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East Street, BRIGHTON, BN1 1NF

A glorious day in April, but a cool wind

So named as in the past high seas would break through the low cliffs and form a pool where fishermen used to drag their boats for shelter. The area last flooded in the mid nineteenth century the result of which was to build up the sea defences. The area to the left just out of the picture was the site of Brills Baths an indoor bathing place that used seawater pumped from the sea. Since the beginning of the twentieth century this area was used as a bus station first for local buses and later for National Express coaches. The tall building in the middle has recently suffered a fire and is currently awaiting rebuilding.

Pool Valley is Brighton's coach station but was for many years the terminus of all the Southdown bus and coach services into the town. This draughty back yard, formed around the backs of the Royal Albion Hotel to the right and the Royal York Hotel directly in front, would be full of green and cream Southdown vehicles, reversing down onto their bus stop bays to set down and pick up passengers. If you look carefully you may be able to pick out the words "Royal York Bldgs" carved in the pediment of the building straight ahead. There is news here http://www.visitbrighton.com/news/1109.asp of an undated proposed £350,000 refurbishment scheme of Pool Valley. With impeccable timing a gas pipeline is being laid in the middle of Grand Junction Road just as the summer season is about to begin. Apropos of nothing at all other than a connection with Pool Valley, a lady, thought be Britain's oldest woman at the time, died in 1940 at the age of 108, having been connected with a confectionery business in Pool Valley from the 1850s to the 1920s, and in 1943, during the Second World War, another woman resident of Pool Valley was fined £1 for wasting bread by feeding a slice to seagulls on the seafront...

Grade II listed. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-480751-princes-hotel-and-attached-railings-

Grade II listed. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-480664-clarendon-mansions-

Grade II listed. https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101380519-princes-hotel-and-attached-railings-regency-ward

Originally opened as the Savoy Cinema in 1930 before becoming the ABC during the 1960s and again in the last two years before its closure in 1999. The whole complex which also fronts out onto East Street has been preserved and converted into bars, restaurants and a casino. The small lane to the left is Brills Lane which preserves the memory of Brills Baths which occupied the site from 1823 to 1929 before its demolition and replacement by the current building.

Hostelpoint, on the right, is a grade II listed building, originating as houses in about 1840.