IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Whitecross Street, BRIGHTON, BN1 4UP

Yet another interesting graffiti in the car park adjoining Brighton Technical College in Pelham Street.

Looking north towards Trafalgar Street. The tower block is City College, Brighton and Hove. Shortly before midday on New Year's Day 2015, and the weather is becoming very dull. Shoppers are gradually increasing in numbers, with some shops open all day or from twelve o'clock. Simon Carey writes:

A café on Trafalgar Street, Brighton

The main side street that links Trafalgar Street to Cheapside. With the exception of the building to the right the rest was demolished during large scale slum clearances in the 1960s. See http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume25/source/jg_25_238.html for a view taken from the opposite end of the street in 1959. Pelham Tower is the tall building on the right.

The north side, between Sydney Street and Pelham Street. Shows the location of Image

Number two on the right is the only survivor of a whole terrace of cobbled fronted cottages that was pulled down in the 1960s to make way for a new technical college now Brighton City College.

For three quarters of the 20th century the series of buildings on both the western end eastern side of Sydney Street’s junction with Trafalgar Street were part of the Co-operative Clothing Store also known as Smith & Browns Outfitters with the shop having entrances on both this street and around the corner at 20 Trafalgar Street now occupied by Forfars the bakers. See http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume25/source/jg_25_189.html and http://www.nlcaonline.org.uk/page_id__93_path__0p5p40p.aspx for a couple of old images of the store. Trading began in the 1850s with a couple of businesses coming and going before it became a toy and fancy goods repository prior to the clothiers W & J Smith arriving in 1898. From 1901 they were combined with others to become the Co-operative clothing store, extended across the road to Image and continued trading for the next seventy odd years. They appeared in the last Kelly street directory of 1974 but I could find no trace in either Yellow Pages or the phone book thereafter. By 1978 Rayford Electrics expanded from Image to make use of the combined space in these buildings until their demise in the late 1980s. They were followed by a second hand furniture store before parts of the combined building were subdivided once more and Sydney Street Bikes moved into number 24 whilst Forfars the bakers took over 20 Trafalgar Street whilst the upstairs is now a dental surgery. OCCUPANTS 1854-56: MILLINERS: Arnold & Eager 1864: WRITER & GRAINER: S Saunders 1867-90: TOY & FABCY GOODS REPOSITORY: G Oliver 1898-1900: CLOTHIERS: W & J Smith 1901-74: CLOTHING STORE: The Co-operative Clothing Store also known as Smith & Brown Outfitters 1978-87: ELECTRICAL RETAILERS: Rayford Electrics 1988-91: SECOND HAND FURNITURE: Classic Reproductions 1993-2011: CYCLE SHOP: Sydney Street Bikes

Confusingly 24a lies on the opposite side of the road to Image though for nearly a century it was intrinsically linked with it. Like 24 both 24a and the neighbouring property whose official address is 19 Trafalgar Street were knocked through and linked together and although the ground floor shops have now been separated the upstairs can still be walked through. To add to this confusion for a period at the end of the 19th century the shop was sometimes numbered 25a. During that period it was a furniture sellers until 1901 when it was acquired by The Co-operative clothing store from across the road and traded as such for the next seventy odd years closing sometime in the 1970s. I have nothing definite after that though have my suspicions that Rayford Electrics, who took over 24, may also have used this property as I have dim memories of fridge freezers out on pavements at this corner. The next definite occupants are a gift shop called Camp Classics who were replaced by the current occupiers, To Be Worn Again, who have been building a little empire selling second hand clothing and other tat. They have a warehouse in Providence Place off London Road to the north and have recently opened a branch in neighbouring Kensington Gardens. They are also currently trading out of Image The first floor was originally home to Brighton Guitars who moved to Image and is currently occupied by a number of small stalls. OCCUPANTS 1884-1901: FURNITURE SELLERS: Sydney Street Furniture Sellers (1884-86), Mrs White (1889-99), Martin Meron (1899-1901) 1901-74: CLOTHING STORE: The Co-operative Clothing Store also known as Smith & Brown Outfitters 1993-96: GIFT SHOP: Camp Classics 1997-2011: SECOND HAND CLOTHES: Taj Emporium (1997-98), To be Worn Again (1998-2011)

At the junction of Sydney Street, Brighton.