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Do you recognise this street?

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This photograph was taken in 1981.

Do you recognise the street? If you do, please post a comment below.

Well you were all too clever for me – and of course you are right – it is Western Street.

 

Where is this street?
Image reproduced with kind permission of The Regency Society and The James Gray Collection

Comments about this page

  • This street looks very much like Western Street, at the top end is Norfolk Square.

    By Peter Maurice (27/12/2013)
  • Yes it the bottom of Western Street looking up towards Norfolk Square.  I ate in that restaurant once when I was studying French (I was hopeless at it) it did a special 7 course meal, which was unheard of, but a bit of a gimmick really.

    By Peter Groves (27/12/2013)
  • It is Western Street. Le Grandgousier restaurant was situated at number 15 for many years. The gap between that and No 14, below the sheds etc, is now the entrance to the gated Golden Lane development. The fronts of several of the other properties have also been altered and ‘modernised’ in period style in the intervening thirty years.

    By Tim Sargeant (27/12/2013)
  • It is Western Street in Hove.

    By Vanessa Crouch (27/12/2013)
  • Yes it is Western Street; a mix of shops and houses Embassy Court at the bottom of the street. The Bedford Tavern over the road, also the back of the Findlater Brewery was on the left hand side halfway up, also the little general stores was in the 50s/60s was owned by a Mr Bastard licenced to sell wines and spirits on a plaque over the door. I often used to ponder this as a kid as I thought it rather rude, till mum said it was pronounced  Mr Bustard. As I lived in the next road, Waterloo Street, mum used to do some of her shopping in there.

    By Dennis Fielder (27/12/2013)
  • Also it is the first street in Brighton on the seafront as Waterloo Street next door is the first street in Hove unless they have moved the boundary.

    By Dennis Fielder (27/12/2013)
  • I loved Le Grandgousier! As Peter says, the menu was at least half a dozen courses. They’d plonk a wicker basket of raw vegetables on your table from which you’d help yourself and pass the basket on. You’d eat these as crudités with garlic mayonnaise. This was followed by a basket of salamis, then a lovely course pate, a choice of main course, then brie and dessert. Very rustic and different, and always a talking point. And the tables were of the long refectory type, so it was very sociable. Wish Le Grandgousier was still here!

    By Janet Beal (27/12/2013)
  • Yes I remember this street so well. Up until 1966 I lived at 46 Norfolk Road, higher up from Western Street. The times I walked down to the seafront. I also loved going into the dance wear shop called Dancia, which is just visable in this photo, a little below Le Grandgousier. My Mum would buy my dancing shoes and leotards from this dream of a shop! Across the road was another restaurant called Au Pied de la Couchon. Have a vague recollection of eating in there too. I also worked for 10 years (1973 to 1982) in what was then Nat West Bank on the corner of Western Street at the top. I think this is now a restaurant? Isn’t it amazing the memories one photo can evoke?

    By Maggie Williams (31/12/2013)
  • I lived in Oriental Place in the early 60s and used to walk to the newsagents in Western Street. It was run by Alan Oakman, the Sussex and England cricketer who was nearing the end of his career.

    By Mick Wright (06/01/2014)
  • I was born in the pub on the left hand side the Western Star. Mum and Dad were the landlords there for years. Next door lived Nell Cooper, Bill Wendy and Janet. Others in the street were Rosie Brooks, Billie Brooks, Beverly Bish, LaurieTaylor and family, and so many more I have forgotten their names but not their faces.

    By Dudley Templeman (16/06/2014)
  • I worked at Le Grandgousier as Chef de Cuisine from June 1978 until June 1979. I loved that place and Brighton too. I used to live in Montpellier Street.

    By Laurent Soligny (20/04/2015)
  • I lived in London in the early 1980s and always ate at Le Grandgousier when I visited Brighton at weekends. I loved the place and well remember the basket of charcuterie. One Friday night we finished the meal with double brandies – a 1911 bottle of cognac at £19 a measure. Two glasses of doubles was probably half my week’s wages in those days, but well worth it! Happy days!

    By Chris Cape (10/07/2015)
  • Does anyone know where I might find more about the brilliant Le Grandgousier – when it closed/why, the people etc. Thanks to this site I have just worked out where it was and ironically I now live around the corner!

    By David Montgomery (05/07/2020)
  • I do remember very well this place…Very nice souvenir.
    I worked at Le Grandgousier as chef de cuisine from january 1982 until july 1985
    I loved Brighton and I used to live in Western street.

    By Claude Carladous (07/08/2020)
  • One of my first restaurant memories … aged around 5 … was this place. A defining one too. The owner’s son carried on this great tradition with Racine in Kensington and now Bouchon Racine in Farringdon. Thanks Henrys Sr and Jr!!

    By Mark S (25/10/2023)

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