Brighton Piers

It might not be the most popular seaside location in the UK – well, there’s no maybe about it, Blackpool deservedly owns that title – but there’s something about Brighton. I first visited on a day trip in the mid 1970s and I’ve always enjoyed it ever since. After all, where else in the UK can boast a building quite as wonderful – and mad - as George IV’s Royal Pavilion?

Last weekend I went to Worthing. My mother and step-dad live there, having moved from Tottenham 11 years ago. They live a few doors down from my older brothers. I go most years to take the Christmas presents down and pick up those for my lot. While I was there last Saturday my brother popped in and asked if I wanted to go for a coffee in Brighton. Coffee – good, Brighton – good. While I was there I took a couple of photographs of the rather sad partial skeleton of the West Pier.

I always liked the west Pier, even though I never got to walk along it. The first time I visited would have been a year or two after it closed. It’s a shame. I always thought it had a real beauty to it. Far more so than the nearby Palace Pier. The Palace Pier, which is now called Brighton Pier, is still going strong, and I’ve sketched it and painted it several years ago (two coats of whitewash, guvnor) – see below.

So here’s the sketch of the pier as it is now. The other sketch is based on a photograph taken, I would imagine, in the late 70s or the 80s, and shows the West Pier as I remember it.