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Undated photograph

Sussex Street, Brighton
Image reproduced with permission from Brighton History Centre

Comments about this page

  • There is a pub on the corner of Sussex and Windmill Streets now called The Setting Sun which was originally called The Millers Arms (and built as such in the mid 19th Century). If any one has any information about the Millers Arms I would be grateful or even if there used to be a separate pub called the Setting Sun

    By Nicki Myers (01/01/1900)
  • Does anyone have an old photo of the property on the opposite side of the road from the Setting Sun pub on the corner of Sussex Street and Windmill Street? Apparently this used to be a bookmakers / betting shop. Anyone got or know where I can get a photograph of this? Thanks.

    By Tracy Johnson (28/02/2006)
  • In the 1901 census an ancestor of mine was living at 2 Sussex Street and is down as a Beer Retailer Pub working from home. In the 1891 census the head who is a woman was down as Beer/housekeeper and her daughter was a barmaid.

    By Jacqui Day (11/08/2006)
  • This does not look like Sussex Street. I’m only 46 and on the right hand side of this street has always been a park

    By Patrick (25/10/2006)
  • It is indeed Sussex Street. The photograph was taken in 1932 by James S Gray a well known recorder and collector of Brighton photographs. The side roads, which ran through to Carlton Hill, are Woburn Place and Nelson Row with the Mission Hall on the corner. They were demolished in 1936. Part of this site is now occupied by Kingswood Flats built in 1938 and named after Sir Kingsley Wood, Minister of Health in the Chamberlain Government

    By John Blackwell (19/11/2006)
  • At the bottom of Windmill Street, at its junction with Sussex Street, there was the Millers Arms. On the opposite side of the street was the flank wall to a row of terraced houses. Continuing on from these houses in Sussex Street was a greengrocer, a sweet shop (I think), then the bookmaker on the corner of Stanley Street. The bookmaker was Eric Jaffe, who I don’t think was very successful. Unfortunately, Eric Jaffe was known locally as the only bookmaker to walk everywhere, although he did use a bike sometimes. Sorry, no photos.

    By Ron Burtenshaw (26/02/2007)
  • The only public house near to the Millers Arms was the London Arms on the opposite side of Sussex Street, almost opposite Stanley Street, demolished in the mid 50s. A pub called the Rising Sun was on the corner of Grosvenor Street, according to an old map of the area published on this web site.

    By Ron Burtenshaw (27/02/2007)
  • Does anyone remember Sussex Street Nursery? I was born in 1956 so would have been about 3 or 4 years old, they put us down for a nap in the afternoon on wooden fold out beds, and mums would sit on the wall opposite and wait for us to come out. I well remember the Creche too, with the old derelict bus to play on.

    By Val Harber (nee Hall) (02/09/2007)
  • My great grandmother, Marion Bushby, was born at No. 17 Sussex Street on 7th April 1875. Her father was Francis Bushby – one of the fishermen in the photo of Brighton seamen, 1864. Francis had three wives and a total of nine children by them. They then moved to 46 Cambridge Street – were those houses any bigger?

    By Judi Swinsco (17/11/2007)
  • Does anyone have any pictures or know of any history of Elmore Road, Brighton? Thank you.

    By sarah (13/02/2008)
  • On the 1841 Census, my Great Great Grandfather’s first wife Catherine Goddard aged 13 was living with her parents in Woburn Place. Her father Philip Goddard, Bricklayer, was a widower and bringing up three children on his own. William and John were shoe apprentices. In 1849, Catherine married my Great Great Grandfather and her father Philip is a witness to the marriage.
    Does anyone else have any family history connected with Woburn Place?

    By Nicola Hayek (29/02/2008)
  • My grandmother, Mary Sullivan, was born in Woburn Place in 1895. Her parents were William and Jane Sullivan. William was a fish hawker and Jane was a washerwoman. From there I understand Mary went on to live at Park Place (also demolished later as slum clearance) where my dad, George Sullivan, Mary’s son, was born in 1918.

    By Jan Sinkfield (14/08/2008)
  • The Creech that you speak of is still there but has changed a lot. I’m 41 now but spent the first nine years of my life playing in that park. I think it’s actually called the creche now but I could be wrong. I just thought it was called the Creech because nobody could pronounce creche. I lived at No 20 Elmore Road from 1966 to 1975.

    By Lynette (12/09/2008)
  • Hiya Lynette. Us kids always knew it as ‘The Creech’ as we were never posh enough to know words like creche. I lived at 24 Sussex Terrace after being bombed out next door to the garage that used to be on the Sussex St corner, so the bombsite and ‘The Creech’ was our local play area - ideal for cowboys and indians etc as we had a ready made fort. Is the Blue House Pub still on Sussex St? I think I will have to come and have a dekko as I expect it’s all changed around there now?

    By Patrick Collins(Catswhikas) (26/10/2008)
  • This picture could not have been taken in 1931. My house was built in 1931. I have a picture of it near to the time as well.

    By lee mitchell (26/10/2008)
  • Does anyone know of a pub called “Live and let live”, in this area?

    By John Gower (28/11/2008)
  • The Live and Let live, I think, was on Richmond Street. I think on the corner of Dinapore Street near the railings. Just below what is now John Street? or in that area.

    By Patrick Collins(Catswhiskas) (04/01/2009)
  • If you go into Local Folk on the start up page for My Brighton and Hove and look at Obed Arms Pub on the corner of Richmond St, there are some references to the Live and Let live pub. Maybe someone will have more info.

    By Patrick Collins (Catswhiskas) (04/01/2009)
  • The Live and Let Live pub was on the north east corner, Dinapore Street and Richmond Street.  During the 50s the landlord was Fred Hatton, a bald thin man with glasses, always used to give me the different coloured beer bottle caps in a large biscuit tin full of cigarette ash. I have a photo of the pub just before its demolition.  At the centre of the crossroads were the green railings and a gas lamp.  I lived just a few houses along in Claremont Place, the only building left is the pub at the south end of Claremont Place, the Lion & Unicorn pub (called the Blue House) and the kerb outside is original 1950’s.  The Blue House looks the same but the atmosphere is nothing like it was back then.

    By Anonymous (15/02/2009)
  • The Blue House is no longer there, it  was closed last year I believe, and is being made into a home. Good old pub, good company, all gone. My family is born and bred in Brighton, Sussex Street and Milner Flats. Later in life Manor Farm, but we move back to our roots, or near, around Ashton Rise and Elmore Road. Brighton is the place to be.

    By Bev Weaver (25/02/2009)
  • With reference to the “Creche” and the obsolete mode of transport that was placed there for the kids to play on (circa 1950s), it was neither a train nor a bus but a very old Dennis fire engine that was built about the 1920s. Of course it may have been replaced by the 60s but the creche was fairly small and I don’t think it would have accommodated a steam loco.

    By Anonymous (17/09/2009)
  • I wonder if Bev Weaver is a relative of Benny Weaver, years 1930s & 1940s?

    By anonymous (21/09/2009)
  • We used to spend holidays in Brighton staying at my grandparents’ place at 66 Sussex Street, this would be in the 1950s. I remember a pub on a corner, would this have been the Miller’s Arms?

    By Nicki Chisholm (28/09/2009)
  • Hi Nicki, I now live at 66 sussex street – how strange? The Millers Arms was on the corner of Windmill Street and Sussex Street, very close to number 66, it’s now called the Setting Sun. I do believe however that my house along with the 2 adjoining houses was once a hotel?

    By Lee (26/11/2009)
  • The ‘Live and Let Live’ pub was where I had my first legal drink – a light ale. The landlord Fred Ogbin would serve you a scotch from under the counter when he got to know you, as the pub was only licenced to sell ale.

    By Les Dean (29/12/2009)
  • Tarner Land Nursery. Top of Sussex Street. I can still see it in my mind’s eye. Got a photo of it somewhere.

    By Alan South (04/02/2010)
  • Does anyone know of a pub called the Claremont Arms? According to the 1881 census my ancestors were beer retailers and lived at 25 Sussex St, Claremont Arms. Many thanks.

    By Jenene Craven (23/05/2010)
  • Hi all, just found this site. I remember the creech at the end of Elmore road and had a lot of happy days playing there. Lynette, you said you lived at 20, Elmore Road – I lived there from 1950 till 1956, my family lived there a long time before and after I left.

    By John Dine (11/06/2010)
  • Hi, John Dine. I’ve just found this site, and its been great to relive all the old times around those streets. We lived in Jersey Street off Albion Hill: me, Michael, Derek and Philip. My mother’s maiden name was Dine she became Peggy Ellett and she lived in Elmore Road till she got married, can’t remember the number although I could go straight to the house. Your name is very familiar - is there a Ronny Dine? My earliest memories are of the Creech and Sussex Street Nursery where I went from 1957-1961. I remember the big bonfire nights that used to be in Elmore Road. Is there anyone from Jersey Street looking into this site? We lived at 42. Sadly my mum is no longer with us – she would have loved to have reminisced about this.

    By Christine Ellett (26/07/2010)
  • Hello Christine Ellett. My mum and dad’s names were Ivy and John, my brothers were Alan, Ron and Keith. We moved from Moulscoombe Way to Elmore Road about 1950 to live with my nan Eliza. I have to report that both parents and Alan and Ron are no longer with us.

    By John Dine (27/07/2010)
  • Christine Ellet, if you send me your email address I’ll email you a photo of your brother Michael (with me & my Gran nee Dine) taken about 1949 in the Kent hopfields. I remember your mum Peggy (my mum’s first cousin) and I’m wondering if John Dine’s grandparents were Luke Dine and Emma nee Dorrington who lived at No. 20 Elmore Road?  secondary2297@hotmail.com

    By C. West (29/07/2010)
  • Hi C. West, you are right - my grandfarther’s name was Luke but my grandmother’s name was Eliza and her maiden name was Dorrington. She later moved to Beaty Avenue in Coldean.

    By John dine (04/08/2010)
  • Hi John Dine, your grandmother’s name was Eliza I’m sure but her sisters in law (Luke’s sisters) called her “Black Emma”. I have a portrait photo of Luke and his young brother Bob in uniform during WW1, Luke as a sergeant in the Royal Sussex Regiment and his brother Bob as a telegraphist in the Royal Navy, Bob was later murdered in an IRA ambush in Rathmore County Kerry in May 1921 whilst serving as a RIC constable, I also have photos of Luke’s other sisters, even one of his mum (your Great Grandma) plus snippets of the family’s dirty laundry from all those years ago as told to me by my Gran Sarah Elizabeth Dine (she married John George West 1915). Interested?

    By C.West (05/08/2010)
  • Hi C West, very interested tell me how we can get in contact.

    By John Dine (15/08/2010)
  • Hi John Dine, you can get me at secondary2297@hotmail.com

    By C West (22/08/2010)
  • Does anyone remember the “Crown & Sceptre” pub on the corner of Sussex Street and Richmond Hill? My husband’s great, grandparents Charles and Alice Prodger owned or managed this pub until the slum clearances during the 1930s. I have a photo of them standing outside the pub.

    By Margaret Stewart (30/10/2010)
  • I see a number of people commenting on the Live and Let Live public house. Anonymous (15/02/2009) is correct to say that Fred Hatton was the landlord in the 1950s (in fact he was there until it was closed). The pub had been in the Hatton family for a very very long time as before Fred Hatton his father, Charles Thomas Hatton, my great grandfather, was the landlord.

    By Sam Davis (07/01/2011)
  • I have a photo of my wife’s Grandmother and Grandfather and we think her father as a teenage boy standing outside the Crown and Sceptre in Richmond Hill. There are also two other ladies in the picture one of whom may be her Great Grandmother. Her Grandmother is holding a whippet and one of the others is holding a black dog. I wonder if you have the same photo.

    By Vic Loake (20/01/2011)
  • How many beer houses were there in Sussex Street? According to the 1881 census, my relative lived at 135 Sussex Street, Yacht and Anchor, and his occupation was Beer House Retailer. Any information welcome.

    By S Byford (24/01/2011)
  • Hi, I lived at 12 Tilbury Way until 1963. I went to Richmond St Infants School 1950 – 1953. The area around Albion Hill, Richmond St and Sussex St did have a lot of pubs, almost one on every corner. My Granparents lived in Tarner Road and my Gran could often be found in either the Millers or the London Arms. I went back to Tilbury Way two years ago to show my daughter where I lived. Is it me or have the streets and houses shrunk?

    By Chris Jenner nee Martin (30/03/2011)
  • Hello. Tarner Stories, a Lottery funded History Project based in Tarner is looking for photos and stories of life in Tarner. We are really keen on finding any information before the slum clearance and after, and anything about life in the pubs in Tarner.It’s a really exciting project that will end in a book, exhibition and content within a website. Please contact Chloe or Jess at info@tarnerhistory.org.

    By Chloe Howley (11/06/2011)
  • The greengrocer in Sussex Street was Wildings. My Grandparents, one Uncle and an Aunt, lived in 66, Sussex Street and I lived around the corner in Queen’s Park Road. Regards

    By Rick Smallman (04/09/2012)
  • My Great Grandfather lived at 135, Sussex Street with sons William and Archibald and daughter Dora. Charles Heppell was his name, he was a beer- house retailer

    By Jane Smith (07/01/2013)
  • I too attended Tarner Land nursery in the late fifties and remember having to take an afternoon nap on the little beds. I once took my pet white mouse to ‘show and tell’ and it escaped. The grocer in Sussex Street was named Bill Wilding. I lived in Windmill Street.

    By Alison (11/02/2013)
  • Chris Jenner, are you Christine Martin? I was born at 1 Tarner Road and moved up to 6 Tilbury Way. I lived there until I got married in 1964 and yes, the streets have definitely shrunk! I did a nostalgia trip of all the places I have lived a few years back. I remember all the places mentioned on this page. No one was affluent but I never felt deprived. Great memories of the sort of childhood that can only be dreamed about nowadays.

    By Jackie Thomas (nee Jones) (31/03/2013)
  • Hallo Jenene Craven, just seen your entry regarding Claremont Arms, 25 Sussex Street from 2010. The Fields are also my ancestors! How do you link to them?

    By Ann (01/04/2013)
  • The Crown and Sceptre public house. If anybody has a photo of this pub – as a couple of you have previously mentioned – please could you post it on this site. I would love a copy as my ancestor, James Amey, was licensee there in about 1881.

    By Harry Amey (05/08/2013)
  • Harry Amey, are you related to Bob Amey who worked at W F Bannister in the 60s?

    By David Gillam (06/08/2013)
  • My great grand parents lived at 48 Sussex Street. I remember going there in the 50s and looking through the window with great grandads telescope at the pier.

    By David Gillam (06/08/2013)
  • David Gillam – No, I don’t think I am directly related, but who knows. It’s not a common name.

    By Harry Amey (29/08/2013)
  • The nursery school in Sussex street is now called Tarnerland Nursery school. When it opened in 1933, it was called Margaret McMillan open air nursery school, and I worked there for 26 years in the kitchen 1974 to 2000. Much altered, the nursery is still open.

    By Wendy Sallis (15/09/2013)
  • Hi Christine, are you still living in Wales? I have just found a photos of your Mum & Dad’s wedding (I was a bridesmaid) and wondered if you would like a copy. I have Stan’s address so could send it to him. Yvonne

    By Yvonne Raynsford (03/12/2014)
  • I lived at 5 Elmore Road with my 3 sisters, Brenda, Jackie and Ann, my mum Nell, my dad Jack, and my grandmother Emma Bryant. I left there in December 1960 to get married and now live in Kent. If anyone remembers us, please get in touch. I love Brighton still and visit as often as I can.

    By Joyce Blackman (nee Bryant) (17/12/2015)
  • Hello Vic Loake.  Sorry I did not reply.  Yes, I think we have the same photo.  The woman holding the whippet is my husband’s great grandmother.  Is your wife related to her? 

    By Margaret Stewart (18/08/2016)
  • Margaret Stewart and Vic Loake – I would love a copy of that photo. My great great grandfather James Amey was also landlord of the Crown and Sceptre PH. I’ve never seen a photo of it. Please see my previous thread above. Cheers!

    By Harry Amey (15/12/2016)
  • Hello Harry.  Sorry but I have only just seen your comments.  I am happy to send you a copy if you let me know how to send it to you.

    By Margaret Stewart (26/06/2017)
  • Hello Margaret – a copy of that photo would be marvelous and very much appreciated. Could you post it to this site or send a scanned or photographed copy to harryamey@hotmail.com

    By Harry Amey (15/07/2017)
  • I am afraid I don’t know how to post the photo. Can I email it to you?

    By Margaret Stewart (18/10/2017)
  • Yes please. E mail address is in my last comment.

    By Harry Amey (21/10/2017)
  • I lived in Brighton in the 50’s went to All Souls and Queens Park. I was Lindsay Murphy then,I am looking for a old friend Penny Davis, I lived in St George’s Tr, and her family owned a fish and chip shop at the top of the road, also close by was June Wills, I think her name was, I was a roller skater at Peter Pans, and had quite a following, and later went on to ice, would love to hear from anyone who lived in the 50’s who may know of them.

    By lindsay Ziehl MBE (26/10/2017)
  • I remember Mum taking me to Sussex Street Nursery. I can vaguely remember being in a classroom, sitting next to a boy called Phillip who was coloured. I can’t remember his surname but can remember Father Xmas coming with gifts and playing outside and milk breaks. Then they used to put us to sleep on camp beds and after they would serve us crusts of bread. Also they taught us nursery rhymes. These days still  appear in my dreams from time to time. On the way back to Hanover Terrace Mum would let me play in the creche which was really just a wasteland with a couple of dumped cars.

    By Peter Paolella (16/11/2017)
  • Phillip Williams was the name of the coloured boy – it came to me today.

    By Peter Paolella (17/11/2017)
  • My Mother, Elsie Peters (nee Turner), lived with her family at 67 Sussex Street from circa 1914 until 1938.   Her parents were William and Caroline Turner and her sister was Florence.   Someone earlier on mentioned that they thought the houses at the top of Sussex Street may have been a hotel at some point.  Mum used to tell me that her Mother did take in lodgers in the summer months, typically people from London coming to the seaside and also attending Brighton Races.  Her family moved to Sussex Street from 35 Stanley Street, where her Mother’s family had lived for many years.

    By Jill Peters (29/01/2018)
  • I lived in Elmore Road, was born in 1942, my name was Joyce Bryant,I left in 1960 to get married and moved to London, for two years, then settled in Ramsgate, Kent, where my husband came from, and am still in Ramsgate, Kent, and now I am  widowed and am 75, but got good family, my 3 sisters are still in the area.

    By joyce blackman (16/05/2018)
  • Hi all, fascinating reading this page, all the history and memories. I‘m doing a bit of local research and wondered if anyone knows when the houses on Elmore Road were built? Yours hopefully, John. 

    By John (24/06/2018)
  • Elmore Rd was built sometime in 1931 as part of the process of rehousing those in poor accommodation in what was a very poor part of the city.

    By Geoffrey Mead (26/06/2018)
  • Peter Paolella, where do I know your name from? Did you go to Moulsecoomb Infants/Juniors or Secondary Tech – or play for PPA?

    By Allan Clarkson (27/06/2018)
  • Hey, me and my friends have just moved to 70, Sussex Street and in the basement is a massive beaten-up furnace which we think says Pattonstar Foundry, Brighton. Does anyone know what was at number 70 because it all seems pretty industrial? Wondered if it’d been a shop or pub? Any information would be great!

    By Adam (27/09/2018)
  • Hi, Adam – Thank you, I really enjoyed looking this up !  A surprising number of uses at 70, Sussex Street, I think.  From the directories I have to hand : W. Swain, baker (Towner’s, 1903) ; Sidney Edgar, butcher (Pike’s, 1939-’40.  Kelly’s, 1947) ; H. J. Owen, confectioner (Kelly’s, 1973) – but it must be checked for certain that the street numbering hasn’t changed over this period.  The old furnace you described seems to fit in with the property’s use as a baker’s shop.  You can check many directory entries at The Keep.

    By Sam Flowers (28/09/2018)
  • P.S. I reckon the furnace could have been made by the Thomas W. Porter & Co. “Star Foundry”, at 23, Bread Street : there’s a great advert for it on p. 909 of the Towner’s 1903.

    By Sam Flowers (28/09/2018)
  • 65, Sussex Street: Can anyone enlighten us on any history here? There have been several disturbances recently to the people renting. 

    By Greg (12/10/2018)
  • Still searching for that elusive photograph of ‘The Crown and Sceptre’, Sussex Street. If anyone has a copy could they be so kind as to either post to this site or send it to me via e mail it would be very much appreciated.

    By Harry Amey (15/04/2020)
  • I was interested by a previous comment that said there was a greengrocer’s in Sussex Street.

    In 1871 James Sheppard, my 2nd great uncle, was living at 34 Sussex Street. On the census his occupation was recorded as grocer. Could he have worked in that greengrocer’s?
    Does anyone remember the greengrocers In Sussex Street?

    By 1881 James Sheppard was living at 120 Sussex Street. His occupation was Foreman Of Roads for the Corporation. It may be he only worked in the greengrocers for a short while.

    I do not live in Sussex and do not have access to Kelly’s or White’s Directories. Perhaps someone who does can post a message about the greengrocers in Sussex Street.

    By Janet Bull (31/07/2023)
  • Hi Janet. I do not have directories at home any earlier than 1914 Kelly’s. That shows #34 as William Stillwell, shopkeeper. #120/121 is Samuel K Greenyer, grocer. In the 19th century trading descriptions could be quite ‘fluid’. Somewhere like Sussex St which was a very poor district at that time would have many small businesses , some operating from a single room in a house ; a similar situation existed in Ireland until recently, probably still does in more rural spots. Goods from a ‘greengrocer’ would have been collected from he wholesale market by the Town Hall in Market St and would be hand-carted across to Sussex St. The lack of storage and any form of refrigeration, plus the area’s low income meant they dealt in small quantities daily.

    By Dr Geoffrey Mead (01/08/2023)
  • Janet, Towner’s 1903 directory gives the same names for Nos. 34 and 120 as those supplied by Geoffrey with slight differences. “Stillwell, W., grocer” and “Greenyer, S. K., grocer and draper” — also No. 120 is not linked to 121 here ; there isn’t an entry for No. 121.

    By Sam Flowers (02/08/2023)
  • Does anyone know where 129 Sussex Street would have been? Has the numbering changed over the years? My 3x great-grandmother was an innkeeper at the Royal Yacht, living there with her family in 1871. The highest number I can see is 75.

    By Dianne Carter (15/03/2024)
  • Hello Dianne,
    The Royal Yacht inn was at the bottom end of Sussex Street, between Nelson Row and Circus Street. This section of Sussex Street was demolished in the 1930s and re-named Morley Street.
    The Royal Yacht was on the south side of Sussex Street, facing Ivory Place.
    Nelson Row, Circus Street and Ivory Place were rebuilt and still exist. If you are able to get to Morley Street, these side streets should help you identify the site of the Royal Yacht. However, bear in mind that Morley Street is wider than it had been when it was Sussex Street. The exact site of the Royal Yacht is probably now under tarmac.
    The link below is to a photograph of the corner of Sussex Street and Circus Street in 1934, just before demolition. The corner building is a pub at no. 135 Sussex Street. Confusingly, this pub was called the Royal Yacht Anchor. It and the Royal Yacht inn both appear in street directories, six doors apart from each other. They are definitely separate establishments.
    The building on the left with the pointed gable and long narrow windows is St Margaret’s Mission Church at no. 131-132 Sussex Street. So the Royal Yacht (no. 129) might be the building just disappearing out of frame.
    Street directories show the Royal Yacht innkeeper as E. Carter between 1870 and 1875. The publican at the Royal Yacht Anchor in that period was initially a man called Johnson and then a man called Gorringe.
    Photo from the James Gray Collection: https://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume24/source/jg_24_055.html
    Info from Encyclopaedia of Brighton, Timothy Carder 1990; and street directories on http://www.mhms.org.uk

    By Gill Wales (18/03/2024)

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