Given to town in 1930

At the northern end of Victoria Gardens stands the Mazda electric fountain, given to the town in 1930 by Thomson-Houston Ltd following an exhibition.

On 1 October 1987 it was switched on again following several years of disuse to delight passers-by with its multicoloured illuminated cycle and 35-foot jets of water.

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  • In 1930 British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was one of the companies vying to install sound systems in British cinemas. By coincidence (or not), a BTH system was inaugurated at the Duke of York’s cinema, just up the road at Preston Circus, in May 1930. If the fountain was intended as a promotional exercise, it had relatively little effect in local cinemas. The next to install BTH equipment appears to be the Odeon Kemp Town in 1934. Still, it was a generous gift to the town and good that it’s working again.

    By David Fisher (01/10/2004)
  • I remember this fountain from the end of WW2. I often wondered what it was as it was closed down during the war years. When it was allowed to be used again I was absolutely entranced by the colours and the jets of water. In my childish opinion it was much better than the fountain in Steine Gardens.

    By Maureen Sweet (07/09/2010)
  • It was in the 50s & 60s when I grew up in Brighton. This was the best fountain with all the lovely colours, the other one looks O.K in the daytime but not a patch on this one at night. I asked my dad why there were lights in the trees and he told me “It was so the birds could see their way to bed”.

    By Anne Newman (29/01/2011)
  • Passing through Victoria Gardens yesterday evening it was the most wonderful and pleasant surprise to see the Mazda fountain back at long last to something of its former glory : I think it’s thirty years plus since I last saw it looking anything like it does now. There were so many years when it not only looked forlorn but seemed abandoned. Whether the mechanics of the fountain has has undergone strict restoration, or if more modern technology has given the fountain a helping hand (I have yet to find out), I would say the use of the coloured lighting and sophisticated sequencing of the water jets are true to the spirit of the fountain as was intended. A real beauty … also great to seeing the work done to the neighbouring Victoria Fountain at Old Steine. If there was a lot of publicity surrounding these achievements of restoration — and rightly so — I somehow managed to evade it !

    By Sam Flowers (31/10/2023)

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