The relocation of this year’s Pride Village Party from St James’s Street has angered both Kemptown venues who wanted it to stay as it is, and residents who wanted it moved.
Venues say they now fear tens of thousands of people will still come to St James’s Street which will be dangerous now it will be open to traffic and without the same levels of crowd control.
And residents, who have argued that denying them access to their homes without a wristband is illegal, say that as scores of people live in Marine Parade, the move is now just affecting a different set of people.
Andy Dunton, landlord of the Queen’s Arms in George Street, said he even wonders if the council is deliberately making the event more unsafe so it could be permanently closed down.
He said: “The villeage venues weren’t consulted on this at all. It literally happened in secret and we found out through the grapevine.
“The council said you can have the seafront or you can have nothing.
“Now, antisocial behaviour, underage drinking, glass won’t be under control. And God forbid anyone gets pushed under a bus.
“There’s a small group that want it taken away – the same group which wanted it made a paid event.
“Now the issues that the people who complained about the street party – people defecating and urinating on their property etc – are going to be even worse.
“We can’t police the streets, we can’t stop 20,000 people coming into the village after they have watched the parade. We can’t stop supermarkets selling glass and it being distributed to underage drinkers, which happened in the past.
“We live with these residents – they’re our customers, we don’t want them upset.
“It’s almost like the council want it go wrong so they can lose the party altogether.
“There’s a possiblity that they want to move it to Black Rock or even out of town – it’s not a village party if it’s moved away from the village and the city.”
Meanwhile, Diane Messias, who set up the Kemptown Residents Association and has been vocally opposed to residents having to have wristbands to access their own homes, is also unhappy at the changes.
She said: “This decision to move away from St James Street – vague in detail as it is currently – is problematic in several areas.
“It will put more yet pressure on residents of Marine Parade, who have been campaigning for years against the excessive noise of six hours at a time, two days running, of ear-splittingly loud techno beats, and the suspension of an assortment of residents’ civil rights in having to wear – and pay for – wristbands in order to gain access for themselves and their guests to their own homes.
“Further, any items on the Street Party prohibited list – all legal under UK law, such as alcohol, suitcases, bicycles – still stand to be confiscated by security.
“The council is sanctioning this abuse of civil rights.
“There’s eight miles of beach, which hosts numerous other events throughout the year.
“The main reason for the village party these days is for the bars and clubs to make money – it’s no longer a simple celebration of Pride, and hasn’t been for years – so I don’t see why beach pop ups can’t be organised, as they are with the On The Beach festival.”
A council spokesman said the new perimeter will have a minimal number of properties accessed from the site, if any at all.
All affected residents will be contacted directly in the coming weeks.
Councillor Birgit Miller, cabinet member for culture, said: “The decision to hold the main part of the street party on Marine Parade is just one part of an evolving vision for Pride.
“It was taken in collaboration with key partners, including the organisers Brighton and Hove Pride CiC, and followed significant consultation. This included a survey completed by more than 1,500 people and a number of in-person events.
“The overwhelming majority of respondents were residents, including hundreds who live in Kemptown, and provided us with a clear picture of how people in our city felt we could improve the safety and accessibility of some of the main events, and reduce disruption.
“This included widespread support for removing restrictions for residents in Kemptown, which this solution does.
“We’re working closely with Brighton and Hove Pride CiC and these improvements will make St James’s Street a safer and more accessible place for visitors and residents alike.
“We’ll also be liaising with Sussex Police and other stakeholders to make sure any concerns about safety on St James’s Street are addressed in advance, as we do for all planned events in the city.
“Moving the focus of the street party to Marine Parade helps transform it into something new. It will also allow venues on St James’s Street to be more accessible to their regular customers as well as visitors for Pride, something many local businesses and residents told us they wanted.
“This is about enhancing this celebration of our LGBTQ+ communities and we will continue to listen to anyone with ideas on how we can make it even better.
“Together, we recently met businesses who will be within the new boundary of the street party to outline our plans and will soon meet with businesses who were previously in the boundary to discuss how they can still play an active part in these celebrations.
“Plans are still being finalised, and more details will be shared soon, but the hope is these will include outdoor stages, pop-up stalls for local businesses, and a range of other ways those no longer within the boundaries can take part.
“Pride has always evolved – and always come back bigger and better. This is just another step on that journey.”
A spokeswoman for Sussex Police said: “We are in touch with the organisers of Brighton Pride and are aware of their decision to make changes to this year’s event.
“Sussex Police’s priority is public safety, and we will continue to work with partners to plan an appropriate and proportionate policing operation to keep people safe during the celebrations.”
This is the worst of both worlds! The previous event broke a lot of laws (rights of access and enjoyment of peoples own homes) and was very unpopular with residents in Kemptown…but the bars loved it as it was a managed (if dangerously overcrowded) ‘venue’! The new format makes it much harder to control, while still making life hard for residents. We really do need a professional events team! Enough is enough.
This is not what we discussed in various meetings that I’ve attended over the last few years.
I submitted options, none of which have been taken on board, yet now we’re left with something that no-one is happy with – by people who don’t go to the street party.
Here is a recent email I sent:
Good afternoon Ian
Please see below the link to the BBC Radio Sussex interview I did this morning.
Danny Pike – 03/04/2025 – BBC Sounds
My bit starts at around 1:17, with Pride’s response at around 2:42.
As you may have heard by now from various sources, the community is not happy in the slightest and I fear the meeting on Monday 14 April 2025 will now only be about Pride.
May I suggest that you urgently organise an EMERGENCY PRIDE STREET PARTY meeting to discuss this as this really needs to be held independently of the meeting scheduled for Monday 14 April 2025.
I also ask again, is BHCC now going to make it illegal for people to gather on St James’s Street over the pride weekend ? Is that what Cllr Birgit talked about when highlighting that the police and licensing teams were ‘working it out’ ?
When we talked about ‘redoing the footprint’ we were talking about adding a free marketplace area on the Colonnades and a family / chill out area in Dorset Gardens – not this.
Where is the chillout area? Where is the bit where those who have financial issues are included? Where is the family friendly area?
As you’re also aware, Legends do NOT want to be part of the footprint, that leaves 2 LGBT+ venues, where you are then missing out Marine Tavern, Bulldog, Affinity, Bar Broadway, Queens Arms, The Zone, Nautilus and many other LGBT+ friendly venues in the area.
I look forward to hearing from you and at least confirmation that there will be an emergency meeting instead of the one on Monday 14 April 2025.
kind regards
Robert
Maybe it’s now become too big, too complex, and has lost the ethos, needs reinventing.
Totally agree, it used to be fun but now it has lost its way by becoming a music festival with some pride bits round the edges. It needs to rediscover its roots.
Why don’t they use a real photo of it instead of that weird fake photo?
Wonder how many drunken people will have to dragged out of the sea and how many condoms will litter the beaches? Has anyone thought to even consult the coastguard or RNLI?
Its Marine Parade (A259) not Madeira Drive
Ann, mate, Google maps yeah… Lol
There is no ‘Kemptown Residents Association’, less one represented by Diane Messias.
The alleged ‘Kemptown Residents Association is nothing more than Facebook group megalomaniacally run by Diane Messias where any remote disagreement, challenge, or contradiction to her approved views results in being summarily removed, and often blocked. The page itself has thinly-veiled homophobic comments relating to Pride that Messias allows and refuses to allow to be challenged.
Messias is not emphatically not a ‘community leader’ as she has been referred to in a previous article. Quite frankly, the irony of her kicking up such a pathetic fuss and then not liking the outcome goes to show the short-sightedness of her stubborn NIMBY attitude.
She’s not the Messias, she’s a very naughty girl! Not my saying, but hilarious.
The last thing the Kemptown Village Party is this. “Where is the chillout area? Where is the bit where those who have financial issues are included? Where is the family friendly area?” It needs to be scaled back not enhanced to try and attract more people into an area where it is already becoming dangerous as so many people attend it. St Jame Street is not a conference venue that is designed to accommodate a certain number of people safely. It is not a safe or suitable event for children and people with financial difficulties can join the party on the beach.
Very sad that this once Community event and a tribute to the the city of Brighton is now at the mercy of Corpsaration type sponsorship! Totally disgusted by the cordoning off of the very streets that we normally stroll through are now only accessible if you pay! Also the total commercialisation of this event I’m not niave and know that to preserve this event financial backing is needed but the whole tone of this historic event smacks of profiteering! Refuse to pay the ridiculously high charges to go into the so called event area and the expensive and generic stalls! I was dismayed by the prices being charged by the stalls selling generic stuff! I feel this event has lost its messege of unity in the LGBGT community and has further disenfranchised the Gay people’s and the massive influx of people’s who attend! The messege seems to be! If you ain’t got the money Don’t come to this event! We want a share of the Pink pound? Not to mention the fact that today’s young guys have no knowledge of the ongoing struggle the gay community endures and take the whole event for granted and ignore the very essence of what this special day represents? This has primarily become a targeted attempt at cynical money making for investesters and some spossors? I will no longer be part of this Corporate event! Shame@