England Guide
Kent and Sussex
The seafront
Much of Brighton's seafront is an ugly mix of shops, entertainment complexes and hotels such as the impressively pompous Grand Hotel– scene of the IRA's attempted assassination of the Conservative Cabinet in October 1984. To soak up the tackier side of Brighton, take a stroll along Brighton Pier, completed in 1899, whose every inch is devoted to cacophonous fun and money-making. Half a mile west along the seafront, the architecturally superior West Pier, dating from 1866, has been virtually destroyed by storms and fires, though there are plans to fund what amounts to a total reconstruction by erecting a "vertical pier", or viewing mast, 183m tall, known as the i360.
Just east of Brighton Pier, the antiquated locomotives of Volk's Electric Railway (Easter to mid-Sept Mon– Fri 10am–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm; £2.50 return) – the first electric train in the country – run eastward towards the Marina and the nudist beach, usually the preserve of just a few thick-skinned souls.