MINI GUIDE
Weekend in Brighton
COMPILED BY LORNA PARKES, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MARC DI DUCA. PHOTOGRAPHS: WESTEND61/GETTY IMAGES, BRITISH AIRWAYS I360, MARIA SWÄRD/GETTY IMAGES, ZORAN SKALJAC/GETTY IMAGESBrighton essentials The know-how
FURTHER READING
Lonely Planet’s
England
(£17.99) covers
Brighton’s
highlights in
the Canterbury
& Southeast England
chapter, which can be
downloaded individually
from lonelyplanet.com for
£2.99. Read the classic
1930s thriller Brighton
Rock by Graham Greene
(£8.99; Vintage Classics),
set in the city’s dark
underworld, and keep your
eyes on The Graphic Foodie
blog for news and reviews
on Brighton restaurants,
supper clubs and pop-up
food events
(thegraphicfoodie.co.uk).BRIGHTON’S LGBT SCENE
Brighton has the most vibrant
gay community in the country
outside London. For the latest,
check out gaybrighton.co.uk and
realbrighton.com, or pick up the
free monthly magazine Gscene
(gscene.com).
Legends Club Beneath the
Legends Hotel, this is arguably
Brighton’s best gay bar and club
(legendsbrighton.com).
A Bar Extremely hip bar and
sauna in the Amsterdam Hotel
(amsterdamhotelbrighton.com).
Brighton Rocks In an alley of
garages and used-car lots,
this cocktail bar is firmly
established on Kemptown’s gay
scene (brightonrocksbar.co.uk).
Queen’s Arms Plenty of camp
cabaret and karaoke at this pub
(queensarmsbrighton.com).
Bulldog Brighton’s
longest-running
gay bar
(bulldogbrighton.
com).55–56 Regency Sq; from £115).
Eclectic doesn’t quite describe
Brighton’s Artist Residence,
a 23-room townhouse amid the
splendour of Regency Sq. Every
room is a unique work of art with
bold murals and in-room roll-top
baths (artistresidencebrighton.
co.uk; 33 Regency Sq; from £115).
You could easily miss the
entrance to unassumingly classy
Drakes Brighton and its superb
restaurant. Splash out on a feature
room for the giant freestanding
tubs beside sea-facing windows
(drakesofbrighton.com; 43–44
Marine Parade; from £140).WHERE TO STAY
Hotel Una’s cocktail bar and
19 rooms with time-warp period
features wow guests. Some, like
the two-level suite with
mini-cinema and the chambers
with spa and hot tub, are truly
show-stopping (hotel-una.co.uk;TRANSPORT
Brighton’s train station is handily
central. Trains to Brighton, with
Southern Railway, run at least
every 30 minutes from London
Victoria, taking an hour (return
from £15; thetrainline.com);
Thameslink trains run half-hourly
to/from London Blackfriars or
London St Pancras. From
elsewhere in the country, change
trains in London. National Express
buses run every hour-and-a-half
from London Victoria (from £5;
two hours). There’s pricey
pay-and-display parking in town;
drivers should try the Park & Ride
2½ miles northwest of the centre
at Withdean, from where bus 27
zips into town.Sea-view Master Bedroom 21 at
wonderful Artist ResidenceShopping Drinking Sights Eating Sleeping