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A study of social, cultural, local and seaside pier history, characters and events within Graham Greene’s 1930s novel, showing the seedier side of life in the town, slums and racecourse razor gangs.   Morning session will be followed by a short seafront tour. After lunch there is an illustrated powerpoint sideshow showing the history of ... Read more

An afternoon study at The West Pier Centre of social, cultural, local and West Pier history, characters and events within Patrick Hamilton’s excellent novel set in 1920s Brighton. Morning session will be followed by a short seafront tour. After lunch there is an illustrated powerpoint slideshow showing the history of Brighton and its people in ... Read more

Exhibition runs until 3rd July 2023 The next exhibition at the West Pier Centre is a new departure – an open exhibition of depictions of the West Pier which has been organised and curated by West Pier Centre volunteer Peter Sofroniou. “We put out an open call for artists in autumn last year, asking anyone ... Read more

For the last couple of centuries Brighton and Hove’s history has been defined by the Prince Regent and a noisy cast of male characters who followed him. Busying themselves in their shadows, however, were a host of women, quietly making history in all sorts of different and unique ways. Did you know, for example, that ... Read more

From the first nudist camps of the 1920s to the launch of the first official naturist beach (in Brighton) in the 1970s, social disrobing in Britain operated in a hostile environment. This revealing talk looks back to nudism’s hardy pioneers and their utopian ambitions, and reflects on nude conditions today, a hundred years after the ... Read more

Welcome to Year of the Pier 2023! Since the early 1800s, piers have been a ‘must- have’ attraction at British seaside resorts.Throughout 2023  The National Piers Society  are celebrating that legacy and highlighting the vibrant state of the nation’s piers today. As well as promoting a programme of Year of the Pier events taking place ... Read more

A talk by Kathryn Ferry Thursday 29th June 2023. Orientalism became a key theme in seaside architecture during the nineteenth century and this was most evident in the design of piers. Toll houses, kiosks and grand entertainment pavilions were all built with copious domes that gave them a uniquely exotic flavour. For Victorian holidaymakers, strolling ... Read more

A talk by Jackie Marsh-Hobbs on the story of how fashionable society took to our beaches to embrace the health-giving properties of the sea. Known as the Seawater Cure, part of which was to be dipped into the cold sea. This practice continued to grow in popularity, leading to seawater bath houses being built along or ... Read more

  Geoffrey Mead talks on Rye Bay. 25th May 2023 at West Pier Centre 6-7pm Rye Bay is an area deserving more attention; shingle bars, saltmarsh, high cliffs and reed beds all support a wide range of wildlife. The human landscape is of no less interest, with the Cinque Port ‘Antient’ towns of Rye and ... Read more

A talk by Fred Gray. During the 1930s a remarkable transformation occurred to the architecture and landscape of Sussex by the Sea. It was informed by a growing love of the sun and sunbathing, Modernism as an architectural inspiration, concrete slabs and steel frames and even the majesty of transatlantic liners. With form following function ... Read more

The West Pier Trust has been working for the last few years towards the restoration of an original 1866 kiosk recovered from the Pier in the 1990s. The kiosk is of immense architectural and historical significance. During the summer of 2022 we learnt that our funding application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund was, unfortunately, ... Read more

Steve Geliot talks on the covering starling migrations, light pollution and gives an update on local starling numbers Find out more and book