I moved to Brighton 12 years ago this month and through out all of my ups and downs, I adore living here. There are reasons why Brighton can be a shit place to live, its super busy, the roads are terrible, and you have to sell a kidney to pay for rent in a reasonably good area. But the positives out way the negatives.
Photo of the beach taken by moi
For starters, we have a fucking great beach. This picture is a typical sunset you will see. Yes, the stones will end up in your underwear and you will get cramp pretty quickly. But look at it. Its beautiful. In the summer the water looks amazing, and you can see some amazing views. The downside of this is that everyone who visits Brighton, knows this, and the beach gets filled up pretty quickly in the summer time.
Photo of beach taken by moi
Then you have the beautiful scenery. There are lots of places that you will come across that look amazing. There is everything from modern buildings, to sculptures and buildings that are hundreds of years old. There are museums and of course The Pavilion that attracts not only tourists but small animals in the gardens.
There are many hidden (and well known) gardens and patches of grass that have flowers and squirrels around. Watch out though for the odd occasional dog poo and needle. Though we do love pur scenery, we also have a huge problem with drugs.
Photo of old steine gardens, taken by moi
There is the nightlife. I could list off a million places you could get drunk at bit that would be shameless advertising. There is a wide variety of places, ranging from wetherspoons to dungeon bars, and everything in between. If you are on a budget, there is always a bar open with some drinks deals in them or not. A few of the bars and clubs even have some amazing views. Always remember to drink responsibly though, we get frustrated with tourists trashing some of our venues. Also we are a gay city, and homophobia do not get treated well here, there are many gay venues (I say gay because as yet, there are not many trans friendly or bi inclusive ones, sorry) and they are always monitored by staff and security
Outside legends bar, photo by moi
As well as the views, the night life and some of the greatest coffee shops, there is one other thing. THE PEOPLE. I have met some wonderful friends during my life in Brighton, some that I will treasure their friendships for a life time.
There are also lots of social and support groups here, and so many hardworking volunteers are in Brighton, and they keep groups running. What ever your looking for, whether its an lgbt group, a geek society or a book club, we have it. I would urge to go to community base on queens road, and they can tell you where places are and there are many places online that will tell you what’s going on, on what day.
FTMB committee at pride, photo taken by Kai
Eventually I would like to leave Brighton, start a new chapter in my life, but right now, I’m staying, and I couldn’t be much happier with the place.
Tyler Charles Austen 