With apologies to Neil Simon, our Brighton Beach Memoirs bear only the same name. As well they should. I am not sure most Americans realize just how many places in America are named after places in England and not all of the have a “New” in front of the name. While many of these places in the United States bare little resemblance to their name inspirations Brighton has some definite similarities. A pier with boardwalk style games and eating establishments, crowds of people with children clamoring to go on carnival style rides and of course the beach.
That is where the similarities end. The beach here is stones, uncomfortable to walk on and impossible to lie on. Thankfully there are beach chairs and umbrellas available to rent for your day at the seaside. I think the umbrellas were to provide protection from the rain rather than the sun. It was quite windy the day we were there so no one was sitting on the beach. The water is the English Channel which ranges from 59°-65° in the summer. Brightons American cousin has the same type of temperature range in summer but is warmest in early February-up to 81° in England that time of year it would be 46°. In any case that is too cold for me to do more than put my toes in the water.
The pier itself was clean with large areas to walk and free chairs to sit in and watch the water or people. We were there midweek so many of the rides were closed which meant it wasn't very crowded. Venues were there that have live music on weekends. Hungry? Fish and chips, ice cream and candy floss (cotton candy) stands are numerous as well as nicer restaurants to dine in. It is worth a short train ride from London if you are looking for something different to do. http://www.brightonpier.co.uk/.
Neil Simons Brighton is an area in Brooklyn next to Coney Island. It is a section of the borough where many Russian and Slavic people have settled. So many so that today it is often called Little Odessa. This Brighton has immigrants also but just like the rest of the UK these are mainly people from former or current commonwealth nations. The town itself is filled with gastropubs and cafes as well as museums, galleries and gardens. The streets are very walkable and the beachfront accommodations are reasonably priced. We had one of our few apartment problems here; what we booked was not what we received so we were able to cancel but that left us truly homeless for the night. Fortunately we found a hotel on the beach with rooms available in the summer at an acceptable price, about ¼ of what the same type of room would cost in the US in a resort city during the summer.
