Brighton is filled with people who aren’t from brighton. But feel at home in Brighton, it’s one of the most open, friendly and welcoming places I have had the pleasure of calling home.
Me too. I met with a friend today who's a born and bred local, and we had a discussion about where you go after Brighton. As a lifer she's still enamoured with the place
Yes and London is often not permanent so to speak, you move to London when you are young and then ten, fifteen years later when you have kids you move on.
And the areas you remember change, and when you go back years later, they are not what you remember.
If you are tired of London, you are tired of life.
It was a similar thing. Took a day trip when lockdown eased up and pretty quickly got that sense of ‘this is very much my vibe’. I couldn’t tell you what it was exactly. It was hot, noisy, and crowded. Things I avoid at all costs.
So I came back for a couple more weekends to check out the other parts of town and it kept growing on me. Then, at the first opportunity, I just packed up and moved here. It has not disappointed.
Ya, I know what you mean. Some places just call to you. And, I knew if I lived here, I’d know which parts to steer clear of. This sub has helped.
Edit: I intensely disliked the place I grew up in as well.
I think the good thing about Brighton is that it is pretty easy to avoid the crowds if you want. If you stay clear of the seafront and the shops on Sunday there are plenty of nice spots where it is not too crowded and when you are fed up with the city you just escape to the countryside for a day
Absolutely. I figured that’s how it would be if I lived here. Even during the few times I visited as a tourist myself, I was like, look at all these damn tourists. 😂
I'm from Malta, and I was trying to figure out what university to go to for my master's. I was interested in Cambridge too, and wanted to visit both before I made my decision as my partner from London was coming with me. The minute we arrived in Brighton on our first visit we fell in love with it. Been here a year now and don't want to leave.
I went on a blind date and she was from Brighton. Things went well so I moved in with her, I was in the Midlands. Sadly after 2 years things fizzled out but I remained here. It took a while for it to feel like home but I was determined not to return home with my tail between my legs. 23 years (this month) I'm still here on the outskirts of town and it feels like home.
I had the same feeling when I arrived at the station 13 years ago - 'this is home', but this year I've made the reluctant decision to leave. I can't afford to stay and I don't really see the community, that other people talk about. I never thought I'd leave, but I will cherish every year I spent here. I will bring the Brighton spirit with me wherever I go
The micro climate within volks is such that all wee is evaporuated via the glands in your head and then rained down during d&b Sundays thus creating its own water cycle and this is how I have survived for the last 18 years
Came down from Oxford to go to the University of Sussex in 1968.
Seem to have hung about...
I sometimes wonder if it was the sea. We always went on holiday to the seaside as children. I still remember the thrill of that first view of the sea marking that holiday had begun. Perhaps I've just been mentally 'on holiday' for 55 years.
Yep, still love this place twenty years on. Discovered it when I came to uni. Moved away for a decade for love. Kept visiting friends and missing my home. When we split up, I came straight back. Never leaving again.
Proud I kick started 3 other people's journey to living here too.
OK have to ask, is this thread being sanitised. Most of my friends that moved to Brighton did so because the gay scene was so attractive. Is that not part of the pull, that you can be who you really are. I find it strange not to see this mentioned yet.
Not trying to be controversial but this does seem to be part of Brightons appeal.
Nah, not at all, I think Brighton has gotten to the point where sexuality is positively not an important factor for getting along. Whenever I'm away I am sometimes reminded how this is not the case nationally. Acceptance is something Brighton can be proud of.
Lots of people live in Brighton. And the people of Brighton are just that. People.
It’s almost easy to be complacent about probably the single best thing about this place.
Arrived for the first time many years back to Row against a Brighton Rowing Crew, loved my 24 hours stay. I've visited and made friends in Brighton over many years, Brighton is a magnet to my heart.
Moving to Brighton to stay permanently in the next month, only took 40 years...lol
I remember the "this is it" feeling as soon as I got out of the station so clearly. 8 years ago. Sometimes I am tired, sometimes I am angry, but I would never leave.
I love the culture of Brighton and would love to live there, but I’ve been robbed both times I visited. Is this common, or was I just exceptionally unlucky?
1. 2018 - Had someone reach under the toilet stall in the train station and snatch my backpack. Didn’t feel like chasing them before wiping
2. 2022 - Parked in a multi-storey. Had passenger side lock bashed in and some cash taken from glove box, and bags taken from boot
That’s the thing, nothing was on show! It seems as though the car was broken in to because it was old and easy to break in to. Never happened anywhere else, (apart from Coventry. Fuck Coventry) but I try not to judge an entire city by the actions of a couple arseholes
I guess the bag strap was visible under the toilet stall door ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The more I live here, the more I realise that most people living here washed up here in one way or another, carried by the tide of life to a shore every bit as weird or different as they felt.
Similar story to you. I had relocated from the North to a Croydon suburb with a partner, fully expecting to then move to London. I was always apprehensive about that. We came on a day trip to Brighton and I immediately thought, “Here, here would be so much better than London”. I loved the size of the city, it felt manageable to me, and it made such an impression on me in just one day. That was over 10 years ago, and we have no plans to leave.
I had the very same sensation when I arrived in Brighton for the first time, this instant feeling of being home the moment I stepped off the train.
I don‘t live in the UK and will never move to Brighton as I have too strong roots where I live but Brighton will always be home from home to me. Since my first visit in 2009 I go back each year, sometimes only for a day trip during a long weekend with a friend in London, but often also more than once a year. Not having been to Brighton from September 2019 till summer 2022 felt so wrong.
In 2012 my sister asked if she could join me on a holiday in Brighton and London and then complained that I had not told her that you could get addicted to a place and she will now have to go back times and times again. So I always have a travel buddy.
I’m in mutual agreement of this. I came to Brighton for a mini-holiday with my then partner over the august bank holiday. I fell in love with Brighton. I remember looking out from the promenade and saying I’m going to move here one day. In April 2011, I did! I couldn’t think of living anywhere else x
The sea. The walkability of the city. In the late 90s and early 2000s you could find a low paid job with lots of hours easily and a shared house cost me very little.
Born here luckily so didnt have to go looking. Only part makes me sad is that its so popular the cost of living has become a real struggle and alot of Britonians are forced out of their city to make way for more of london
I've never been to Brighton before, but would love to go one day. I've lived all my life in Liverpool and am used to people being very chatty and friendly, so I'm looking forward to hopefully experiencing the same in Brighton
Arrived December 86. Could not bear my bigoted French backwater small town. Like you it was love at first sight. People being themselves and leaving you the fuck alone. Something going on always and plenty jobs if you don’t mind hard work. Still love it to bits.
What a positive message, OP! I was born and bred here personally, and even visiting other places for University, I soon moved back because nothing beats the uniqueness and weirdness of Brighton!
the 24/7 access to drink and drugs. No longer a resident though,it eventually destroyed my life, lost my girlfriend, my job and flat after 8 years. Could also lose my life soon too as it done a proper number on my health. Good times.....
Oh my word. I promise you drink/drugs/crime is very much a thing even in the most picturesque villages and towns. Don't fall foul of the "grass is greener" fallacy
I moved out of Brighton 9 years ago as I couldn’t afford it anymore. I’m about 10 miles north now but still come in most days for work and/or football. I still love it, it’s still my town, I don’t think I’d be able to live my further away than I do.
I had a similar thing, getting off the train for my uni interview, I just weirdly had this sense of chill and belonging, like here is where I need to be. Still here 15 years later 🥰
I love Brighton too! From a small village and discovered Brighton as a teenager. As an undiagnosed neurodiverse kid, it was a sanctuary - I didn't feel weird or different, like I did everywhere else. Just happily anonymous yet part of the family ... if that makes any sense?
I go back a couple of times a year to "recharge"
Must be about due 😊😊
lived in Essex/ London for 28 years
moved to Brighton, enjoy the city and the locals but realised the town life wasn't for me so moved to goring as its quieter
going to eventually move to Lake District
if I had to pick a city to live in though... it'd be brighton!
I can echo some of this! Always loved Brighton - trips down with family when I was younger, and my partner in my 20s (haha, feel old)
We always said the goal was to move to Brighton and with the whole wfh situation it felt like it was finally time! In my mid 30s I wish we moved sooner!
I love the place - the vibe, the corners of the city that are so different yet connected, the ease of travelling to other parts of the UK. The sea, of course!
It’s not without its problems and it’s taken me a good while to settle in (have been here just over a year). But compared to other cities? Brighton is definitely up there and a place I’m proud to call my home and want to contribute to!
Both my parents are from here but moved out to a nearby village to raise me and my sibling. I remember sometimes being brought to Brighton on shopping trips and being a queer goth kid, I was always amazed at the quantity of alternative people around who I always wanted to be.
Then when I started college, my friend and I would often skip class to come to Brighton instead and hang out at the pub with the cool alternative people. I would spend as much time as I could in Brighton, and I kind of count that as the start of me living here, as this was where my heart was, and it really felt like home.
Then as soon as we were 18 my friend and I moved here and I've stayed here ever since (other than a few miserable months living in Newhaven, which was the biggest mistake ever), and am now living round the corner from where my dad grew up.
I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes Brighton so special, all the individual things that I like about it can be found in other places, and of course, there are some bad sides to it, but Brighton is just home, and I love it very deeply.
Lol I’m gonna be the downer, got out of Brighton station first time in 2019 and my spirit immediately rejected it. I’d gone for a day trip and honestly I left after a few hours
Well live in London but it’s only just over 1 hour drive to Brighton so I come down to Brighton almost every week in Summer. Maybe move to down to Brighton for retirement
If a post is stirring up the pot for the sake of creating an argument we will remove it. Even if we agree with the content as we need to promote open discussion that are productive.
I miss it so much it’s my home. I grew up in Grimsby but came to Brighton for uni. I had to move back up north for family, but if I could afford it I’d move back to Brighton tomorrow.
The OP’s description is pretty damned perfect.
I’m not from Brighton. I’m from Worthing. Grew up there. Brighton was always the special occasion place.
Got out of Worthing. Moved to Brighton. Yep. That was a bit of me.
Then travelled about. A bit. Landed in London. Stayed there too long.
Bout 12 years ago. Moved back South. To here.
It’s home. Yeah. I’m not strictly from here. But my soul is from here. My formative years were spent down the Escape club. Watching Carl Cox. Then the Big Beat Boutique. Knowledge of Self. DJ fekkin Touche at the Volks
The Jazz Rooms.
All of this is gone. But all of its spirit remains. Amongst the pseudo modern tower blocks they are sticking up for some reason.
Northern cities are great. And all of my friends from northern cities love Brighton.
So yeah. Alright here isn’t it.
Don’t go to the Level though. Bad. 😆
im glad lots of ppl feel at home here but im so happy to be leaving, the city feels gentrified and dull to me nowadays.i like selforganised stuff and it left with the squatters. each to their own though!
I came here when I was 12 for a show of my favourite YouTubers, immediately felt like I was at home. It was pretty much my only choice for university. I'm 20 now studying here and I've never been happier with my "hometown"
Brighton is filled with people who aren’t from brighton. But feel at home in Brighton, it’s one of the most open, friendly and welcoming places I have had the pleasure of calling home.
Me too. I met with a friend today who's a born and bred local, and we had a discussion about where you go after Brighton. As a lifer she's still enamoured with the place
I’ve been here 41 years you have to drag me kicking and screaming out of my city
>Brighton is filled with people who aren’t from brighton. So is London
But London is more like a mosaic of mini cities, some awful and some brilliant. Not a great comparison to Brighton
Yes and London is often not permanent so to speak, you move to London when you are young and then ten, fifteen years later when you have kids you move on.
And the areas you remember change, and when you go back years later, they are not what you remember. If you are tired of London, you are tired of life.
I actually did, but not far.
Why did this get down voted, they only stated a fact.
Cheese is made from milk.
I came here to go to Sussex University in 1987, and simply never left.
Good luck. Hope you graduate soon 👌
that got me
Brilliant
Lol
It was a similar thing. Took a day trip when lockdown eased up and pretty quickly got that sense of ‘this is very much my vibe’. I couldn’t tell you what it was exactly. It was hot, noisy, and crowded. Things I avoid at all costs. So I came back for a couple more weekends to check out the other parts of town and it kept growing on me. Then, at the first opportunity, I just packed up and moved here. It has not disappointed.
It's interesting you mention the hot noisy crowded thing; I'm innately averse to all of the above yet still love it
Ya, I know what you mean. Some places just call to you. And, I knew if I lived here, I’d know which parts to steer clear of. This sub has helped. Edit: I intensely disliked the place I grew up in as well.
Heheh just live in hove, and walk or get the bus to the party
Yup, that's the advice I've been getting.
I think the good thing about Brighton is that it is pretty easy to avoid the crowds if you want. If you stay clear of the seafront and the shops on Sunday there are plenty of nice spots where it is not too crowded and when you are fed up with the city you just escape to the countryside for a day
Absolutely. I figured that’s how it would be if I lived here. Even during the few times I visited as a tourist myself, I was like, look at all these damn tourists. 😂
I'm from Malta, and I was trying to figure out what university to go to for my master's. I was interested in Cambridge too, and wanted to visit both before I made my decision as my partner from London was coming with me. The minute we arrived in Brighton on our first visit we fell in love with it. Been here a year now and don't want to leave.
I went on a blind date and she was from Brighton. Things went well so I moved in with her, I was in the Midlands. Sadly after 2 years things fizzled out but I remained here. It took a while for it to feel like home but I was determined not to return home with my tail between my legs. 23 years (this month) I'm still here on the outskirts of town and it feels like home.
I had the same feeling when I arrived at the station 13 years ago - 'this is home', but this year I've made the reluctant decision to leave. I can't afford to stay and I don't really see the community, that other people talk about. I never thought I'd leave, but I will cherish every year I spent here. I will bring the Brighton spirit with me wherever I go
I went to volks in 2011 and have only just come out
Not even for a cheeky wee on the beach? Jesus man.
The micro climate within volks is such that all wee is evaporuated via the glands in your head and then rained down during d&b Sundays thus creating its own water cycle and this is how I have survived for the last 18 years
I thought I was the only one 😁
street fashion photography bought me here
It's the satanist alister crowley, he put a curse on Brighton so people can't leave
Almost probably.
He’d put a curse on you for sure. You spelt the Beasts first name wrong. He’ll not be best pleased.
Yep, still love this place twenty years on. Discovered it when I came to uni. Moved away for a decade for love. Kept visiting friends and missing my home. When we split up, I came straight back. Never leaving again. Proud I kick started 3 other people's journey to living here too.
OK have to ask, is this thread being sanitised. Most of my friends that moved to Brighton did so because the gay scene was so attractive. Is that not part of the pull, that you can be who you really are. I find it strange not to see this mentioned yet. Not trying to be controversial but this does seem to be part of Brightons appeal.
Nah, not at all, I think Brighton has gotten to the point where sexuality is positively not an important factor for getting along. Whenever I'm away I am sometimes reminded how this is not the case nationally. Acceptance is something Brighton can be proud of.
Lots of people live in Brighton. And the people of Brighton are just that. People. It’s almost easy to be complacent about probably the single best thing about this place.
Arrived for the first time many years back to Row against a Brighton Rowing Crew, loved my 24 hours stay. I've visited and made friends in Brighton over many years, Brighton is a magnet to my heart. Moving to Brighton to stay permanently in the next month, only took 40 years...lol
I remember the "this is it" feeling as soon as I got out of the station so clearly. 8 years ago. Sometimes I am tired, sometimes I am angry, but I would never leave.
I love the culture of Brighton and would love to live there, but I’ve been robbed both times I visited. Is this common, or was I just exceptionally unlucky?
Depends what you were doing both times.
1. 2018 - Had someone reach under the toilet stall in the train station and snatch my backpack. Didn’t feel like chasing them before wiping 2. 2022 - Parked in a multi-storey. Had passenger side lock bashed in and some cash taken from glove box, and bags taken from boot
Oh buddy, that sounds shitty. Hindsight about keeping things out of sight, but that's also just unlucky.
That’s the thing, nothing was on show! It seems as though the car was broken in to because it was old and easy to break in to. Never happened anywhere else, (apart from Coventry. Fuck Coventry) but I try not to judge an entire city by the actions of a couple arseholes I guess the bag strap was visible under the toilet stall door ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah, people like that are in the minority and have their own problems. I pity them. The rest of us are decent folk! I try to be at least, do my part.
The more I live here, the more I realise that most people living here washed up here in one way or another, carried by the tide of life to a shore every bit as weird or different as they felt.
Similar story to you. I had relocated from the North to a Croydon suburb with a partner, fully expecting to then move to London. I was always apprehensive about that. We came on a day trip to Brighton and I immediately thought, “Here, here would be so much better than London”. I loved the size of the city, it felt manageable to me, and it made such an impression on me in just one day. That was over 10 years ago, and we have no plans to leave.
I had the very same sensation when I arrived in Brighton for the first time, this instant feeling of being home the moment I stepped off the train. I don‘t live in the UK and will never move to Brighton as I have too strong roots where I live but Brighton will always be home from home to me. Since my first visit in 2009 I go back each year, sometimes only for a day trip during a long weekend with a friend in London, but often also more than once a year. Not having been to Brighton from September 2019 till summer 2022 felt so wrong. In 2012 my sister asked if she could join me on a holiday in Brighton and London and then complained that I had not told her that you could get addicted to a place and she will now have to go back times and times again. So I always have a travel buddy.
I’m in mutual agreement of this. I came to Brighton for a mini-holiday with my then partner over the august bank holiday. I fell in love with Brighton. I remember looking out from the promenade and saying I’m going to move here one day. In April 2011, I did! I couldn’t think of living anywhere else x
The sea. The walkability of the city. In the late 90s and early 2000s you could find a low paid job with lots of hours easily and a shared house cost me very little.
just wait until you discover Bristol
the brain drain
Born here luckily so didnt have to go looking. Only part makes me sad is that its so popular the cost of living has become a real struggle and alot of Britonians are forced out of their city to make way for more of london
I've never been to Brighton before, but would love to go one day. I've lived all my life in Liverpool and am used to people being very chatty and friendly, so I'm looking forward to hopefully experiencing the same in Brighton
Get on a train and visit! You can do it!
Arrived December 86. Could not bear my bigoted French backwater small town. Like you it was love at first sight. People being themselves and leaving you the fuck alone. Something going on always and plenty jobs if you don’t mind hard work. Still love it to bits.
I used to visit brighton a few years back and it always felt very laid back
What a positive message, OP! I was born and bred here personally, and even visiting other places for University, I soon moved back because nothing beats the uniqueness and weirdness of Brighton!
the 24/7 access to drink and drugs. No longer a resident though,it eventually destroyed my life, lost my girlfriend, my job and flat after 8 years. Could also lose my life soon too as it done a proper number on my health. Good times.....
Oh dude. Can I help?
where can’t you get 24/7 access to drink and drugs if it’s a big enough city?
well not everybody was born and raised in a city
Oh my word. I promise you drink/drugs/crime is very much a thing even in the most picturesque villages and towns. Don't fall foul of the "grass is greener" fallacy
you're clearly replying to something inside your own head. Never denied you can access that stuff anywhere. My point is it's 24/7 in cities
> you're clearly replying to something inside your own head. All the other responders disagree.
loool. we're on reddit. Self selecting bias much. the general population is nothing like the average redditor
I shall note your opinion and immediately disregard it
There was a pop star/frontman who made a similar point. He said ‘Brightons where you want to go to turn your habits into your life’
I moved out of Brighton 9 years ago as I couldn’t afford it anymore. I’m about 10 miles north now but still come in most days for work and/or football. I still love it, it’s still my town, I don’t think I’d be able to live my further away than I do.
Your tale sounds like a Smiths song
In a seaside town. They forgot to bomb….
Although I don’t think Morri**ey was talking about Brighton. Because they didn’t forget to bomb it. They made a point of bombing it.
I had a similar thing, getting off the train for my uni interview, I just weirdly had this sense of chill and belonging, like here is where I need to be. Still here 15 years later 🥰
Brighton born and bred, still there 50 years later, won’t ever leave.
I'm one of the few who was born here. We're in the minority
I love Brighton too! From a small village and discovered Brighton as a teenager. As an undiagnosed neurodiverse kid, it was a sanctuary - I didn't feel weird or different, like I did everywhere else. Just happily anonymous yet part of the family ... if that makes any sense? I go back a couple of times a year to "recharge" Must be about due 😊😊
lived in Essex/ London for 28 years moved to Brighton, enjoy the city and the locals but realised the town life wasn't for me so moved to goring as its quieter going to eventually move to Lake District if I had to pick a city to live in though... it'd be brighton!
I was born here. Never found anywhere else I've wanted to live.
I came for an interview for college in 1980 and fell head over heels in love with the town. The effect was immediate.
You’ve actually got a decent MP too.
We get two, because Brighton is special like that.
she doesn't have a flag though
I can echo some of this! Always loved Brighton - trips down with family when I was younger, and my partner in my 20s (haha, feel old) We always said the goal was to move to Brighton and with the whole wfh situation it felt like it was finally time! In my mid 30s I wish we moved sooner! I love the place - the vibe, the corners of the city that are so different yet connected, the ease of travelling to other parts of the UK. The sea, of course! It’s not without its problems and it’s taken me a good while to settle in (have been here just over a year). But compared to other cities? Brighton is definitely up there and a place I’m proud to call my home and want to contribute to!
Started with a school trip to Brighton, ended up with us living there. We love the place.
Both my parents are from here but moved out to a nearby village to raise me and my sibling. I remember sometimes being brought to Brighton on shopping trips and being a queer goth kid, I was always amazed at the quantity of alternative people around who I always wanted to be. Then when I started college, my friend and I would often skip class to come to Brighton instead and hang out at the pub with the cool alternative people. I would spend as much time as I could in Brighton, and I kind of count that as the start of me living here, as this was where my heart was, and it really felt like home. Then as soon as we were 18 my friend and I moved here and I've stayed here ever since (other than a few miserable months living in Newhaven, which was the biggest mistake ever), and am now living round the corner from where my dad grew up. I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes Brighton so special, all the individual things that I like about it can be found in other places, and of course, there are some bad sides to it, but Brighton is just home, and I love it very deeply.
I know what you mean about the station. When I first got the train down here as a teenager I immediately thought, I’m home!
Lol I’m gonna be the downer, got out of Brighton station first time in 2019 and my spirit immediately rejected it. I’d gone for a day trip and honestly I left after a few hours
Well live in London but it’s only just over 1 hour drive to Brighton so I come down to Brighton almost every week in Summer. Maybe move to down to Brighton for retirement
I like how the car parks are very cheap and affordable
lols
[удалено]
If a post is stirring up the pot for the sake of creating an argument we will remove it. Even if we agree with the content as we need to promote open discussion that are productive.
I miss it so much it’s my home. I grew up in Grimsby but came to Brighton for uni. I had to move back up north for family, but if I could afford it I’d move back to Brighton tomorrow.
I’ve never been, what would you say is the top few things about Brighton? I’d love to visit
Acceptance.
The OP’s description is pretty damned perfect. I’m not from Brighton. I’m from Worthing. Grew up there. Brighton was always the special occasion place. Got out of Worthing. Moved to Brighton. Yep. That was a bit of me. Then travelled about. A bit. Landed in London. Stayed there too long. Bout 12 years ago. Moved back South. To here. It’s home. Yeah. I’m not strictly from here. But my soul is from here. My formative years were spent down the Escape club. Watching Carl Cox. Then the Big Beat Boutique. Knowledge of Self. DJ fekkin Touche at the Volks The Jazz Rooms. All of this is gone. But all of its spirit remains. Amongst the pseudo modern tower blocks they are sticking up for some reason. Northern cities are great. And all of my friends from northern cities love Brighton. So yeah. Alright here isn’t it. Don’t go to the Level though. Bad. 😆
im glad lots of ppl feel at home here but im so happy to be leaving, the city feels gentrified and dull to me nowadays.i like selforganised stuff and it left with the squatters. each to their own though!
You went from Yorkshire to Brighton on a day trip? Madness.
I came here when I was 12 for a show of my favourite YouTubers, immediately felt like I was at home. It was pretty much my only choice for university. I'm 20 now studying here and I've never been happier with my "hometown"