Brighton
1824 Map of Brighton, then known as Brighthelmstone: "The Queen of Watering Places." Image credit: David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries.
I'm on the plane returning from visiting my elder daughter and her family who live in Brighton, England. Brighton is an interesting place. Once upon a time, it was a favorite beach destination for the British. A place for their summer holidays. Brighton's reputation as a seaside resort town started at the end of the 18th century when King George IV, who loved the place, built a humble little shack there so he could enjoy the comforts of the town and beach:
That monstrous monument to British colonialism remains a tourist attraction for those who wish to visit.
Brighton lent its name to Brighton Rock, a type of hard candy in which the city's name is printed at the end of a stick of candy and remains visible even as the candy is consumed. I first visited Brighton in 2002 for a conference at the University of Sussex and I'm pretty sure I had some at that time. It must have gone out of fashion at some point because in my several visits in recent years, I haven't found it, but I really haven't really looked very hard either. As an aside "Brighton Rock" is also the name of a Graham Greene novel, a couple of movies based on that novel, and one of Queen's better songs.
I think that Brighton's reputation a a beach getaway has also gone out of fashion, just like Brighton rock. After all, when you think of Great Britain, "sunny beach fun" is not the phrase that pops to mind. There's a reason that "London fog" leant its name to a coat company and a warming cuppa. Having been to Brighton in both summer and winter, I can attest that there is only a slight difference between the two seasons. Bringing your sunglasses and SPF 50 to Brighton would be an act of purist optimism.
That being said, Brighton has its charms. For one thing, it is very vegan-friendly. This is keeping with my philosophy whilst eating in Britain. Now, I'm well aware that as an American (Motto: We Invented "Cheese" in a Can!) I'm not really in a position to criticize any other nation's culinary traditions, but allow me to to say that traditional British fare is not to my taste. Hence, it is my policy while eating in the U.K. to choose restaurants from the countries the British once colonized. What I'm saying is, if you choose an Indian restaurant in Brighton you'll get a delicious meal that is also vegan.
Finally, Brighton is the queer capital of Britain. Queer-friendly places are simply better than queer-hostile places. They are more interesting, they are more friendly and they have more variety of everything and variety is the very essence of life. Brighton's queer history is as long as Brighton itself. So if you go, check out The Queery at the very minimum. You wont' regret it.
jpj stories by John Jackson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
