Next time you walk out along Brighton Palace Pier, don’t just look up at the rides or out to the sea. Look down. On the edge of the boards beneath your feet runs a discreet line of small brass and bronze plates. They are easy to miss, almost hidden from view, much aged and weathered, but together they form a civic and personal trail stretching the length of the pier.
Most of the plaques are private dedications. For a fee, the pier company would fix them to the decking, allowing families to commemorate loved ones, celebrate weddings, or mark birthdays and anniversaries. This scheme began in the early 2000s as part of the pier’s commercial offer, marketed through the ‘Deck-Squares’ programme. Unlike the large monuments or benches seen elsewhere on the seafront, these tributes are modest and low-lying, forming a quiet memorial gallery where the pier’s fabric becomes the canvas. Scores of them already line the walkway; given the pier’s great length - more than 1,700 feet - the potential runs into the thousands.
In recent years a second strand has joined them. Since 2021 the pier has also carried plaques for winners of the Argus Community Star & Care Awards, the long-running scheme organised by Brighton’s daily newspaper to honour volunteers, carers and community heroes. Categories have included Good Nurse, Mental Health Award, Volunteer of the Year and Local Hero. Usually winners are celebrated at a hotel gala with trophies and publicity, but in partnership with the pier company their names have also been etched into brass and screwed into the decking alongside the private dedications. However, this year, the awards for 2025 have been postponed, with the organisers noting they will advise for 2026.
The effect is curious and rather moving. A memorial to a much-loved grandmother might sit a few feet away from a dedication to a young volunteer recognised for charity work, or a nurse honoured for service in the pandemic. Family affection and civic recognition are absorbed into the same structure, pressed into the pier’s timbers, sharing the same salty air and the same tides below. Together, these plates turn Brighton’s Palace Pier into an accidental archive: part seaside attraction, part public gallery of memory. They are easy to ignore, but once you notice them, you find yourself scanning each one, piecing together fragments of lives and achievements.
Here are my top nine plaques (see also photo montage).
‘In memory of my dear sister Pat who manned the candy floss kiosk throughout the 1953 season’
‘John (Leonard) Scrace 1944 - 2022 Son of Brighton Football Legend (Whitehawk FC) xxx’
‘For our dearest Johnny John Johnny Who always loved the 2p machines and dreamt of winning big. Love you always, Samila, Mish, Miled and family xxx’
‘ADAM JUSTIN BOULTER 11/01/1970 – 03/08/2023 “Au revoir, les Félicieuses.” ’
‘Joss Baker Happy 70th Birthday Brighton Palace Pier, 13.07.25 A magical day of love, laughter and joy shared with family and friends’
‘Jemma and Steve Got engaged on this spot 17th August 2013’
‘In memory of Norman and Jean Foord who met at a dance on the Palace Pier in 1948. Married a year later and settled in Brighton, sharing 65 happy years together.’
‘Celebrating the Life of Raymond Barnard who maintained the pier with love and care’
‘In memory of our mum Elizabeth Oliver who loved Brighton’s casinos 11.01.28 - 28.01.21’
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