Brighton Pier

Advantages: Free entry
Disadvantages: Gets very crowded

...Seaside piers seem to be a very British tradition and there are many different examples to be found in England and Wales, although oddly none exist north of the border in Scotland. Brighton's pier is one of the most famous of them all. Officially known as The Brighton Marine Palace Pier or the Palace Pier for short it officially opened in the May of 1899. By this date the Victorians and their predecessors had already built many other piers, including two earlier ones at Brighton. Brighton's first pier was constructed in 1823. This was known as The Royal Suspension Chain Pier and still existed in 1891 when construction of the Palace Pier began. At this time the Chain Pier was considered to be unsafe and was in a state of disrepair so one of the conditions attached to the construction of the new pier was that this old one was demolished...

micksheff 09.05.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Brighton Pier

The Booth Museum, Brighton

Advantages: Free admission, lots to see
Disadvantages: None for me

...The Booth Museum is located on Brighton's suburban back streets well away from the town centre but having said that it is on Dyke Road (the A2010) which is one of the major routes through the town and so it is relatively easy to find. The museum is named after the Victorian natural historian Edward Thomas Booth who spent much of his life in Brighton. Primarily it houses his personal collection of stuffed birds but there are also animals, insects, fossils and skeletons. These collections were amassed during his lifetime and contain over half a million different specimens. He lived between 1840 and 1890. Like most Victorian naturalists of the time he was an avid collector. It seems odd nowadays to think that someone that was considered to be such a lover of these creatures should hunt them down and shoot them. However we need to...

micksheff 11.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Booth Museum of Natural History (Brighton)

The Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton

Advantages: great location, cheap, nice rooms, excellent food
Disadvantages: no parking, quite dated

...Introduction to the hotel: The Royal Albion Hotel was built in 1826 and is situated in a fantastic location opposite Brighton pier. It is a three star hotel and has 186 guest rooms offering views of Brighton beach or the town centre. My experience of the hotel: I spent one night in the hotel in January of this year and for a three star hotel I was quite impressed. I and my girlfriend booked a double room for £55 and it was a spacious room with a four poster bed, couch, satellite television, fridge, tea and coffee making facilities and a lovely modern bathroom with a Jacuzzi bath. When we checked in the hotel staff asked us if we would like to upgrade to a room with a Jacuzzi batch for £10, we said no, but were a bit intrigued to find one anyways - they had obviously given our room away and were trying to get the extra £10 out...

beanie8844 09.03.2008 (11.03.2008) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton

Great base in Brighton

Advantages: Location, price
Disadvantages: Parking, needs updating

...We've just got back from a couple of nights stay at The Royal Albion in Brighton. We love going down to Brighton and had a long weekend off work together so thought we'd have a look to see if we could get a cheap couple of nights. We went on Travelsupermarket.com which showed us this hotel through lastminute.com at £86 for two nights (Sun & Mon) including breakfast and a free bottle of wine, and knowing it's location we booked straight away. My boyfriend had stayed here a few years ago so we knew we weren't going to be getting luxury, but as long as it's clean I'm happy. The hotel has 186 bedrooms from single rooms to family rooms, and mini-suites for business guests. It has smoking and non-smoking rooms and disabled friendly ones too. It is a regency style building and could look very grand but it needs a bit of a touch up...

starjen 13.02.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton

Brighton Rock

Advantages: Impressive building, good food and attentive staff
Disadvantages: Small bathroom, slightly dated decor in bedroom

...This weekend found me in Brighton at the Courtland?s Hotel, for a last minute weekend ?desperate? revision school with the Open University. The hotel is classified as three stars by the AA and RAC and it also has an RAC dining award. As I was at a revision school, the choice of hotel was not mine, and when I saw the leaflet which was sent with my class joining instructions, I did think that the hotel was perhaps not one I would normally pick. Although it certainly had elegance and grandeur, the bedrooms on the leaflet looked a little dated in terms of style. I was also advised I was booked into a single room and I could not check in until 430pm. Location ----------- The hotel is located on Grand Avenue, Hove, and is a five minute walk from the sea front, and an ample selection of shops and restaurants at Hove. The property is...

helencbradshaw 22.03.2004 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Courtlands, Brighton

A solid Brighton Hotel

Advantages: Great views if you have a seafront room
Disadvantages: Bathroom a little lacking

...This was a good hotel to stay at if in Brighton but make sure you get a good deal because I don't think it's worth it at full price. It is not as glam as The Grand nor Metropole a few hundred yards up the street but does boast equally wonderful sea views. We were in room 201 and got a great deal staying the Sunday night only. The room had beautiful large bay windows overlooking the sea and remains of the destroyed pier. It was glorious to wake up to. The room itself was of a decent size although the bed was a little on the narrow side for the two of us. A few things to note on the downside: our room did have a big stain on the carpet and the bathrooms leave a little to be desired. They are very basic and the shower only reached a warm temperature while at full heat but never got hot. I think had we paid full price (which I...

Nixu1980 17.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Kings Hotel, Brighton & Hove

Does Brighton Rock?

Advantages: luminated writing, interesting viewpoint
Disadvantages: Drags a bit

...Author: Graham Greene Genre: Fiction Date of Publish: Number of Pages: RRP: £7.99 Amazon Price: from £3.99 What's is all about? *********************** Pinkie Brown, the anti hero protaganist of the book is a teenager and rising gangster after betraying the former gang leader in a foolish bid to gain control. Some have said he was a sociopath. Fred Hale, in Brighton working for a newspaper competition is Pinkie's next target and he knows it. That day, on the piers, Fred is murdered and only one person, Ida Arnold can ensure justice is served when the death is ruled as a suicide. What follows is the story of Pinkie's attempts to cover his tracks and the lengths he will go to in order to ensure his freedom and control over Brighton in the wake of his predecessor's rule. The journey he makes includes a string of further...

ally2kc 22.10.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Brighton Rock - Graham Greene

Prinny's Pleasure Dome! Brighton's Best!

Advantages: Historical interest, vibrant eccentric decor, magnificent furnishings and furniture
Disadvantages: always leaves you wnting more

...The Royal Pavilion sits comfortably in the heart of Brighton presiding over its surroundings like an elderly and eccentric uncle at a gathering in his honour. In unconventional attire, with a benign countenance and serene demeanour which belies it?s chequered past, it silently surveys the busy metropolis around. Brighton citizens and its many visitors mill around, some casting fond glances in its direction, others viewing the ?inappropriate? apparel with mildly critical distaste but most feeling some interest in the tales it can tell of its illustrious and notorious past combined with a respect for its longevity, having survived against all the odds. *****HISTORY***** Whatever one feels about Brighton?s premier landmark, nobody can deny that it and the person responsible for its construction are the two factors which have had...

suesie 22.06.2007 (24.06.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of The Royal Pavilion, Brighton

Queens Brighton and Brighton Queens

Advantages: Seafront Location, Extremely Well Priced
Disadvantages: Refurb Work Being Done, Overly Warm, No Internet Access

...So, I'm sat here having been tasked with performing a full hardware audit at our parent company's various sites spread throughout the UK. Oh the exciting life I lead! The Brighton office is one of the larger ones and as such, required an overnight stay in the seaside resort of Brighton. So, preamble over, I checked into the hotel having spent pretty much a whole day on the train to get down there. Greeted by an almost entirely eastern European staff, my suspicions were raised. Previous experience has suggested that budget, mediocre hotels are often run poorly by eastern Europeans. I only paid £59 for my bed and breakfast stay at the hotel. In any case, check in was smooth and I was given my big old fashioned key to my room and told that it was on the third floor down a miriad of corridors. I was shocked to say the least...

beevorm 20.04.2007 (28.02.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Queens Hotel, Brighton

Right-On Hotel in Brighton.

Advantages: Excellent 4 star hotel banging on the door of 5 star status
Disadvantages: Not really worth mentioning.

...For those not in the know, Brighton is a bustling, ?happening? seaside town on the South Coast of England. It?s actually fairly famous for two things. Firstly, it?s generally considered to be the gay capital of England and if you?re heterosexual and, for whatever reason, unable to adopt a ?Live and Let Live? attitude, you might as well give it a very wide berth. Just remember that you?re a guest in their town. Its second claim to fame ? and this is somewhat more old-fashioned ? is as a destination for couples to enjoy a ?dirty weekend?. Not messing around in muck, you understand, but enjoying illicit extra-marital relations in seedy seaside hotels. Which, very nearly, is where this review kicks off, and also where it doesn?t! I?m unable to comment on the joys of same-sex relationships. I didn?t spend the weekend there. My own...

andymcf 29.05.2003 (30.05.2003) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Hilton Brighton Metropole, Brighton