Things to Do In Brighton
Brighton is the best city in the UK. As it’s our home town, of course we’d say that.
But we wouldn’t if we didn’t have plenty to back it up. Although we think one of the world’s best PPC conferences is a good enough reason on its own to pay us a visit, we understand you might want a little bit more to justify forking out for a trip down south in April.
We’ve come up with a brief guide to some of the cultural and culinary highlights of the town we call home. There’s something for everyone, we reckon.
Food and Drink
Brighton has too many amazing amazing pubs and eateries to do it justice in a single photo, so to represent the town we’ve picked The Quadrant, which is where the myth and legend of brightonSEO began.
Brighton is a brilliant town for pub culture which, we’re pleased to tell you, is increasingly less about the booze than filling the streets and shooting the breeze.
All you really have to do is follow your nose, but it’s worth wandering a little bit away from the seafront and west street to find the best watering holes.
Get Out and About
You don’t need help from us to get you to the beach but it may not occur to you to head a little bit inland. Twenty minutes away by bus is the stunning South Downs valley of Devil’s Dyke. The artist John Constable described the vista from Devil’s Dyke as ‘the grandest view in the world.’
If you can look past Rudyard Kipling’s questionable worldviews, the walk along the cliff path to the grounds of his house at Rottingdean is a delight as much for the journey as the destination.
You may also like to take the train a few stops to lovely Lewes (woe betide anyone who pronounces it Looz rather than Lew-Is) and wander its cobbled streets.
North Laine and the Lanes
Conflate these two at your peril. At least in conversation with a local.
The Lanes is a network of narrow alleys just away from the seafront, comprising jewellers and antique shops as well as cafes and restaurants. North Laine, which is the part of town on the other side of North Street, is made up of interesting little independent shops and quirky cafes.
Curiosity shops Snoopers Paradise and Diplock’s Yard – both in North Laine – are essential stops on your stroll.
Brighton’s Live Music Scene
Brighton is many things, not least of which is a live music town. Artists and acts you may have heard of who can claim it as their own include The Kooks, Bat for Lashes, Fatboy Slim, Sea Power, and Casetteboy.
Any night of the week you will offer you a bunch of live music options at venues ranging from intimate, such as The Hope and Ruin, to midsize spaces like the Old Market, and larger concert halls like the venerable Brighton Dome. It’s got a good arena too, but we hear that something else is happening that week. (It’s us, we’re what’s happening at the Brighton Centre.)
Up for a Laugh?
Brighton is not the kind of town to take itself too seriously.
If live comedy is your thing you’ll find something happening every night of the week. Komedia, now a national comedy brand, is the obvious starting point (and that means you definitely should check out what’s on there, not that it’ll be too mainstream) but The Forge Comedy Club and the Secret Comedy Club are great options too. Plenty of pubs put on comedy nights as well.
Museums and Galleries
In case you’re not getting enough learning at Hero Conf, there’s plenty more to stimulate the synapses nearby. The Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, part of the Royal Pavilion, is the best known Behind Closed Doors Tour, happening on the eve of Hero Conf, April 9.
If it’s your inner child that would like some quality time, try the Brighton Toy and Model Museum, while Hove Museum and Art Gallery always has something interesting on. Plus it’s FREE.
Coffee and Co-Working
Brighton is home to a great many locations that will welcome you, your laptop and headset if you need to join a virtual meeting. Options include Plaform9, Projects Club, Wrap Space, PlusXInnovation, Yolk House, Freedom Works, and Werks Group.
If a coffee shop will do the job, or if you just fancy a fine roast, any one of these will more than serve you well:
Bond Street Coffee, Loam, Red Roaster, 44 Poets, Nowhere Man (for the pancakes), and Workshop all come highly recommended.
Spas and Sauna
If you really want to unwind after a long day of professional improvement, you can do worse than take (most of) your clothes off, jumping into a jacuzzi or sweating it all out.
Sauna in the Lanes is an offshoot of our friends at Yoga in the Lanes, while Beach Box is an all year round wood-fired public beach sauna. Saunadelic is Hove’s equivalent of the same, while a number of spas can be found inside hotels such as the Harbour.
On your bike
Brighton is about as walkable as any town its size, but if you want to go further, or faster, you can easily take to two wheels with the town’s hire-and-hop-on bikes by Beryl.
There are 35 docking stations in the Brighton area, covering the seafront, the Marina, and around the city centre. Hove has a further 29, with a few more further out of town. All in there’s 120 normal bikes and 275 electric to help flatten those hills.
Tours of Brighton
If you really want to get to know the city, you’re better off in the hands of a local. You can take a tour themed around any number of areas.
There are tours for people interested in the town’s rich LGBTQ history, another for foodies, a tour for donut-aholics, gin fiends, street art fans, history buffs and many more.
Of course, you can also take our own Netwalking tour, led by in-house photographer Clive.
LGBTQIA+ Brighton
If you don’t already know that Brighton is the UK’s unofficial LGBTQIA+ capital, you really should.
Although the entire city is perfectly queer-friendly, the beating heart of the community is Kemptown. A village all of its own, there you’ll find any number of cafes, pubs, clubs, hotels, shops and more.
More centrally you’ll find The Ledward Centre – Brighton’s LGBTQIA+ Community & Cultural Centre, named after James Ledward – one of the city’s most prominent supporters of LGBTQIA+ rights.
