36 hours in Brighton

Situated on the south coast of England, and only an hour train ride away from London, Brighton is the perfect destination to escape the big smoke for a breath of fresh sea air and a slower pace of life. With only 36 hours in town, it was time to explore.

Situated on the south coast of England, and only an hour on the train from London, Brighton is the perfect destination to escape the big smoke for a breath of fresh sea air and a slower pace of life. With only 36 hours in town, it’s time to explore.

Day 1–9am: Straight to the Lanes

We arrived at our airbnb in Seven Dials, a lively cul-de-sac just a 15-minute walk away from the train station, dropped off our things and headed straight to the famous Brighton Lanes.

Once the hub of the old fishing town, these winding streets are a major part of Brighton’s identity, and while the lanes nearer the seafront are littered with jewellers, the lanes in the north of the city are packed full of quirky independent shops and cafés to enjoy.

Recommended places:

Sydney Street — A bustling road with plenty of independent shops to murder your wallet with.

The Flour Pot Bakery — Great coffee on Sydney Street.

12pm: Fish and chips in Hove

It wouldn’t be a trip to the coast without fish and chips, and after a lot of deliberating we decided to make use of our time and walk west of Brighton to the neighbouring area of Hove.

At first, the walk out of the city centre wasn’t the most scenic, but once we’d walked half an hour we soon found ourselves in a place that felt like a little village by the sea.

As for the fish and chips, we visited Wolfies of Hove and it didn’t disappoint. The cod was succulent, not greasy and of a sensible portion size that left us full but not in a comatose state.

Recommended places:

The Gin Tub — Love gin? This is the place.

Wolfies of Hove — Staggeringly good fish and chips.

4pm: To the pub we go…

After a short nap to regain our energy for the rest of the day, we walked back into the town centre — via a few more shops — to find some pubs to get us in the mood for dinner. Brighton had plenty on offer, and we were more than overwhelmed with the choice on offer.

Recommended places:

Hop Poles — A local favourite near the seafront.

The Walrus — Step back in time in this wonderfully kitsch pub with plenty of beers on tap.

More shops:

Workshop Living — Cos meets Aesop in this delightfully zen shop.

Our Daily Edit — look no further for trendy and minimalist garments.

9pm: Dins

Despite having a wealth of choice in the city centre, we decided to head back to Seven Dials to eat some grub to finish the night off. Thai was on the menu.

Unfortunately the Red Snapper, the place we originally wanted to go, was fully booked (classic) so we hopped literally a few doors down to a similar restaurant called Thai Pad Thai for some outrageous food.

Recommended places in Seven Dials:

Thai Pad Thai — BYOB restaurant with a cosy interior and friendly staff.

Red Snapper — We discovered very good things about this place on Reddit.

Day 2, 11:00am: Brunch at the Red Rooster

Sunday morning always calls for brunch. And we decided to give the Redroaster Café a punt, as it was the perfect place to pick up bikes for our cycle later.

Situated on the edge of Kemptown (a neighbourhood to the east of the city centre), the café had your classic Instagrammable interior we’ve come to loathe in recent years. Unfortunately the service and food was substandard. You can’t have it all, can you?

12:00pm: Cycle to Rottingdean

It wouldn’t be a Noiseletter outing without a long cycle to a nearby town. And this time we set our sights on Rottingdean, a place about 30 minutes east of Brighton. The cycle itself didn’t disappoint, as we rode underneath the Brighton underpass with nothing but glorious blue sea to our right. And to top it off, the quality of the local hire bikes were good — and cheap.

3:00pm: A final peruse of the Lanes

After making it back to the city centre, we had one last look around the Lanes, which continued to surprise us with it’s offerings, one in particular was a pub called The Pond, which serves great craft beer and delectable bao buns — a culinary highlight of the trip.

Recommended places:

Resident Records — A very well-stocked record shop, catering to every taste.

The Pond — Independent craft beer pub with amazing Korean street food.