As a city filled with historic buildings, Brighton has a lot of stories to tell if we know where to look. By looking at some of the most famous buildings dotted around Brighton, we can see a lot of fascinating details about how they were once used.
Brighton Hippodrome Was a Multi-Faceted Entertainment Venue
The Brighton Hippodrome was built at the end of the 19th century and was one of the most important entertainment venues in the country during the following hundred or so years. The original plan was to make this the Real Ice Skating Rink, but since ice skating failed to gain the expected level of popularity, it was renamed as the Hippodrome and turned into a circus. This venture was short-lived, and it soon became a variety theatre, whose growing reputation led to the structure being expanded. The list of world-famous acts that performed here runs from Harry Houdini to the Beatles, and from Laurel and Hardy to the Rolling Stones.
By the 1960s, variety theatres were losing ground, and it was turned into a bingo hall, similar to the way that the city’s Astoria Theatre also found a new lease of life with bingo games. Bingo was still played here early in the 21st century, but tastes have again changed, with online bingo now offering a convenient approach for players in Brighton and the rest of the UK. A look at the bingo websites UK options reveals that versions like Pattern Bingo and Winning Headlines are now among the ways of playing this classic game. This bingo site also includes slots and other gambling games, meaning that there are more ways of playing than the Hippodrome could ever offer.
The Royal Pavilion Was a Military Hospital.
We need to go back to the end of the 18th century to discover that the Royal Pavilion was built for the future King George IV. As the Prince of Wales, George enjoyed the privacy and the fresh air that a trip to the seaside gave him, while doctors recommended the seawater for his gout. At first, he rented a former farmhouse before enlarging the property with bold new designs.
The facade we can see today is the result of work carried out by designer John Nash a few years later. Nash designed an Indo-Islamic look that remains striking to modern visitors and makes it instantly recognisable. However, members of the next generation of the Royal Family weren’t as keen as George on staying in Brighton, which had become vastly more popular thanks to the rail link from London that made it easily accessible from the 1840s.
When the Royals sold the Pavilion, it was turned into the Brighton Dome concert hall, with many of the original furniture and fixtures being sent to Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, although some were later returned to Brighton. It had a spell as a military hospital in the First World War, with monuments now in place to celebrate its role as one of the UK’s leading war hospitals.
In recent years, the emphasis has been on attracting tourism to the Pavilion, leading to some 400,000 visitors now enjoying it each year. It’s also become a popular wedding venue, while the Royal Pavilion Garden is said to be the only restored Regency garden in the country.
The fascinating stories behind these iconic buildings let us see how Brighton has changed over the years, in terms of how it’s viewed and what activities are most popular here and elsewhere in the UK.
