BBC2 | All Change For....Brighton | 1980
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- 17th June 1980 - "All Queen Anne front and Mary-Ann back; elegance on one side, vulgarity on the other."
That's how Jack Tinker, theatre critic of the Daily Mail, describes the Regency flavour of Brighton, where he's lived for 20 years.
Since Prinny's day it's been an unlikely confection of theatrical grandeur and what-the-butler-saw. But post-war planning has allowed whole streets of Old Brighton to be torn down and replaced by tower blocks and car parks. Some people have moved away in despair. JACK TINKER is among those who have chosen to stay and fight.
I miss the old Brighton. I was only 9 in 1980 & lived in Brighton all my life.
I miss the old wooden time keeper for the trains 🚂 with the clacking of the wooden slats when it changed the times.
Also there was less litter, and the blue and white Amex building has gone. And the lady is correct, walking along the seafront in winter, something special about that. How they ever got planning for the Brighton centre and kings west is beyond me.
If you are referring to the brown wooden board with all the stations on, that would change just before trains were assigned their platforms and had clocks above, my parents were in the USA, probably Miami sometime in the late 90's and they went into a cafe for a cuppa. There on the wall was that very sign board! They were astounded but had to politely tell the cafe's owners that they had all the stations completely in the wrong order. My parents then spent ages explaining the exact order each station needed to be in! I believe the owners were delighted to correct the mistakes. Personally I also clearly remember there was a sort of machine in Brighton station that for a penny or something, you could print out your name onto a small strip of copper. This would have been in the 60's and possibly early 70's. In my teenage years when I missed the last train back to Three Bridges after a bit of 'romancing' at the seafront disco's like Cherries, I'd have to try and get some sleep curled up on a mailbag or something in the station and never had any hassles from the guards! Oh, the good old days!
Susan sinclair the Woden board was huge though. 20 x 30 if not much bigger.? How on earth did it end up there or get there !!?😟
@@DMWBN3 I have no idea. Being Americans, (especially back then when they had loads of money) they obviously either bought it when it was removed from the station and had it shipped into the States or maybe someone else did all that and sold it once it had been in the States for a while. When I say 'cafe', again, being in America, it may have been a much bigger 'cafe' or possibly 'eatery' than us Engish usually think of as a cafe. I could also be using the wrong term. All I know is that my parents (my mother was Brighton born and raised) recognised it immediately and was amazed and delighted to see it. Sadly both my parents are no longer with us so I can't ask them more details.
@@CARLIN4737 old it be because you were looking at it through the naive eyes of a child? Brighton is in a mess now, but it certainly had a huge amount of problems in the 80s too. We're completely naive when we're kids.
Is that a roundabout way of saying you want to be a kid again? When we're children, everything is magical. We are absolutely clueless about what is really going on. Brighton has always had an awful lot of problems, including back then. When we're young, we're too naive to notice them.
Made 40 years ago, this film showed the horrendous decline. As Annie Nightingale said “ you don’t notice it on a daily basis”. As a Brightonian, I was last there 5 years ago. It was the saddest & most depressing experience. I will never go again. Thankfully, I have wonderful memories.
western road was like beirut. a lot of junkies about the lanes seafront falling apart
@CARLIN4737 yeah thats about right actually
Sadly, that has been duplicated across a lot of the UK, not just Brighton. Austerity led to huge cuts in social services, increase in crime and too few spaces in prison. Those people who would have previously been dealt with now end up on the streets. It's a terrible indictment of what the state the UK is in now.
I was born and brought up in Brighton, and it breaks my heart to see how the city has gone downhill like it has since even I was a kid. Funnily enough I actually went to the Royal Spa Nursery when I was younger.
Absolutely
Sad to say, but nearby Eastbourne is better preserved .....as is Scarborough. At least Brighton isn't as bad as Blackpool. That's one consolation.
'All we do is moan but we don't do anything about it'.
Annie Nightingale, 1980.
.....41 years later, and nothing has changed!
I don't think it ever does. Particularly as we get older, we love nothing more than moaning. It becomes a hobby.
Have to stick up for Brighton here it's a fab city absolutely love it down there Great bars, clubs, cafes and restaurants
No it isn't. It's a rich wankers town. If you don't have money you can'[t live there - unless you want to share or live in a shit hole. It was much better 10 years ago.
@@alisonlinson7559 What's wrong with rich wankers? People who have got off their arses, have ambition, drive and made something of their lives, can't fault that!
It is a brilliant town still. So much to do, so many fantastic areas both in the city centre and residential areas. Everyone I know from outside the city absolutely loves visiting. The comments about it being a 'sh*thole' etc make me laugh. All cities the world over have evolved since the 80s - architecture, street art etc. Brighton's better now than it was then
It's better than Croydon.
@@LA90598 The problem is people vote for Caroline Lucas.
I in Brighton in 70s while I was studying in Sussex.
I love the town , its people brightionions , it is like a second home to me.each time I visit England I make sure to visit Brighton.
What I know of Brighton is it was a fishing and farm land , however in WW11 it was converted to cantonment where people were made to leave as British troops were given militery training, upto Shoreham by sea where the had a airport which was used by R.A.F. if you visit shoharam Airport they have hanged pictures of WW11.and downing of enemies air crafts .
So my point is that it was rebuilt after WW11 and kept on being developed .
In 60s and 70s it was further developed which attracted tourists along with foreign students specially for learning English.
Oh Annie!!! phew....
On a more serious note, look how cheap and nasty the UK has become over the last 41 years, this country is an absolute shambles now, doesn't matter which side of the political divide you are on, both Tories and Labour do NOT have the people of this country as their best interest and the only thing these wasters care about is their own personal gratification.
I grew up here. Came back after 26 years. Unrecognisable to me.
At 12:40, I remember as a young kid back in the late 70s going into some toilets located under those arches with my mum, and as we walked under the arches there were several homeless people and they were injecting themselves with god knows what. I remember asking my mum "What are they doing?" because I'd never seen anything like that before, and she just mumbled something like "don't look" or "Ignore them" and hurried me along. Well that memory has stayed with me for 40 years so it obviously made an impression on my then young mind. Chances are most if not all of those people were soon dead from Aids or an OD. So those saying Brighton is now drug infested - well it was back in the 70s and I doubt you'd openly see people shooting up today like they were back then. Or maybe you would? I dunno. Brighton has always been an odd place, sometimes cool, but also quite run down.
Exactly, it’s very amusing all the people in the comments claiming it was absolutely immaculate in the 70s/80s did even remember? Or conveniently ignored?
Always the same. The good old days were never what we remembered them
A lot of people think the fire of 2003 meant the end of the West Pier, but the closing in 1975 was actually already the first step. At the time of this video it has been closed already 5 years, but according to 14:57 it still could be saved. Too bad we all now know that they didn't succeed. It's a shame. But this has happened all over the world and is still happening in a lot of places. Since everything is becoming so expensive now, man could only assume a lot more will follow what now is still in use. In no time there is no money to keep it going and when it closes and maintenance stops completely, costs to restore spiral and no one can effort that. In 40-50 years time we will have lost a huge amount of historical buildings I'm afraid.
Welcome to the 2021, and you wish you would never complain about anything in 1980 lol
I've moved back to liverpool last year Seen brighton go downhill over the years. Would I move back ... yes! Brighton is what it is, it's unique, you love it or hate it. It's not for everyone. i still have a love for the people and the town. But I'd probably live in Hove now.
Oh don't you just love that accent in the introduction and the very posh English music. How this country has changed and yes Brighton was a town until 2000 was it.
Yes for the worst. When I came to Brighton I had a great voice and accent, gone now thanks to the awful accent in Brighton. I remember when I first arrived here hearing people on the beach taking about warer ? Eventually realised they meant water.
@@HopeIanHope you’re complaining about you losing your own accent? 😆
We used to have an arch by the boating lake by the zwest pier in the 50s, As a child. I used to go on the west pier. Used to go to the Abinger pub on the seafront in the 60s.
What a heritage it's a shame no consistent long term coherent planning.
Look at what's happening to Madeira Drive now this Council are a absolute disgrace!
They’re redeveloping it? Madeira drive is a shithole
It's even worse now!
@@VIP-rp3oq And now worse still !
The North Laine newsletter is still being delivered to my North Laine residency. Glad they beat the proposal to have a flyover above North Laine. What a monstrosity it would have been . 24 min 12 seconds in, Frederick Street. Blimey, just saw an image of my flat being built.
At one point there's a shot of where my flat will be, 25 years from when this was filmed
I first visited Brighton 1n the 1950s as relatives lived there, I started living there in 1969 and was working there in 1980, the local authority has been either corrupt or incompetent for as long as I remember. I don't think making it a 'city' from Rottingdean to the border of Shoreham has improved it.
@@CARLIN4737 cosmopolitan crowd 😂
Here's a thought: modern Brighton is more similar than it is different to old Brighton.
Look at them train doors opening before the train has even stopped
So there we are some things are better now
And still it goes on just like at the I360 eyesore which as cost us tax payers a fortune
after the last 16 months I want to be beside the seaside too !!
Hilarious. Black Rock Swimming Pool lost and what is Brighton Council building there 42 years on yes A SWIMMING POOL. YOU COULDN'T MAKE IT IS
I remember when I first went to Brighton in the early 80s in search of vinyl records and caught a beer festival at the huge Brighton Centre. A goldmine.
I've not been since 2008 and suspect it's changed a lot even since then.
Are they still running those decrepit, shagged-out, dirty old trains from London to Brighton?
I remember seeing all the starlings fluttering around West Pier at a time when it should have been repairable.
I understand there's been a MONSTROUS construction on the beach for a few year now. To be honest that's something to put me off going again, rather than an tourist attraction. An eyesore!!!
Love the Royal Pavilion - Rita Coolidge filmed her 'Octopussy' video promo here.
8:22 - that's Churchill Square - how it used to look before they modernised it - and the record shop I recall there at 8:31.
I dread to think how busy the marina is now. I don't recall any lido at Black Rocks but certainly do recall Volks Railway.
Where did all the money given to the Pier Trust go???
Upper Gardner Street (and other nearby streets) was a haven for little shops including record shops.
THANKS for uploading this little rarity. Judging by all these comments below Brighton is worse than ever before and a complete *hithole. A place to avoid then!
@@CARLIN4737 what a curious take.
The supermarket eventually went ahead and is today, a branch of Morrisons.
Yes, great shame
Brighton is the Mecca of the South Coast. There is no place like it in Britain. Yes, it has its problems but don’t all seaside towns?
Well, the re-opening of the West Pier did not happen, despite Mr Lloyd's predictions. The West pier closed in 1975.
I live here now and absolutely love it. When a train time says 55 mins to London from Brighton they are not gonna take into account how long that is from your doorstep. With respect what a load of old tosh from A Nightingale.
Jack Tinker sounds very similar to Peter Whittle in the way he talks.
Oof - I'm not sure a tangerine shirt goes with a beige jacket !
jesus wept,thank god a lot of these people are no longer with us,if they could see brighton in august 2021they will be turning in there graves.RIP
The Marina in 2021 is still useless! Endless stream of microwave chain restaurants opening and closing
If only they could see the state of it now
Amazing. Also born and bred Brighton although a bit later. Still, most of what is here is applicable to me and gone now. Such a shame it's turned into a mini London.
Brighton is a graffiti and drug infested hell hole now. I've never seen such a decline in such a short period of time.
@Jimmy Jams I have indeed. It's pretty rough there too. Nice pier though. 😁
Graffiti is street art... And drugs are alcohol and coffee too!
and you live there ha
It's not that bad it can be nice
@@user-qt8qk6qb4u I WAS BORN ERE...IT`S ALWAYS BEEN A SHITHOLE, OH WELL...I LIKE IT.
In the 40s there was a plan to market down well that just goes to confirm my suspicions
Southern/Thameslink almost 40 years on.. more like Plus ça Change for Brighton (and Hove, actually)
22:09, quite a cutie, probably pushing 70 now.....
Not been since 1978, don't think I will be back
We must cater for all folk....
I bid a midnight escape from a very popular Cornish town for the very same reason albeit it was the pompous peckerheads with their never ending bank accounts...barging their way around the very small harbour town laying their scent and demanding that things should be how they would like them to be.
Blend in with your environment.
It makes perfect sense.
11:39 LOL Bikini-Clad girls applauding high divers.
Brought up in the 40.s onward, remembered all . Torn down historic buildings in those days for modernism. Then modernism torn down for more update. Update torn down to capture old style that was bulldozed originally/ Shall we breath., Have seen it all.
Always wondered what Mr Angry from Purley looked like. Tosspot.
ha ha ....class
I grow up in Brighton back on the 70s.
Would never live there now .
The Hippodrome is not even a bingo hall all boarded up.😡
As has been for ages. 30 years ?
Is the orthodox synagogue next to it still holding regular services?
@@HopeIanHope all change now!
2022 it’s not 55 mins from London no from east Croydon 😂
Morrison as it is now, what a complete disaster.
No mention of the horrible slums and bomb damage replaced by the concrete. Not that I like concrete..
And I know why they done it
The whole town is built in a Moorish fashion of a Muslim palace somebody needs to tell the truth
Mostly it's full of Regency and Victorian houses. The pavilion was a pastiche of what they found in India but then the inside is full of Chinese dragons, in the 1700s the Prince regent was just chucking together what he liked the look of. I like the idea of the town you describe, it would be an interesting place, but that's not Brighton. Besides, if we are starting with the Pavilion, that was an ordinary house at the start, and then he expanded it out with all the stuff influenced by bits coming back from the empire. During the first world war it was used as a hospital for troops from India though.
Can you say arson
And what a dump it now is.
Brighton has always been shabby, have a look at how it is described in Brighton Rock.
I love the way they never mention that it’s a Muslim building
What is?
Why would that old man want to charge people to come on the pier when he’s gonna be dead in five years you people are evil beyond your core
What is wrong with Charing for entry to a Pier. Needs a lot of money to run and keep and why there is no West Pier
Just watched this as a nice look back into history before i was born... The whining ponce presenting it was a bit annoying can't stand people like that. i get preserving history but being against tower blocks that house hundreds of people coz you don't like the look of them is just pathetic and selfish to the extreme.
You are such a gem for putting stuff like this up. Much appreciated by many of us 😊
It's a pretty incoherent resentment about aesthetics, with no interest in what urban planning considerations may have taken place behind the changes, or the economics. Did these places close down because nobody went to them anymore? Did the council build tower blocks because they wanted social housing for low-income people? It's a lot of surface-level whinging. But it's cool to see what my city used to look like, even if the presenter is a pretty interminable guy doing a very predictable routine that pines for the aesthetics of the past without unpicking what's actually going on - in his head, or in the city.
I was thinking this the whole way through. We all appreciate a bit of cultural/architectural preservation but this whole thing came across as nothing but pompous
Lots of incredible footage of The West Pier, so sad that it was left to rot, fall into the sea and burnt by arsonists.
Thanks to the West Pier Trust.
Personally Ive always suspected it was torched so that the lottery commission could get out of paying the grant.
I think Jack Tinker would turn in his grave if he could see Brighton now! I would happily settle for the 1980 version
"City of sanctuary"? It's a haven for druggies and the country's homeless.
Today will be the good old day for this generation and I'm sure people in the early 70s and 80s said it was past its sell by date. Think it says more about the people commenting than Brighton. Been here over 30 years and still love it.
@@daveday6728 well, you and all the other residents will soon find how much the pointless donut on a stick is going to cost.
You must walk around with your eyes closed and your nose pegged if you love it !
@@steveluckhurst2350 I don't love it but it doesn't define Brighton for me. It's the decent people as shown at the enough is enough rally before Xmas. As i said been here 30 years and only know about a dozen natives but what it does do it attract people who came here for uni and never left and people like me who love the music scene the accepting of anyone what ever your gender and the live and let live vibe.
@@daveday6728 So do you love it or not? Two posts, two opposing views.
I grew up in Brighton and I am sure that it was very seedy indeed in the seventies and eighties - drugs /homeless/crime/violence/prostitution/cottaging commonplace. Not sure where are a lot of commenters here were hanging out but it was pretty grotty as far as I remember.
Yeah I used to sell pot in the 80's in Brighton and the heroin problem was already well out of hand then.
Street violence was rife, I used get physically and verbally attacked for having a brightly coloured Mohican.
Yeah,wasn't it brilliant!
April-1980!!! That’s what I remember! Everything was depressing.
Every generation always complains about the next one & the changes they bring.
Brighton is still thriving thank you very much.
Plus it's the older generations behind the changes
'We're going to get back I assure you.' Alas that campaigners optimism that the West Pier would be restored to it's former glory was proved completely unfounded.
@@CARLIN4737exactly.
For a town full of car parks,it was still nigh on impossible to find anywhere sensible to park,especially in the North Laines,where the traffic wardens were over-zealous to say the least.
Dear o dear. Don't even talk about how Brighton has changed since!
Lived in Brighton most my life, the city has changed a lot, still it's kept a lot of its character, but it's also a bit of a s**thole, as it's very dirty in places.
Mary Mungle and midge I'm also a brightonian and live in hove.
Sad seeing some of the old places that have gone,but also good to see most of those car parks are now flourishing businesses, in most cases. Streets were cleaner and easier to get around by car. They are squeezing the life out of the centre with extortionate parking costs.
Up the Albion.
@@DMWBN3 👍🌞🇬🇧
sh*th*le is the word that sprang to my mind too!
pretty sure there were s**thole parts of brighton back then but as now they aren't talked about
We need another toy or model shop
I'm so glad that the Pavilion wasn't knocked down for flats. It's a beautiful building.
Would have been a calamity like west pier.
Having lived along many towns on the south coast, it saddens me to see this video so much. What have those towns become - Hastings, Brighton, Bournemouth - all going to the dogs. Its not rose tinted glasses when you see videos from the 70's and 80's of these towns and just how nice they were. breaks my heart.
eastbourne too, folkstone, margate
That’s what Tories do, sadly.
Well, I've lived here all my life (80 years) and it says something for the decline that Jack Tinker describes that, the 1980 situation compares favourably to what it has become today; a student stop-over with their tower blocks everywhere, and true neighbourhoods are no more. Blame the careerist councillors.
The past wasn't better - you were just young.
OK Boomer
Well said . Agree completely. From another grumpy old man .
@@simonindelicate8133 not true
I use to live in Brighton while I was studying in England in 70s.
It was a great town and the brightonions are very loving people I have bueatiful memories of the town .
I use to live in east street above wimpy ..
You are lucky to have lived in Brighton for 80 years ..
I have to say as a youngster in Brighton (31 years!) this video fills me with hope. 40 years ago people have practically the same complaints as I do now. Complaining about the cinema when I complain about the I360.
As a winter swimmer the first interview with the lady practically takes the words out of my mouth when she says "we get the city back to ourselves in the winter". I think i'm so original! But no. Young people will come to Brighton and adore everything about it for generations to come, then one day find they don't know anyone in the pub and begin grumbling just like i did. Brilliant! Long may it continue!
I was 4 years old when this was broadcast, if only people knew then what know now. Brighton was a beautiful seaside town that has now turned in to a drug infested shit hole. Wish I could go back to these days when I was growing up
Yes it's so drugged fuelled now, I miss the mod and rockers days when everyone drank tea and nothing bad happened.
@@Boomge666 Hahahahaha!!!!
I lived in & around the Brighton area from the mid 1940's - to 1976 when I moved away with work. Returning regular a few times a year & loved to catch up with family & friends. 2 years ago I took a 1 month holiday in Sussex to catch up with friends & family. The Great Disappointment of the Brighton I love so well = Had turned into something I had never seen before,= Piles of Rubbish in the streets - Tent City on the green areas that were once Beautiful flower beds - Hords of the Homeless & Begger's were everywhere - that were once a no go areas. Everything looked neglected & the Lanes were almost closed down - with most of the brilliant little shops there = gone ????? I decided that day - that I would NEVER return to the Beautiful city of my youth BRIGHTON. Kp.
BLESS ME TOO
Same curious, how you ignored all the drug use and very things you’re complaining about now, however.
when people asked what happened to the west pier tell them the owners of palace pier burnt it down
Of course they did criminals got away with it.
@@maggiesamuels2937 everyone knew the day it went up shame we could prove nothing :(
If only they knew how shit the trains would be in 2020
That was pretty interesting. The abandoned buildings with sounds of the old days was a very effective sequence. I wonder what's happened to most of the places shown here. It seems the critic on here lived out his last days in Brighton.
Nostalgically talking about gang violence oh how the tables have turned
I've never seen so many beggers in the town as soon as you leave the station:(
LOL, you should see it now 2023. You were spoilt and you didn't know it.
Great find , my home town in Bray County Wicklow Ireland which was influenced by Brighton
I love Bray! And from Brighton originally.
Insurance FIRE'S 🤩😡🤬😵🗣️😢🥺🤫🤑🧐👁️💥👁️🇬🇧
Thanks so much for posting. Lovely interviews. Great to see Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec at 26:05 :)
Sounds like Malcolm McLaren
If I see one more restaurant, coffee shop, or bar in Brighton painted that awful dark grey, I'm bloody well leaving. England's grey enough as it is ffs . When I came to Brighton 20 years ago it had so much colour. Not anymore. It's being leeched away by a slavish devotion to corporate fashion, no matter how mindless and ugly.
bye
@@paulmcdonough1093 Laters
@david page hah. I read your comment thinking - ooh, someone else who thinks the same as my mate Dave, wait til I tell him - then I realised it was you.
Sounds like something Soviet themed 🤔
Go down the Laines then, all the buildings there are really colourful. Lots of murals painted all over the place. I live here and most places are brightly coloured.
The WEST PIER TRUST what a bloody scam and a disgrace
What *ACTUALLY* happened?
To right the police should be looking at them and the books. A complete con. Have no absolutely nothing to save the West Pier infarct the exact opposite, they have managed over its complete destruction.
Brilliant. As a teenage punk I used to troll the Christian's who used to preach in Churchill square, playing Crass tunes on my boombox until they cracked. Happy days.
Nice one centurion
I was likely very, very small and staring at you in awe. Loved the punks (not least, as they made my gran lose her shit 😆).
Hope Mrs Bundy stayed in her home.
We visit Brighton often. It's great. 1980s Brighton was decaying and poor.
Some great wit recently mocked up the 'Welcome to Brighton and Hove' sign on the road in from Rottingdean, adding :'If you're into beards, tattoos and craft ale, you've hit the fucking jackpot!' Pretty much sums up what Brighton's become these days. :(
These days? You’ll find that was exactly what it was well over two decades ago and exquisite.
Hiya i was wondering if it would be possible to use this footage for a documentary about culture and identity for my student film ?
Sure, that would be fine
Love this. Thank you for sharing
Fancy seeing you here!
@@SoulDamnFunky I get around kid 😁
I've lived in Brighton my whole life. 40 years. This is a surreal video to watch.
Thank you to those people who formed residents associations 40 years ago.
Is that JC at 1.15 ?
what is the opening music?
He would like greens as hate cars
The rot started setting in by the '80's after the golden years of the '60's / '70's and got worse as can be seen by the neglected , ill kept , dirty and run down present day Brighton of the 2020's . Such a shame .
It’s almost like Tories ruin everything.
@16:39 He predicted the West Pier to be reopened by 1983, but I gather it in fact never reopened, and despite Grade 1 listed status I don't think there's very much of it left now in 2021.
Its a blackened husk sticking out of the sea, i just learnt it burnt in 2003. Genuinely surprised to learn it hadn't been abandoned since the victorian era.
Sadly enough, trains have not improved a bit in forty years!
Trains fine and always have been I hour or under to and from London is fine with me as it has been since I arrived here in 1968
Instead of the West Pier we now have the i360 😂
😓
Has it always been a gay town ?
It's been jolly, if that's what you mean
only when you arrived
HEE HEE
No,I grew up there and certainly not a gay town!
Jill Aberdeen yes it has don’t be silly
The Brighton pavilion then, and even well into the nineties, was filled to the brim with truly priceless and wonderful art, gems, statues etc, etc. Now there's virtually naff all in there ?!