Palmeira Square’s floral clock could be replaced by a globe sculpture or a stopped clockface commemorating the 1953 coronation – or something else entirely.
Brighton and Hove City Council has launched a consultation on what should become the centrepiece of the Hove square.
Over the last few months, new planting has been bedded in – and it’s now time to decide what should take centre stage.
Cabinet member for recreation Alan Robins said: “We appreciate that replacing the Floral Clock is a sensitive issue and that’s why we are taking our time and working closely with the local community to explore different options.
“I would encourage residents to take part in the consultation and help us create a feature that will become as well-loved as the Floral Clock, complements the wonderful new planting scheme and will be enjoyed by future generations.”
The Floral Clock was created in 1953 to celebrate the Queen’s Coronation, but the clock mechanism has not worked for many years and the mound and supporting infrastructure are beyond repair.
Some residents have already submitted their views on the future of the Floral Clock by taking part in a previous survey, which showed that 40% were in favour of a new feature, such as a modern artwork or sculptural sundial, while 41% preferred to retain a reference to the existing floral clock
A petition in support of keeping the Floral Clock was also presented to the council.
Three options are now being mooted:
Replace the Floral Clock with a sculptural armillary sphere (globe sundial), celebrating the site’s timekeeping heritage. The anniversary date of the Queen’s coronation will be marked.
Create a new sculptural feature inspired by the original Floral Clock, with a fixed clock face showing 19:53 to mark the year of the Queen’s coronation and hold a public competition to design the artwork on the sides of the feature.
Transfer responsibility for the site to a community group to take on the feature, fund and shape its future as a community asset – in a similar way to the Hove Plinth on the seafront.
The consultation, which can be found on the council’s Your Voice platform, closes on 11 October.
The results will be considered, alongside feedback already received and the available budget, before a final decision is made.
I hardly think a stopped clock marking QEII coronation in 1953 will be appropriate when the full story of her protection of AMW, whilst in full knowledge of the facts regarding his association with Jeffrey Epstein and other nonceities, becomes fully exposed.
The council might also want to disregard a statue of Rolf Harris.
…….. Wot are you wittering on about?
A new sculpture commemorating the Queen, when we are about to hear all about her protection of nonce Andrew, even though she fully knew what he was doing.
What can’t you understand?
I like the sphere idea, I think a community group would have come forward already if they were able.
Perhaps they’ve been ignored like all the other offers of help seem to have been.
Perhaps, but they haven’t. Public knowledge and the ability to read, Tracy – it’s a powerful thing.
A globe – sundial would be a great idea. Hopefully made locally by a local artist.
All naff ideas and unlikely to attract coachloads of tourists as Hove Floral clock did. You can buy such in most garden centres. Or even a large B&Q. Plus it gives religious and political groups a new place to congregate, so not even good design if public parks are meant to be for everyone. No one could sit on or around Hove Floral Clock – it is purely for looking and marvelling at.
If you’ve been sitting on the Floral Clock, I might have a suggestion to understanding how it broke in the first place.
” unlikely to attract coachloads of tourists as Hove Floral clock did ”
When ever has it?
I live close-by and have NEVER seen ANYONE take a blind bit of notice of the Floral Clock….
Another sham consultation as we were NEVER EVER ASKED if we we wanted to keep Hove Floral Clock which is suppression of residents’ voices by deliberate omission.
The Floral Clock may not work now but a number of TV shows have offered to replace the clock mechanism and a number of gardening organisations are happy to offer their cultivation help. What council in its right mind would therefore refuse offers of help out of hand to retain a famous ROYAL Hove land mark ???
Who has decided the Hove Floral Clock must go and WHY?
The council are there to serve the city not themselves and their own private agendas.
Roll on the May 2027 local elections.
Once again, your failure to actually read things has led to you saying something incredibly stupid. Performative rhetoric doesn’t work when it’s easy to look back and see you’ve had that answered months ago.
There is no excuse for sham consultation Benjamin TM. And that’s all we’ve heard. Excuses and gaslighting. The only reason they’ve had to “take their time” to dish up their latest tick box exercise so they can claim they’ve done one is nothing to do with respecting “sensitivity” but the fact they’ve had to navigate genuine resident anger, when they were clearly and arrogantly expecting no one would still care about either the Queen, now she is dead, or the Coronation Floral Clock. Their original plan was to rip the Floral clock out over a year ago.
if they don’t want to look after the Floral Clock, or simply can’t be arsed, they should be honest enough to say so and publicly offer it up. They have had a number of offers and ideas so far but putting it out there would invite even more including help from outside the city boundaries.
Again, if you actually read anything you’ve been given, you’ll know they’ve been very upfront about the cost to maintain. Once again, your failure to actually read things has led to you saying something incredibly stupid.
Here’s something to think about. You’ve mentioned you hate spending on things you perceive as vanity projects. Arguably, this is one of the most vanity projects compared to things like cycle lanes, and improvement works which have a functional purpose other than aesthetics.
Very inconsistent stance to be taking.
This was never an option provided by the Council until now, I am sure many people would be happy to help.
Yes it was, in fact, several community groups where directly asked, and they all refused.
Well why can’t a new group be established to focus on the floral clock? I’m sure there are many people who would readily agree to help. It’s a bit lazy to just ask a couple of existing groups, and who are the groups who have been asked?
It was one of the nicest squares in the city, money should have been spent elsewhere. Sign it over to the community. The council just lets thing go into decay.
Regrettably, once again – the Labour Administration, has little, or no – sense of pride. The suggested alternatives for our unique & precious Palmeira Sq are all, dumbing down, recommendations. As I have reported at Full Council, there are other working clocks within the UK, so therefore, a replacement clock, with modern technology can be considered. Let the public know the cost & how much the council will contribute. I am sure the gap can be fund raised. We deserve better.
At £20,000 a year, that’s an awful lot when a tasteful centrepiece can be used instead. Not very financially savvy of the Conservative councillor, is it?
A permanent Oct 7 memorial.
Radical suggestion maybe, but how about replacing it with a functioning floral clock. All this council seems to want to do is never replace any historical feature and instead install some modern chinz. Keep our history alive and not insist in sending it into some sort of assisted dying facility.
It was looked at last year before any work was done to the site. Estimates put it at about £20,000 every year to maintain a floral clock, when you consider all the elements to it, and most of the feedback stated that locals would far rather have money spent on other things.
What about a floral cock, much more Brighton and sure to attract the crowds.. Could be motorised or…. Lol sorry couldn’t resist 🤣
Oh dear. One does sometimes wonder whether certain indefatigable contributors to these pages have acquired something approaching a trademark on explaining why every challenge, ambition or spark of civic enthusiasm must immediately be slapped firmly back into its box.
One admires stamina, naturally. But there is surely more to civic life than appearing beneath every suggestion of something better armed with a calculator, a rulebook and an exhaustive explanation of why nobody should get their hopes up.
A clock which does not tell the time is, admittedly, a rather eccentric object. But then a wristwatch permanently fixed at 19:53 would be fairly useless too – unless, of course, it meant something. That is the difference between mere machinery and heritage.
The more interesting question is surely not simply “what will the Council pay to maintain?” but “what does the city value, and who might be willing to help preserve it?”
Brighton, after all, did not become Brighton by removing everything troublesome to maintain.
Imagine applying that philosophy retrospectively. The Pavilion? Dreadfully extravagant. The Palace Pier? Salt water, ironwork and endless maintenance – quite impractical. Madeira Terrace? One shudders to contemplate the spreadsheet.
Fortunately, previous generations occasionally possessed the audacity to preserve, restore, invest and persuade others to contribute. Our city is richer for it.
And there is a delicious irony in proposing that a piece of Brighton heritage should simply disappear in favour of something new. We have, after all, conducted that particular experiment rather spectacularly on the seafront already. One enormous tower later, perhaps the lesson from the i360 might be that “new” and “better” are not invariably synonyms.
So let us be imaginative. Preserve the clock. Reinterpret it. Sponsor it. Invite local businesses to adopt it. Create a “Friends of the Floral Clock”. Let horticulturalists, artists and engineers propose something ingenious. The Council’s own consultation sensibly raises the possibility of community involvement, so why begin by assuming nobody will step forward?
And Brighton does have some rather successful sons and daughters scattered around the world. Mr Jack Clark, for example, might conceivably discover that preserving a little piece of his home city represents rather less of a financial undertaking than developing the future of artificial intelligence. One can but ask. Philanthropy has built and preserved rather more formidable things than a floral clock.
Heaven forbid, ask the public too.
One need only look at the continuing efforts around Madeira Terrace and the arches – championed with such persistence by people including Jax Atkins – to see what imagination, partnership and civic pride can achieve.
Perhaps young Master Jacob Allen might even be lent the portfolio for an afternoon. Whatever one’s politics, he does at least give the impression that when something in his patch matters, he is inclined to fight rather hard for it.
Cities are not improved merely by identifying all the reasons why something cannot be done. They are improved by people sufficiently troublesome to ask how it might be.
There will always be those determined to tell us why we must expect a little less. Lady B would much rather live in a city populated by those determined to imagine a little more.
Lady Bracknell
Lady Bracknell,
Your words have stirred feelings in this particular Viscount which I had rather hoped, following your recent rejection of my advances, had been safely packed away with the winter silver.
For I had allowed myself to imagine, just for a moment, a rather different future for the Hove floral clock.
Picture it, if you will.
A mild summer evening. The last of the sunlight catching the foliage and the rooftops. The floral clock restored to its former glory, ticking away with quiet dignity. And there, beside it, two figures of impeccable breeding strolling slowly through Palmeira Square.
Lady Bracknell, elegantly attired and radiantly unimpressed by the world.
Your humble Viscount, resplendent in linen, waistcoat and an entirely unnecessary pocket watch, having somehow contrived to arrive at precisely the right moment; 19 hours and 53 minutes.
We would pause beside the clock.
Our eyes would meet.
The hands would move inexorably onwards.
Perhaps there would be a gentle breeze from the Channel.
Perhaps I would offer you my arm.
Perhaps you would accept.
Perhaps the Viscount would finally discover that life had one more biscuit left in the tin.
Alas.
Reality, that most vulgar of institutions, intervenes.
You are married.
And so the floral clock shall apparently have to remain the only thing in Palmeira Square which continues to mark the passage of time without making any romantic progress whatsoever.
I shall endeavour to bear this with the stoicism expected of my station.
You are, however, entirely right about the larger point. If we approach every civic amenity solely by asking whether it can justify its annual maintenance bill, then we might as well replace the Pavilion with a rather efficient multi-storey car park.
Obviously, it would need electric vehicle charging points.
And solar panels on the roof.
Possibly a cycle hub.
Perhaps some sustainable rainwater harvesting.
And, I imagine, a consultation demonstrating that the resulting concrete edifice represents an exciting opportunity for active travel and inclusive placemaking.
At least the spreadsheets would be happy.
Which brings me, inevitably, to Benjamin™.
I remain intrigued by the trademark.
Is Benjamin™ a registered brand? A proprietary information-reading technology? Or merely the latest municipal innovation whereby one gentleman is appointed Official Guardian of the £20,000 Figure and dispatched whenever anyone dares suggest that Brighton & Hove might occasionally spend money on something people actually like?
Benjamin™ seems determined to remind us that things cost money.
Quite so.
So does everything.
The question Lady Bracknell is asking is whether everything worth having should therefore be abandoned.
A city without affection for its own eccentricities and traditions risks becoming an exceptionally well-managed place in which nobody particularly wants to linger.
I would much rather live somewhere that occasionally chooses to preserve a little charm, even if the accountants experience a fainting spell.
So, Lady Bracknell, I raise my imaginary glass to you.
Not, sadly, across the floral clock as I had once hoped, but from a respectable distance, as propriety and your husband require.
May the clock tick again.
May the city imagine a little more.
And may Benjamin™ one day discover that not every conversation requires a £20,000 calculator.
With my most wistful regards,
Viscount Biscuit
Viscount, your way with words does paint the most enchanting picture – not merely of a clock, but perhaps of a slightly brighter future for our fair city.
One does sometimes wonder whether this is what has gone missing from civic life: a little ambition, imagination and, dare one say it, joy. Everything seems terribly earnest these days – process, politics, consultations and, increasingly, disagreements even amongst those wearing the same coloured rosette.
Voytek makes a rather wonderful point below: £500,000 to conceptualise a Sussex bus service would apparently keep the clock going for some 25 years. And before the guardians of the municipal ledger descend to explain, with impeccable accuracy and rather less imagination, that these sums reside in entirely different pots and therefore must never be mentioned in the same sentence, one is perfectly aware of that.
But must we always begin with why something cannot be done?
Our resident champion of the immovable obstacle makes the rather telling point that groups have been approached on this premise of maintaining the clock before and said no. But innovators – the changemakers, if one must use the modern term – do not generally regard the first no as the final word. They ask again, they try another route, they find a different partner, and they keep going until somebody says yes.
The very fact is Brighton & Hove inherited its pavilions, piers, squares and eccentricities because, at various moments in its history, somebody possessed the imagination to create something delightful – and others possessed the ambition and persistence to make it happen.
So let us, just for once, imagine more exciting times. A little less misery. A little more civic pride. A little more joy.
And, if it is not altogether too ambitious for 2026, perhaps even a clock whose hands move.
Yours,
Lady B
I think the term Constant…followed by whichever adjective people wish to call me is probably quite accurate!
I’m usually pretty pragmatic on things, but to balance it out with optimism for a change of pace, I do hope if there is a way forward that repairs the floral clock, whatever that may cost, and a business plan for how the year round maintenance is achieved for successive years, that it is indeed explored.
Because, that would be the path of least resistance, right?
Lady Bracknell,
You have persuaded me that persistence is an admirable quality.
Which makes me wonder why the Council appears to have misplaced it.
We are told that various people were approached about taking on the floral clock, and that some declined. Quite understandable. Taking on a complicated civic asset is hardly the sort of proposition one accepts between elevenses and luncheon.
But surely that is the beginning of the conversation, not the end of it?
“Would you like to take on the clock?”
“No.”
“Very well. What would make it possible?”
That second question appears to have gone rather missing.
I cannot help feeling that the Council has been rather more energetic in establishing why the clock cannot be saved than in discovering who might save it.
Indeed, if Lady Bracknell’s philosophy is correct — and I am increasingly reluctant to dispute anything she says — perhaps the Council should try asking again, asking somebody else, altering the proposition, finding a partner, seeking sponsorship, approaching businesses, heritage organisations, horticultural societies, clock specialists, local benefactors or, heaven forbid, actually asking the public what they might be prepared to do.
Instead, we seem to have arrived rather briskly at:
The clock is difficult.
The clock is expensive.
Nobody has volunteered to take it on.
What would you like instead?
That is not quite the same thing as exhausting the possibilities.
And I confess I find the omission from the consultation rather curious. We are invited to consider what should replace the clock, but apparently not whether there might be a viable route to retaining it.
Perhaps I am being hopelessly old-fashioned.
But when something is genuinely loved by the public, I have always thought one ought to make a rather determined attempt to save it before ordering its replacement.
Lady Bracknell, I fear you have reminded me that persistence can be dangerous.
One starts by refusing to accept the first “no”.
Before long, one is making a second attempt.
And the Viscount has already discovered that this principle is considerably easier to apply to municipal furniture than to matters of the heart.
I shall therefore confine myself to the clock.
For the moment.
Viscount Biscuit
It’s a little more than “The clock is expensive.” – It is specifically there is no budget available to repair it, or capacity or funds to maintain it year-on-year, so even if it was repaired, it would soon be in a state of disrepair. Options become rather exhaustive, when you have quite the limiting factor like that.
Isn’t it funny how the council can always find the money to waste on the pointless vanity projects that it views favourably; such as wasting ~£500k on a bus survey – a bus survey !!!!
Or on hiring DEI managers and ‘Community Cohesion Managers’ (whatever they are) on high salaries and gold-plated pensions.
They could easily find the money for a floral clock if it suited their communist agenda.
Tim Hunkin would be the ideal man to design and install a replacement floral clock.
Funny, if it was their money. It’s not.
No, it’s taxpayers’ money they are wasting on the bus survey. Our money.
Just keep the clock going even with solar power Not much to ask
My three-point plan to save the clock.
1/ Cancel the bus survey, pointless waste of money.
2/ Use the £500k saved to re-instate the clock. Engage Tim Hunkin and that chap from the Repair Shop, Dom, to carry out the work.
3/ Sack a DEI manager (preferably sack all of them; a complete waste of money) and divert the salary saved into a maintenance fund for Tim and Dom to undertake the maintenance of the clock.
And if anyone chips in ‘oh, but you cant do that it’s a different pot and a different budget’ blah blah blah.
In the words of our Glorious Leader Churchill – ‘Action This Day’
Good to see you, it has been a while, Voy. I can’t actually use the different ringfenced funds this time, because it’s even more fundamentally flawed than that.
Problem with step one, that’s not council’s money, so cancelling it does nothing for the council’s budget.
Thankyou Benjamin for your kind words; I’m amazed anyone notices my presence, let alone my absence.
So the money for the bus survey comes from central government, ‘Blakey Burnham’ – well the government doesn’t have any money, only taxpayers’ money, and spending it on a bus survey is a total waste of taxpayers’ money.
It would be much better spent on the floral clock.
Did you doff your MAGA hat and salute your Trump effigy when you mentioned DEI..?
Well, I hope you’re in good health, and I notice!
I’m not a fan of using money for consultants like that, whatever the source, so I agree with you on this point, especially since I’d wager much of this data already exists.
Why does it actually need anything beyond just grass?
A bit nihilistic of you, isn’t it? Technically, it doesn’t need a centrepiece, but having something to replace the overgrowth is a fairer compromise than “just grass”, right?
Replace the Floral Clock in all its glory as it was, with flowers and plants changing throughout the seasons, and fund this with businesses, who each pay for and maintain one clock face each.
If this cannot be done, then we would like a functioning sundial as a permanent reminder. Time passes and we must do the best we can to preserve the gentle ambience of this park.
A few more benches for peaceful contemplation would be welcomed too.
Let us keep some parts of the City gentle and sedate, as the Square always was, before cost cutting Council members without any idea of priorities did away with the Clock and trampled upon the gardens in their hobnailed boots!
This was an act of pure vandalism without even a consultation, so the Council need to make amends for the damage they have caused here in the first place.
So, Option 1 then?