Keith Waterhouse once famously described Brighton as “a town that always looks as if it is helping police with their inquiries”.
The tag stuck until the late 1990s when it became the “place to be” and achieved City status.
Without ignoring the challenges the city faces, Brighton and Hove is probably the UK’s most successful seaside community, but it was not always that way, certainly not in the 1970s and early ’80s.
So what are the ingredients of success?
It has a diverse local economy based around tourism, healthcare, higher education, ICT, the arts and the service sector.
It is also unusual in having a strong retail offer with over 350 small and often quirky independent shops.
With 35,000 students at its two universities and 57,000 knowledge economy jobs (41 per cent of the total economy), it has a dynamic employment base.
Since 2011, 14,300 jobs have been created and there are 2,700 more businesses than there were in 2012. In 2015, there were 2,100 business start-ups alone.
The key is education. Over 50 per cent of working age adults have a degree (national average is 38 per cent) and its schools are improving in quality.
Earnings are higher than the average and the city’s population is rapidly growing, up by 13 per cent over the past decade.
There was a net inflow of international migrants – some 3,800 in 2016 – and it attracts the second highest number of internal migrants leaving London.
Tourism and hospitality focused on weekend breaks and conferencing attract some 10 million visitors a year and employ 20 per cent of the workforce directly and indirectly.
A strong events programme across the city’s venues, coupled with a vibrant arts offering, make it a must-visit location.
Substantial local and national investment, both public and private, has underpinned its desirability.
The arrival of premiership football has also added to interest in the city.
Innovation and sustained investment have helped cement its status.
The key, however, is a diverse economy driven by its knowledge base and flexible workforce.
Its reputation as a cultured city with creative businesses helps give the place its buzz and USP.
The city’s diversity and the lifestyle appeal of Brighton and Hove enables it to succeed in spite of the difficulties it has with costly housing, poverty and health issues.
Brighton and Hove’s welcoming feel (it is a city of sanctuary) adds to its sense of inclusiveness and wellbeing.
Lord Bassam of Brighton is the former leader of Brighton and Hove City Council and chairs the House of Lords Select Committee on Regenerating Seaside Towns whose report, The Future of Seaside Towns, is published today (Thursday 4 April).
it’s proximity to London being the main answer
It’s not really any closer to London than Worthing, Eastbourne, Littlehampton or Bognor – or even many Kent and Essex seaside towns. That’s only a small part of the equation. It’s been a town of eccentricity and playfulness since the time of the Prince Regent and it’s high proportion of creative types – including the LGBT community – has always created a unique atmosphere.
City status or council policy has had little to do with its continued success. If anything many of the council decisions have been to its detriment rather than enhancing what is already here. Yes the 70s and 80s were not it’s glory years but then during the same period huge swathes of London were run down and in neglect. Gentrification and reinvention is down to the people not the local authority!
Being close to London helps, but there’s more to it than that. Besides, the cost of living in Brighton, especially renting or buying a home, means a lot of talented people leave.
What’s USP? What’s ‘a city of sanctuary’?
Wow–the whole article without one mention of the LGBT+ community’s contribution to the success of the city. Thanks for the invisibility Steve Bassam.