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Photos: then and now

Victory Inn
Image reproduced with permission from Brighton History Centre
Victory Inn
Photo by Mike Snewin

Comments about this page

  • Although the Vic was never my local, I did spend many hours in there. A couple of doors down, Brown’s Restaurant, was really popular, and on a Friday or Saturday night, you might wait a couple of hours for a table. Happily, you could toddle into the Vic, down a few beers, and the waitress from Brown’s would come and collect you when your table was free. Happy days. And, when you’d finished eating, pop over the road to The Cottage for a late night coffee.

    By Marc Turner (13/12/2006)
  • I remember the Victory well. As sixth formers at Westlain Grammar in the 1960s we would often have a pint or two there (illegally in some cases), and would also relish a coffee and one of Ian Muzio’s spaghetti bologneses in the Cottage Coffee Bar across the road. Happy Days!

    By Peter Dunk (07/01/2007)
  • This is one of the few pubs in the area that has been well treated by restorers and owners with the facade and signage looking better now than it did in the 1970s , when this part of Duke Street was looking a little forlorn. Now, if the owners of the building to the left could be pursuaded to have it painted…

    By Adrian Baron (05/02/2007)
  • I currently run the Victory Inn, and am somewhat surprised to see that the tiles appear to have been added recently. Historical details of the pub are hard to come by and the top picture here seems to date from the 60’s or 70’s but the green tiles that now cover the pub are missing. Anyone out there know when they were added?

    By Jim (26/11/2008)
  • Re tiles. I think they must be painted over in the earlier picture. Note the peeling sign above the door on Middle Street.

    By Christopher Tuft (11/12/2008)
  • The tiles were there in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I remember them definately. They must have been painted over then stripped off later.

    By Peter Groves (06/07/2009)
  • Tamplin’s Ales ceased to exist in 1953 when they were bought out by Watney, Mann, Reid Ltd. The brewery changed its name to Tamplin’s Brewery Ltd prior to 1964, then to Watney Mann (Southern Counties) in 1969. Not only would this suggest the tiles were in place well before the 1960s, but judging by the hair and dress style in the first photo, I’d say it wasn’t taken until the late 1960s / early 1970s.

    By Alan Phillips (29/01/2010)
  • The stucco and paint in the top photo cover up what are mostly likely Edwardian tiling from c. 1910.

    By David Muggleton (06/12/2011)
  • Some years ago, on a rainy day, I was in Brighton library and looking through an old directory for my family name and I believe I found them at what is now the extension to the Victory (the adjoining cottage in Middle Street). This would have been around 1900 and the area would have not been ‘upmarket’. Not been able to confirm this but I always like popping into that part of the pub.

    By Ken Valder (09/12/2011)
  • The bottom pic is the older pic because it has Tamplins on the frontages, with the original green tiles and the sign on the wall is readable. The top pic is typical Watneys with the tiles painted over. Once Watneys took over Tamplins they gradually obliterated Tamplins frontages and painted their houses in black red gold and white as in the top pic. The give-away is the sign on the wall that is not readable at a later date.

    By Terry Hyde (11/12/2011)
  • Sorry Terry, but you are incorrect with the dating of the photo. The pub still looks exactly like the lower picture, complete with Tamplin’s signage. You are most probably correct that the upper photo shows the pub after Watney’s painted the pub with its corporate colour scheme. This would not have been until the mid to late 1960’s, as there are photos which show the pub with its original tiled finish taken in 1965. The paint has obviously since been removed and the pub restored to its original decor. Regards, Andy

    By Andy Grant (13/12/2011)
  • Sorry but I think you’ll find the bottom pic is much more recent and the pub has been restored in a ‘retro’ style and looks much better for it. Clues also in the clothes and street furniture.

    By Ken Valder (13/12/2011)
  • I worked at Browns, only for six months, late ’75 to early ’76. Exactly as one of the posters has said, as soon as the restaurant was full, usually at weekends, diners would be invited to wait in The Victory and the seater would summon them when a table was ready. The Victory landlord benefited very much from this arrangement, but Lord, he was a miserable so and so! I spent many a happy evening in the pub enjoying after work drinks with the waitresses. Ah, the perks of the job!

    By Chris Henman (07/02/2018)

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