Brighton, England — Activities
Brighton Culture
The Brighton Center (tel: (01273) 290 131; www.brightoncenter.co.uk) is the largest indoor arena in Brighton. More diverse and versatile is the Brighton Dome (tel: (01273) 700 747 or 709 709 for tickets; www.brighton-dome.org.uk), which is the region's foremost classical music venue but also puts on a steady stream of comedy shows, theater pieces and jazz, pop and folk concerts.
Komedia (tel: (01273) 647 100; www.komedia.co.uk) is a multistage venue with an exciting and eclectic repertoire ranging from all kinds of music to theater, comedy and cabaret shows. Joogleberry Playhouse (tel. (01273) 687 171; www.joogleberry.com) in Kemp Town offers jazz, flamenco and comedy on a nightly basis.
For West End shows, musicals, comedy, drama and dance, the Theater Royal (tel: 0844 871 7627; www.theambassadors.com/theaterroyal) is a good place to go.
Brighton has two mainstream cinemas, The Odeon (tel: 0871 224 4007; www.odeon.co.uk) on West Street and the UGC Cinema (tel: 0871 200 2000; www.cineworld.co.uk) at Brighton Marina Village. The Duke of York's Picture House (tel: 0871 704 2056; www.picturehouses.co.uk) shows many art house, independent and foreign language films.
For listings of what's on in Brighton, check out the official www.visitbrighton.com website. There are several good local magazines which include listings of events. The Insight is a monthly publication and is available from newsagents all over Brighton and Hove. This is Brighton comes free with the local newspaper The Argus. The Brighton Source is a free paper distributed to nearly 400 venues (clubs, pubs, shops and cafes) on the first day of every month.
Brighton Tours
Brighton Walks (tel: (01273) 888 596; www.brightonwalks.com) offers a number of walks around the city center, a ghost walk on the first Saturday every month, and other themed walks such as the ‘Murder Walk' and the ‘Lanes Tour', which are available by group booking. An audio tour of Brighton containing three different walks with pre-recorded information is available. Visitors can download the tours from Tourist Tracks (www.tourist-tracks.com) onto their MP3 players, order a tour CD from the same website, or alternatively hire an MP3 player containing the tour from the tourist office.
For a snapshot introduction to the city's landmarks, open-top bus rides run by City Sightseeing Brighton (tel: (01273) 880 123; www.city-sightseeing.com) leave from the Grand Junction Road opposite the coach station. Built in 1883, Volk's Elektric Railway (www.volkselectricrailway.co.uk), Britain's oldest electric railway, runs regularly every day from Easter to mid-September between Brighton Pier and Brighton Marina. Boat trips, whether for pleasure or mackerel fishing, are available from Ross Boat Trips (tel: 07836 262 717; www.rossboattrips.co.uk) at Brighton Marina.
