Sin city
Novelist Keith Waterhouse got it right when he commented that the British city of Brighton looks as though it is a town helping the police with their enquiries.
On the surface Brighton is your classic English seaside resort, famed for its pebbly beach, amusement-packed pier and sticky sweet sticks of rock.
But Brighton has always enjoyed living on the edge -“ on the edge of the Channel and of morality. In the home of the dirty weekend, Mr and Mrs Smith staying at the luxurious Grand Hotel may indeed be married, but maybe not to each other.
Brighton’s infidelities go right to the top -“ and you don’t get much higher than the king himself. In 1783, the Prince Regent, later to become King George IV, visited Brighton, the town providing a discreet location to see his mistress.
He would later build an extravagant royal palace the likes of which Britain hadn’t seen before or since. With more than a nod to the Taj Mahal, the exterior of the Royal Pavilion is a riot of onion domes and intricate latticework. Inside it’s more Beijing than Bombay with ornate wall hangings, statues of fire-breathing dragons and enormous columns that masquerade as palm trees.
But then nothing is quite what it seems in Brighton.
Witness the strange case of Colonel Sir Victor Ivor Gauntlett Blyth Barker (man-about-town, huntsman and cricketer), who wooed and married a local woman. The problem was Victor was in fact one Lillias Arkell-Smith, and a lesbian to boot. The Brighton Man-Woman, as Lillias became known, was found guilty of describing herself as a bachelor in a register of marriage and sent to gaol.
Today, the picturesque resort is somewhat more tolerant of gay people and, for its size, has more GLBT people than anywhere else in Britain. Brighton’s relaxed atmosphere, graceful architecture, abundance of restaurants and bars and the location for England’s largest arts festival tick all the right boxes with the gay boys and girls.
The gay village, centred on St James’ Street, rivals Sydney in size and scope with bars for students, bears, dykes and the like. Clubbing opportunities include the monthly super club Wild Fruit and weekly cabaret fest Dynamite Boogaloo.
There’s no better time to visit than during Brighton Pride -“ one of the biggest events of its kind in Europe. The season crescendos on Saturday 28 July when a flotilla of floats will wind its way up from the seafront dragging thousands of supporters in its wake, dumping them all in a park to spend the rest of the afternoon dancing, drinking and watching drag shows.
The Brighton Man-Woman and Prince Regent would surely have approved that this good-time town is up to its old tricks.
British Airways, Qantas and Virgin Atlantic fly direct to London Heathrow with other carriers providing connecting services. Trains travel from London Victoria in less than 50 minutes. Website www.realbrighton.com has lots of news about the Brighton scene, while www.visitbrighton.co.uk has tourist and accommodation information.
