Grand Brighton Hotel, East Sussex

Ever since Mrs R got a Fitbit, hitting 10,000 steps each day has become a bit of an obsession. I was dragged into this when she bought me one last Christmas. Fast forward to our Brighton weekend break and although they have perfectly good lifts in the hotel we opted (cajoled in my case) to take the stairs every time.

We always try and book a high floor room when on holiday for the views… more for the photography opportunities in this case, but we only managed the third floor – still it had a balcony so all was not lost. Boy, was I glad of that when lumping all my gear about!

Surprisingly, the stairs were quicker than the lift so the exercise was beneficial… still didn’t lose any weight though!!!

Tags:   The Grand Brighton Hotel Brighton luxury hotel seafront Leonardo Hotels Chain staircase seven floors

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Brighton, East Sussex

Plenty of information about this pier and its history online so I won’t bore you all with that, but here’s a very brief summary…

The pier was constructed during a boom in pleasure pier building in the 1860s, and was designed to attract tourists to Brighton. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866 and the first pier to be Grade I listed in England.

It was the town's second pier, joining the Royal Suspension Chain Pier that opened in 1823. The West Pier was extended in 1893, and a concert hall was added in 1916. The pier reached its peak attendance at this time, with 2 million visitors between 1918 and 1919. Its popularity began to decline after World War II, and concerts were replaced by a funfair and tearoom. A local company took over ownership of the pier in 1965, but could not meet the increasing costs of maintenance and filed for bankruptcy.

The pier closed to the public in 1975 and fell into disrepair and gradually collapsed. Major sections fell into the sea during storms in late 2002, and two separate fires, both thought to be arson, in March and May 2003 destroyed most of the remaining structure, leading to English Heritage declaring it beyond repair. Some structured demolition took place in 2010 to make way for the i360 observation tower; further structural damage from storms has occurred since.

The West Pier Trust owns the remains and has proposed various renovation plans over the years, but none have come to fruition.

Tags:   West Pier Brighton Grade I Eugenius Birch 1866 derelict collapse

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Brighton, East Sussex

What a difference a few hours make. Not a soul about and only a couple of beer cans to clone out of the pond in this three-frame vertical panorama. A little bit disappointed with the illumination of the Pavilion but I suppose everybody has had to make cutbacks in these difficult times.

Tags:   The Royal Pavilion Brighton Pavilion Grade 1 listed George Print of Wales Prince Regent 1811 King George IV 1820 domes minarets Indo-Saracenic India 19th century architect John Nash night shoot blue hour illumination

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