Brighton and Hove Beach

A quick visit from London, about 1 ½ hour by train. The beach is not sandy, all rocks, but a beautiful place to visit. The town is quaint, but also has an urban feel. The local rides is fun. Beautiful townhouses and small cottage homes; also great shopping off the boardwalk. Night live is good, bars, taverns, inns, discos, restaurants and a diversity of food choices; we also walked into a casino near the Brighton Hotel, that was apparently all Chinese! Fun!!!

For Unilocal’s Best of Brighton, it seems fitting to finally write a review for Brighton and Hove beach. When you think of Brighton, the pepply beach and the decrepit pier spring to mind, but not only are these iconic and amazing in themselves, there is so much more to the beach than that.
It’s also not just a place for the summer — a good job really as we don’t always get much of a summer in good ol’ Blighty! There is nothing nicer than walking along the promenade on a bright and chilly winter’s day, blowing the cobwebs away, something I’m doing a lot of at the moment. The sea itself is very emotive — sometimes calm and blue, sometimes angry with waves crashing against the shore and throwing stones up on to the prom. Either way, it is magnificent in all it’s majesty. Don’t be afraid to take a dip either. Yes, it’s a little cold, but we are Brightonians and we have to go for a paddle or a swim.
In the summer, it’s great to soak up the rays and have a BBQ on the beach. Once, we got talking to a fisherman and ended up cooking his freshly caught mackerel and eating it there and then, pure bliss!
There are lots of events on the beach including Paddle Round the Pier, the Christmas Swim and the Mermaid festival. It can get pretty busy in the summer but there is always a good vibe, and different parts of the beach suit different people. Next to Brighton pier can get busiest and tends to be most touristy, whereas the end by the King Alfred leisure Centre tends to be calmer and more family orientated.
At the end of the day, Brighton is all about it’s beach. Don’t take the sea for granted just because it is there, take time to appreciate it everyday!

Sou suspeita para falar de Brighton, pois morei lá um ano e sinto muita falta da cidade. Pedalar ou caminhar pela orla é muito agradável, principalmente quando o vento coopera. Durante o fim de semana, se estiver um tempo mais quente (acima de 15 graus), a praia costuma ficar cheia de moradores, turistas (Brighton fica bem perto de Londres) e grupos de amigos em despedida de solteiro. É comum ver pessoas andando fantasiadas, não estranhe!

I AM IN LOVE WITH BRIGHTON & HOVE BEACH!
Me and my family went to Brighton & Hove for a weekend break. It was my second time in Brighton & Hove and I immediately fell in love with the place! There is so much to do in and wound B&H with various fun filled activities to do with friends and family, an array of gift shops, art shops, ice cream parlor! Oh and lest not forget my favorite The Pier!
Though I prefer sandy beaches, the pebbles in Brighton beach did not make our whole experience any less. We stayed around Hove, and had our picnic blankets laid out and had a lovely BBQ. awesome!

I love the beach.
Especially the bit of the beach in Hove, a 5 minute walk from where I live.
I think that I sometimes take living by the sea for granted, and don’t spend as much time there as I should. I sat there for an hour today, in my own world, having a little bit of peace and tranquility away from the hustle and bustle of life.
This particular part of the beach is great if you want to have a BBQ or just have some downtime, as it’s nowhere near as busy as Brighton beach gets.
Times like this remind me why Brighton and Hove is such a great place to live.

While I was in Brighton I spent hours over here. In the morning to go for a walk, in the afternoon to relax a bit after lunch and in the evening to contemplate a beautiful sunset! Which in fact was a stunning sunset (even for me, that truly believes that the most beautiful sunsets are on the ocean!), colours were wonderful and I couldn’t stop taking pictures! Pure love!
What to say about the beach per se? It’s a pebble beach which was a bit strange at the beginning and I find really hard to believe in someone sunbathing there but is a lovely and beautiful beach. I fell in love, for real! I love the pretty buildings in the strip, the ocean, the two piers (Brighton pier and West pier skeleton), the oh so pretty deck-​chairs and some shops in the arches — like Castor + Pollux.
The only not-​so-​good point about it is that there is plenty to do! I mean this as, I see a beach as a place to relax and take time to do nothing — except to take pictures and read a book! I did see people doing lots of stuff, too much stuff. However if that doesn’t suit me, that makes it a perfect place to suit everyone’s taste! Anyway, it still is an amazing beach and one of the high points of my visit to Brighton!

I’m going to start out by saying that I grew up with sandy beaches. Beautiful golden sand beaches and therefore I am no fan of pebble beaches. However, in saying that, my dislike for pebble beaches is hugely outweighed by my love for the seaside. There is no better place to get away from the hustle and bustle of London than Brighton on a sunny day. The sea breeze, the seagulls, fish and chips on the beach, the crash of the waves and the music floating down from the pier… it’s pretty much perfection. The pebbles aren’t fun to lie on and you can get some interesting patterns etched into your skin when you lie on the stones BUT you don’t get sand grains absolutely everywhere — in your bag, in your ears, behind your finger nails… so that is a nice change I have to admit! The pier is fun and the fish and chip shop at the start of the pier is delicious and great value.
The beach certainly gets busy on those hot days, but my gosh i’m not complaining. I can’t wait until I can head back to this amazing little town.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Oh I do like to be beside the sea!
Brighton and Hove Beach is, for me, one of the best things about living in this wonderful city. Having always grown up around the coast, it’s quite a comforting thing for to have such a vast and lovely beach nearby. I love the sound of the seaside — squawking gulls and all — and Brighton’s beach is no exception to this.
The beach is a pebble beach which, at first, was a bit of a disappointment for me. I moaned, when I first heard the sorry news, that pebble beaches make for stones in your shoes and sore bums. That being said, the stones have slowly but surely warmed on me and now it’s hard to imagine Brighton beach with anything else. The beauty of the beach is that, because of the lack of sand, you don’t ‘bring the beach home with you’ as my mum used to say as we emptied our shoes onto the front door step. This, I’ve realised, is one of the best aspects of a non-​sandy beach!
In the summer months the beach is absolutely mobbed — reminiscent of the sunny beaches along the south of France. There’s a real buzz about the seaside here, with so much going on! People are in the water, swimming, kayaking, paddle-​boarding and much more. Families are playing on the stones, friends are longing in the sun with picnics and the strip along the front is buzzing with cafes and snack-​shacks. It’s a great atmosphere and, though crowded, it’s a welcoming place to be.
It’s all very typically British seaside town — with striped deck-​chairs for hire and ice cream and donuts galore. It’s tacky, yes, but wonderfully so!
The only downside of the beach are the gulls. They’re pretty gutsy and can be a bit vicious too. I’ve seen many a crying child being consoled by their parents as a seagull flees the scene with a poke of chips clutched tightly in it’s beak. If you chose to eat on the beach, you do so at your own risk. Never get too attached to your sandwiches. that’s all I say!

Brighton & Hove Beach and its pier was one of the first tourist spots I hit up during my time abroad at University of Sussex. It was a very pretty area, especially around sunset and at night when the lights are on. The beach is unique since it’s not sand but stone/​small smooth pebbles next to the water. It allows you to do a stroll up and done with lots of activities to do and sights to see. There are a good amount of street performers. In the daytime, they have a lot of chairs that you can rent to sit and enjoy the fresh air.
Around the beach, there are lots of bars and restaurants to check out. I definitely suggest taking the special someone here for a first date or taking a tourist out of town for a chill night out.
The beach seems pretty clean but I did not really see people swimming. it is still cold in the month of June and July.

i HEART pebbles.
I’ve been stumbling across Brighton beach for over 40 years. It was probably the first beach I explored. I spent the night on it once. I’ve broken up and made up on it. Who would think that a pebble beach could be thought of with such affection by so many people. If one day the council announced they had the ability to grind the pebbles down to silky soft sand, there would be riots.
As you make your way along it, the vibe changes. Some areas are commercialised, others are virtually deserted. Bars and restaurants spill out. Sports facilities crop up. Art is displayed. The best time is very early morning or sunset. And a favourite spectacle is when all the birds that have settled on the skeleton of the old burnt out pier, take off at the same time.

It’s been such along time since i’ve been to Brighton but i remember why it’s such lovely place. I went on the last hot sunny weekend day, Stroll along the bustling Brighton promenade and soak up the cosmopolitan atmosphere at one of the funky cafes and bars at the seafront nestling underneath the Victorian beachfront arches.
Great festival, candy rocks, watching classic cars drive by, relaxing on the blue flag pebble beach eating fish and chips heavenly. Watching guys in the most tiniest speedo ever playing water sports & sailing activities going.
Oh It was I good day.
.

Ahhh, Brighton beach — the quintessence of the British summer holiday/​weekend.
The pebbly beach, that is not too comfy to sit or walk bear foot on, deckchairs for £2, loads of shops, bars and restaurants, loads of people, lovely salty water and a big blue flag (
)
Its great for people watching, sun bathing, drinking a beer with your friends, have a BBQ or just for chilling out, listening to the sounds of the waves crashing on the rocks :)

i love brighton, and i love brighton beach. it is such a lovely day trip from london, and when the sun is shining it is a people watching mecca coming down here. as an avid people watcher, i love it! the beach is covered in pebbles, and on a sunny day the sea sparkles in front of you. it’s really beautiful. i love getting fish and chips and a cheeky cider and having a drink on the beach. it really is so quintessentially british, and more so, quintessentially english, that i can see exactly why tourists flock here.
the pleasure pier is delightfully tacky and super fun and definitely worth a wander down. i think you’d have to have no soul to not enjoy visiting the english sea side every once in a while!

Bright beach is very clean, organized and well kept. It is a lot nicer than I expected.
I didn’t swim, so I’m not sure of the «water quality» but there were many sun bathers and people in swim costumes. It was a bit too chilly out for me to enjoy the water.
Plenty of surf shops, lessons and rentals if you would like. I definitely woud return for a swim if the opportunity arises.

Brighton beach is a bit of a hit and miss affair. There is certainly a lot of activities to take up your time including the railway ride, mini golf, a pier, pubs, bars and eateries and a number of nightclubs.
Of course, there is also the traditional sun bathe and dip in the sea on pleasant days. It’s just a damn shame that the pebbles get in the way of the sandy beach image I always have when I go there. You do get some sand at low tide, but walking along the beach barefoot is going to take its toll on your feet. Also, as a lot of late night revellers hang out there pre and post clubbing, you can find some less than savoury items including broken glass dotted about.
Still, a beach with pebbles is better than no beach!

I love living by the sea, and most of that is down to the fact that the beach is only 5 minutes from my house, if I fancy a day of tanning and reading amongst the pebbles. Yes, compared to the sandy beaches on tropical shores somewhere, it’s a bit naff with it’s pebbles and greeny-​brown water, but Brighton Beach is so quintessentially British and Brightonian that I cannot help but love it to bits. All Brightonian’s should love their beach, and spend some time there, otherwise what’s the point of seaside living?
The whole pebble thing is a bit annoying: it’s uncomfortable to the point of pain if you’re barefoot, making getting to the water for a swim a bit of an ordeal. Still, once you’re there, the water’s perfectly fine (at least, down Hove or Kemptown ways, not around the Piers) and you can swim for a while without getting too tired out by particularly strong waves. The pebbles are also a bit awkward for lying on, but nothing a good towel can’t handle.
The best thing about the beach, it has to be said, is the barbeques. Come the summer, Brighton Beach is always covered by hopeful barbequers, desperately trying to get their store-​bought aluminium sheet to create enough heat to cook raw meat: always a mistake. Invest in a proper barbeque, learn how they work, and enjoy a couple of nice meals out in the air every year, and enjoy your beach properly!

I first visited Brighton Beach at the age of seven. Poking dispiritedly along the shore, my initial response to it was ‘this is ok, mum, but can we go to the beach now?’
There’s still something about the mass of pebbles that just isn’t quite the thing, but I’ve grown fond of them now for different reasons. It’s a changed palette to the white stretches of sand of my youth, and it complements different seasons. While the tufted dunes and stretches of sand are shown off by the hot sunshine, the recalcitrant pebbles of Brighton are really brought to life by stroppy weather, the howling gales and storm-​tossed seas of early spring. The black and brown mounds of stones, interspersed with the odd sea-​flung jewel of broken wine bottle, make the backdrop for more contemplative moments.
The stretch of beach closest to the town is one of the older English pleasure resorts, and some historical implication of bathing machines and workhouse childrens’ seaside trips still pervades it for me. Between the piers on a sunny day must be the closest living mortals get to the sixth circle of Dante’s Inferno. Cheek by jowl, the oiled multitudes come to fry themselves to sleep. Further out to either end, though, the pleasure grows commensurate with the distance from Palace Pier. The East boasts Volks Electric Railway and the marina wall, finally giving way to the cliffs where nature is allowed back in. The West simply becomes less and less crowded, affording the beachgoer a little privacy, the luxury of a breath of breeze and the space to set up a barbecue without inadvertently roasting someone’s child.
The seediness of the central beach is occasionally a treat though. If you keep it for occasional indulgence, a patch of towel, the company of the entire population of Brighton, an ice cream and a shrimping net can be quite an appealing combination. The little seaside shops are also something of a kitsch-​fest and as such quite fun, but no-​one has yet ever been able to explain to me why they sell buckets and spades.

Who doesn’t love the beach? What if I said you didn’t have to risk your shoes and crevasses being infiltrated by millions of sand grains?
The greatly appreciated manmade Brighton Beach has provided summer after summer of fun and frolics. People flock from miles around for a bit of good ‘ol seaside actions, BBQ’s and picnics lined up and down the Beach as revellers enjoy the relaxing and medicinal attributes of both sun and sea.
But even in the winter the Beach is a glorious sight, epic crashing waves making noises above your own thought. Get wrappedp and go for a walk.

Most people adore Brighton beach in the summer when there’s thousands of people laid out on the beach trying to soak up some rays. I love it just as much in the autumn and winter when the only people brave enough to venture out and face the cold wind and drizzly rain are locals decked out in warm scarves, hats and big coats. On week days you can walk for ages without seeing more than a dozen people whilst at weekends, the rollerbladers and BMX bikers are usually out practising their tricks whatever the weather. My favourite times are 4−5pm when the starlings put on their nightly displays around the West Pier and late at night when you can hear a pin drop and watch the neon signs on Brighton Pier lighting up the sea.

Brighton beach is really what gives the bustling little city of Brighton its edge. The Palace pier (now known mainly as Brighton pier, since the old West pier was ‘accidentally’ burnt down) is a great idea to keep those hoards of tourists out of the city centre. And the wreck of the West pier makes the Hove end of the beach really pretty — check out early autumn sunsets when the sun is directly behind the pier if you’re on the Palace pier side of it. I really am not looking forward to the new construction — the architects of the London Eye have designed a vertical pier (eek, ugly!) that is going to replace the ruined West pier, whilst supposedly preserving its history. Seems like a big ugly blot on the landscape to me, and a realy shame to ruin the less tacky and touristy end of town. Anyway, enough of the ranting — Brighton beach is great, it’s packed in the summer but you’ll find space at the far Kemp Town and Hove ends (although beware of the nudist beach towards the Marina). There’s loads to do — the pier, bars, cafes, fish n chips (food on offer ranges from the fancy pants bistro to cheap and cheerful), crazy golf, Volks railway, shops, market stalls, basketball, beach ball… and it’s great for a swim — the English channel too disgusting and polluted for swimming? Nonsense!

Summer time and the living is eaaaaaasy… head on down to Brighton beach and soak up the sun! Beach volleyball for the athletic, swimming for the brave and sunbathing for all! When we get a good summer in Brighton, the beach is the place to be, with ample space for all (though the area between the piers gets P-​A-​C-​K-​E-​D on hot summer’s days), and a plethora of cafes, bars and restaurants, to suite all your refreshment requirements.
It’s an ideal place to gather with friends, have a picnic or a BBQ and just chill out, away from the chaos of town. Saying that when the masses ascend from London every summer weekend, you may find you want to wander off further down the beach towards Hove, for a bit of peace, quiet and privacy! I actually prefer this end of the beach in some ways, its calm, tranquil and pretty, with lovely big lawns stretching out in front of the impressive Regency houses, and colourful little beach huts lining the promenade. The old West pier is beautiful in all its dilapidated ruin and I, like Tasha, am devastated by the plans to rebuild! Go and check it out people, enjoy it while you can…