Caught on Camera

After the Festival May 1971

By David Fisher

These pictures were taken soon after dawn, around 6am, on 7 May 1971. I was making only my second visit to Brighton, engaged as the press officer for the British Industrial Film Festival, which had finished with a party at the delegates' hotel, the then Bedford (now the Holiday Inn), the night before. Films were screened at the Regent Cinema (now Boots) and what then was the Brighton Film Theatre (now Burger King).

It was drizzling when I went out with my camera in the area around the hotel, which added to the moodiness of the pictures. Inevitably there were shots of the West Pier. But could we ever have too many pictures of the way it used to look? Apart from that, the only other noticeable period indicator is the Watney's Red Barrel sign over the Regency Tavern.