing, and retains original features such as sash windows. [69] The Post and Telegraph, a J D Wetherspoon pub, was built as a bank in 1921–1923. [70] The Prince Albert, built in the 1840s, is famous for its Banksy mural and artwork depicting deceased musicians. [71] [72] The Pump House, opened as a pub in 1776 and named after the pump house which fed seawater to one of the local bath-houses, [23] may be older than 18th-century and is faced with mathematical tiles. [73] The Quadrant, a mid-19th-century four-storey building, retains many original internal features. [74] The Regency Tavern dates from the 19th century and stands at the corner of Regency Square. [75] The Royal Pavilion Tavern, close to the site of the former Castle Inn, is an old house which became a hotel and, soon afterwards, a pub in the early 19th century. [76] The Seven Stars on Ship Street, formerly O'Neil's, dates from around 1900 and has an elaborate three-storey façade. [77] The Star Inn in Kemptown expanded to occupy three early 19th-century terraced houses and has a late 19th- or early 20th-century façade. [78] The Sussex Tavern on East Street dates from the 18th century but was extended in the 19th century and has a low tile-hung wing to the rear on Market Street. [79] The Victory Inn is late 19th-century and has a distinctive façade of glazed green tiles and engraved windows, and retains some 19th-century bar fittings. [80]
Several other pubs have locally listed status. Locally listed buildings are defined by Brighton and Hove City Council, which selects them, as "be[ing] of special interest because of their local historic, architectural, design or townscape value". [81] In central Brighton, the Grand Central, Heart and Hand, Hobgoblin, The Joker, Molly Malone's, All Bar One, Queen's Head, Rose Hill Tavern and the former Royal Standard have locally listed status. Inner suburban pubs with this status are the Admiral, the Bear, the Chimney House, the Cleveland Arms, the Fiveways, the Good Companions, the Hollingbury, the Jolly Brewer, the Signalman, the Station Hotel and the former Racehorse Inn. Hanover has the Islingword Inn and the former Horse and Groom and Montreal Arms pubs. The Queen Victoria in the village of Rottingdean, The Downs Hotel on the Woodingdean estate and the Ladies Mile Hotel and the Long Man of Wilmington at Patcham are in outer areas of Brighton. [82] Five of these—the Horse and Groom, Montreal Arms, Rose Hill Tavern, Heart and Hand and Long Man of Wilmington—are former Portsmouth & Brighton United Breweries pubs which have that company's distinctive green tiled façades and leadlights. [83]
From the 1990s, in response to changes in government policy over alcohol licensing, many bank and building society branches were sold for conversion into pubs and bars, [84] and the two city-centre Wetherspoon pubs occupy former bank buildings. The Bright Helm opened in a landmark former Abbey National branch on West Street, and the Post and Telegraph opened in the Grade II-listed [70] former National Provincial (later NatWest) bank at 155–158 North Street in 2010. [85] [86] Close to the latter is a similar conversion: Brighton's branch of the All Bar One chain occupies [87] the former offices of the Brighton Herald newspaper. [88] [Note 7] Nearby in Union Street in The Lanes, Brighton's first Nonconformist chapel, Union Chapel, was converted into a pub after its 300 years of religious use ended in the 1980s. Originally owned by the Firkin Brewery and named the Font and Firkin, it is now simply The Font. Opposite this pub is the Bath Arms, converted from a house into a pub in 1864; [56] close by, the Druid's Head was similarly converted in 1825 from an 18th-century house. [60] The Black Horse in Rottingdean is also a conversion: now much altered, it has 16th-century origins and incorporates an old forge. [57] [90]
The legal ruling that a pub landlord or innkeeper is "responsible for the safety of all property" on the premises, which still applies in English law, was established in 1831 after an incident of theft at an inn in Brighton was taken to the Court of King's Bench. [15]
Some form of regulation for "inns, taverns and ale-houses" has existed in Brighton since 1618 or earlier. [25] From 1872, when the Licensing Act 1872 was passed, [91] until February 2005, licensing of pubs was the responsibility of local magistrates. Since that time Brighton and Hove City Council has been responsible. [92]
Hangleton Manor Inn, the adjoining Old Manor House and associated buildings form a bar and restaurant complex in Hangleton, an ancient village which is part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The manor house is the oldest secular building in the Hove part of the city; some 15th-century features remain, and there has been little change since the High Sheriff of Sussex rebuilt it in the mid-16th century. Local folklore asserts that a 17th-century dovecote in the grounds has been haunted since a monk placed a curse on it. The buildings that comprise the inn were acquired by Hangleton Manor Ltd in 1968, and converted to an inn under the Whitbread banner. The brewery company Hall & Woodhouse have owned and operated it since 2005. English Heritage has listed the complex at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance, and the dovecote is listed separately at Grade II.
As of February 2001, there were 1,124 listed buildings with Grade II status in the English city of Brighton and Hove. The total at 2009 was similar. The city, on the English Channel coast approximately 52 miles (84 km) south of London, was formed as a unitary authority in 1997 by the merger of the neighbouring towns of Brighton and Hove. Queen Elizabeth II granted city status in 2000.
As of February 2001, there were 1,124 listed buildings with Grade II status in the English city of Brighton and Hove. The total at 2009 was similar. The city, on the English Channel coast approximately 52 miles (84 km) south of London, was formed as a unitary authority in 1997 by the merger of the neighbouring towns of Brighton and Hove. Queen Elizabeth II granted city status in 2000.
Brighton and Hove, a city on the English Channel coast in southeast England, has a large and diverse stock of buildings "unrivalled architecturally" among the country's seaside resorts. The urban area, designated a city in 2000, is made up of the formerly separate towns of Brighton and Hove, nearby villages such as Portslade, Patcham and Rottingdean, and 20th-century estates such as Moulsecoomb and Mile Oak. The conurbation was first united in 1997 as a unitary authority and has a population of about 253,000. About half of the 20,430-acre (8,270 ha) geographical area is classed as built up.
Regency Square is a large early 19th-century residential development on the seafront in Brighton, part of the British city of Brighton and Hove. Conceived by speculative developer Joshua Hanson as Brighton underwent its rapid transformation into a fashionable resort, the three-sided "set piece" of 69 houses and associated structures was built between 1818 and 1832. Most of the houses overlooking the central garden were complete by 1824. The site was previously known, briefly and unofficially, as Belle Vue Field.
As of February 2001, there were 1,124 listed buildings with Grade II status in the English city of Brighton and Hove. The total at 2009 was similar. The city, on the English Channel coast approximately 52 miles (84 km) south of London, was formed as a unitary authority in 1997 by the merger of the neighbouring towns of Brighton and Hove. Queen Elizabeth II granted city status in 2000.
The Freemasons Tavern is a 19th-century pub in the Brunswick Town area of Hove, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in the 1850s in a Classical style similar to the surrounding buildings in the rapidly growing Brunswick Town area, it was given a "spectacular" renovation when a restaurant was added in the 1920s. Local architecture firm Denman & Son designed an ornate Art Deco interior and an elaborate, brightly coloured entrance adorned with Masonic symbols; both the exterior and the interior survive in excellent condition. The tavern is a Grade II Listed building.
Thomas Lainson, FRIBA was a British architect. He is best known for his work in the East Sussex coastal towns of Brighton and Hove, where several of his eclectic range of residential, commercial and religious buildings have been awarded listed status by English Heritage. Working alone or in partnership with two sons as Lainson & Sons, he designed buildings in a wide range of styles, from Neo-Byzantine to High Victorian Gothic; his work is described as having a "solid style, typical of the time".
The Pelham Institute is a former working men's club and multipurpose social venue in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1877 by prolific local architect Thomas Lainson on behalf of the Vicar of Brighton, the multicoloured brick and tile High Victorian Gothic building catered for the social, educational and spiritual needs of the large working-class population in the east of Brighton. After its closure it hosted a judo club, but is now in residential use as flats owned by a housing association. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
Carlton Hill is an inner-city area of Brighton, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. First developed in the early and mid-19th century on steeply sloping farmland east of central Brighton, it grew rapidly as the town became a fashionable, high-class destination. Carlton Hill's population was always poor, though, and by the early 20th century the area was Brighton's worst slum: overcrowding, crime and disease were rife. Extensive slum clearance in the mid-20th century introduced high-density tower blocks, but some old buildings remain: in 2008, Brighton and Hove City Council designated part of Carlton Hill as the city's 34th conservation area. The area now has housing of various styles and ages, large offices and small-scale industry; there are also churches, a school and some open space.
Roundhill Crescent is a late-19th-century housing development in Round Hill, an inner suburb of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Partly developed in the 1860s with large terraced houses on a steeply sloping open hillside, the crescent—which "curves and changes height dramatically along its length"—was finished two decades later and now forms the centrepiece of the Round Hill conservation area. Smaller houses completed the composition in the 1880s, and England's first hospital for the treatment of mental illness was founded in the crescent in 1905. The five original sets of houses from the 1860s have been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for their architectural and historical importance, and the crescent occupies a prominent place on Brighton's skyline.
The English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, made up of the formerly separate Boroughs of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, has a wide range of cemeteries throughout its urban area. Many were established in the mid-19th century, a time in which the Victorian "cult of death" encouraged extravagant, expensive memorials set in carefully cultivated landscapes which were even recommended as tourist attractions. Some of the largest, such as the Extra Mural Cemetery and the Brighton and Preston Cemetery, were set in particularly impressive natural landscapes. Brighton and Hove City Council, the local authority responsible for public services in the city, manages seven cemeteries, one of which also has the city's main crematorium. An eighth cemetery and a second crematorium are owned by a private company. Many cemeteries are full and no longer accept new burials. The council maintains administrative offices and a mortuary at the Woodvale Cemetery, and employs a coroner and support staff.
John Leopold DenmanFRIBA was an architect from the English seaside resort of Brighton, now part of the city of Brighton and Hove. He had a prolific career in the area during the 20th century, both on his own and as part of the Denman & Son firm in partnership with his son John Bluet Denman. Described as "the master of ... mid-century Neo-Georgian", Denman was responsible for a range of commercial, civic and religious buildings in Brighton, and pubs and hotels there and elsewhere on the south coast of England on behalf of Brighton's Kemp Town Brewery. He used other architectural styles as well, and was responsible for at least one mansion, several smaller houses, various buildings in cemeteries and crematoria, and alterations to many churches. His work on church restorations has been praised, and he has been called "the leading church architect of his time in Sussex"; he also wrote a book on the ecclesiastical architecture of the county.
Clayton & Black were a firm of architects and surveyors from Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. In a career spanning the Victorian, Edwardian and interwar eras, they were responsible for designing and constructing an eclectic range of buildings in the growing town of Brighton and its neighbour Hove. Their work encompassed new residential, commercial, industrial and civic buildings, shopping arcades, churches, schools, cinemas and pubs, and alterations to hotels and other buildings. Later reconstituted as Clayton, Black & Daviel, the company designed some churches in the postwar period.
The building at 155–158 North Street in Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, was built between 1921 and 1923 as a branch of National Provincial Bank. The King Louis-style bank was built on the site of several shops. The properties were acquired by the National Provincial Bank during 1916–20. The Brighton Gazette had occupied 155a North Street since 1910, when its long-time home at number 150 was converted into the Cinema de Luxe. Published by William James Towner, the paper’s full title was the Brighton Gazette, Hove Post and Sussex Telegraph. In 2011 it became J D Wetherspoon's second pub in central Brighton. One of many buildings by the prolific local architecture firm of Clayton & Black, whose work in various styles can be found across the city, it forms an important component of the range of banks, offices and commercial buildings on North Street—a significant commercial thoroughfare since the 18th century. In particular, the "good attention to detail" shown throughout the building's Louis XIV-style façade has been praised. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
The King and Queen is a pub in the seaside resort of Brighton, part of the city of Brighton and Hove. The present building, a "striking" architectural "pantomime" by the prolific local firm Clayton & Black, dates from the 1930s, but a pub of this name has stood on the site since 1860—making it one of the first developments beyond the boundaries of the ancient village. This 18th-century pub was, in turn, converted from a former farmhouse. Built using materials characteristic of 16th-century Vernacular architecture, the pub is in the Mock Tudor style and has a wide range of extravagant decorative features inside and outside—contrasting with the simple design of the neighbouring offices at 20–22 Marlborough Place, designed a year later. English Heritage has listed the pub at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
The Royal Pavilion Tavern, commonly known as the Pavilion Tavern or Pav Tav and since February 2022 as The Fitz Regent, is a pub in the centre of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Converted from a house into the Royal Pavilion Hotel in the early 19th century, its original role soon changed from a hotel to a pub, in which guise it remained until its closure in September 2019. It reopened under its new name, but still in the ownership of the Mitchells & Butlers chain, on 13 February 2022. The building was also used as a court for several years early in its history, and prominent local architect Amon Henry Wilds was responsible for its redesign as a hotel and inn. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance, and it stands within a conservation area.
Thomas Simpson (1825–1908) was a British architect associated with the seaside town of Brighton. As architect to the Brighton and Preston School Board and the equivalent institution in neighbouring Hove, he designed "a distinguished group of board schools" during the late 19th century, when the provision of mass education was greatly extended. Many of these schools survive and some have listed status. He also worked on five Nonconformist chapels for various Christian denominations, using a wide variety of materials and architectural styles. He was the father of Sir John William Simpson and Gilbert Murray Simpson, who both became architects.
The Percy and Wagner Almshouses are a group of 12 almshouses in the inner-city Hanover area of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. The first six date from 1795 and are among the few pre-19th-century buildings left in the city. Six more were added in a matching style in 1859. They are the only surviving almshouses in Brighton and have been listed at Grade II for their architectural and historical importance.