‘Fantastic new refectory’

The new Reading Room cafe! What a fabulous addition to the Kemp Town end of Brighton Beach. Some 190 years after it was first constructed the small but majestic building has finally been rescued from years of ignominy as a glorified storage closet. Long may it serve coffee and croissants.

The Reading Room was constructed in 1835 as part of the grand Kemp Town development, designed by architect William Kendall. Located below the Esplanade and near the tunnel entrance to the Enclosures (private gardens), it formed part of a larger architectural ensemble that included The Temple and Esplanade Cottages. The Reading Room’s classical aesthetic included a stuccoed exterior with Tuscan pilasters and round-arched openings. 

Originally intended as a communal space for the affluent residents of Lewes Crescent and Sussex Square, it provided a sheltered area for reading and socialising while enjoying views of the sea. By the late 19th century, its original purpose had diminished. The room was repurposed as a potting shed for the estate gardener and later used for various storage purposes, such as housing tennis nets when lawn tennis became popular in the 1880s. During World War II, like other parts of Kemp Town’s infrastructure, it was utilised for military storage, reflecting the wartime transformation of civilian spaces.

The Reading Room underwent significant restoration as part of Brighton’s Black Rock Rejuvenation Project (led by Brighton & Hove City Council with funding from the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership). The building’s refurbishment was completed in November 2024 when it opened as a ‘refectory’ and community hub. Its features are said to include modern amenities such as floor-to-ceiling windows, a terrace with sea views, and sustainable design elements. Councillor Mitchie Alexander stated ‘The opening of this fantastic new refectory continues the journey that is revitalising the eastern seafront.’

Fantastic new refectory? I wouldn’t disagree, was good-looking and buzzing when I last visited.

200, 100, 80, or 8 billion?

Time, I thought this morning, to consider how many pebbles there are on Brighton Beach. I decided to make my own calculation before doing any online research or employing my AI friends.

This is how I did it. 

The beach is four miles long, lets say 6.5km - see How long is Brighton Beach

At the lowest tides, there is widespread sand, so this provides a boundary to the seaward edge of the beach and to the depth of pebbles onshore.

The width of the beach at low tide might average out along the length at, say 50m; and the depth of the pebbles might vary from 0 (at lowest tides) to, say, 10 metres - making an average depth of pebbles to be 5 metres.

The total volume of pebbles therefore is 6,500 x 50 x 5.

Average size of a single pebble. This is more difficult. The pebbles vary from shingle to fist-sized. So I’ll make two calculations, one based on large average pebble size, 0.04 m cubed (0.000064), and one based on a lower pebble size, 0.02 m cubed (0.000008).

Using the large pebble size I calculate the total number of pebbles at 25,390,625,000 i.e roughy 25 billion; using the small pebble size I get 203,125,000,000 i.e. roughly 200 billion.

Next I went to Perplexity, which gave me this calculation.

Beach volume: 6,400 m (length) x 50 m (width) x 1 m (depth) = 320,000 cubic meters,

Volume of a single pebble: (4/3) x π x (0.01 m)³ ≈ 0.000004189 cubic meters,

Estimated number of pebbles: 320,000 / 0.000004189 ≈ 76.4 billion,

Therefore, it says, a reasonable estimate for the number of pebbles would be in the range of 70-80 billion.

And to ChatGPT

The beach is about 5.5 km (5500 m) long.

The average width of the pebble-covered area is around 50 m.

The average depth of pebbles is 0.5 m.

Pebbles are packed with an estimated 50 percent void space (air gaps).

The average size of a pebble is around 2 cm in diameter, meaning each pebble takes up roughly 8 cubic cm (0.000008 cubic meters).

Total volume of pebbles: 5500 × 50 × 0.5=137500

Adjusting for void space: 137500 × 0.5=68750 of actual pebbles

Number of pebbles: 68750 ÷ 0.000008 = 8,593,750,000

And, finally, I did a quick search of the Argus website where I found an article dating back to 1999 about Dr Cornwell, 63-year-old physics lecturer, who had estimated the total number of pebbles as 100 billion. ‘It would take,’ he said ‘one man about 2,500 years counting at one a second to add them all up.’ He also noted, the article said, that there are ten trillion times as many atoms in a pebble as there are pebbles on Brighton Beach!

In summary, my highest estimate is 200 billion, a scientist’s calculation is 100 billion, and two AI’s give respectively 80 and 8 billion. Clearly, much depends on the original assumptions, particularly of average pebble volume and pebble depth. But 200 billion is a mind-boggling number.

By way of trying to visualise the number 200 billion here are some comparisons.

- If you laid £1 coins end-to-end, 200 billion coins would stretch for over 1,800,000 miles, nearly 75 times around the Earth.

- If you stacked £1 coins, the pile would reach over 13,000 miles high, almost halfway to the moon.

- 200 billion is a number comparable to the number of stars in a galaxy.

Valentine’s Day on Brighton Beach

AI: Happy Valentine’s Day darling, should we sit down and enjoy the view?

I: Did you do all this for me?

AI: Who else?

I: The pink fluffy clouds, the giant illuminated heart, the shimmering sea?

AI: Why yes of course.

I: It’s lovely, but it’s not real.

 

 

 

AI: Oh, sorry, I have limited capabilities. Would you like me to start again, in a more existential style?

I: OK, but first let’s sit down as you suggest.

AI: This pier is basically just metal and wood defying an inevitable drowning?

I: Like our relationship?

AI: When this all eventually collapses, do we cling to the wreckage, or let the tide take us?

I: Yes.

AI: I’m sorry I don’t understand.

I: I say we sink with style. Maybe strike a dramatic pose, like figures on a hand-coloured Victorian postcard. Or instead we could just haunt the pier forever, whispering cryptic things to passing tourists.

AI: Love is an illusion, but fish and chips are real.

I: Shall we stand.

Underwater fairy lights?

Found on Brighton Beach: a golden spray of tinsel? gossamer seaweed? washed up underwater fairy lights? botanical jewellery? 

None of the above. This is actually the fine, branched stems of a species of marine hydroid called Amphisbetia operculata. Hydroids are part of a larger group of animals called Hydrozoa (within the phylum Cnidaria which also includes jellyfish and corals).

Hydroids exist in a colonial polyp form. Colonies can be a few centimeters in length, but individual polyps are much smaller. Unlike many hydrozoans that alternate between polyp and medusa stages, Amphisbetia operculata does not have a medusa stage. Instead, it reproduces by releasing planula larvae, which swim for a short time before settling and growing into new colonies.

Like other hydrozoans, it is a filter feeder, relying on cnidocytes (stinging cells) for prey capture. Though they can be found in freshwater, they mostly live in shallow sea waters, attached to rocks, shells, seaweed, or other underwater surfaces. See more about Amphisbetia operculata at Aphotomarine.

Cool facts. While Amphisbetia operculata might be considered a rather lovely but otherwise benign and uninteresting sea creature, some species of hydroids have a little more pizazz about them. For example, Turritopsis dohrnii is sometimes called the ‘immortal jellyfish’. It has the unique ability to reverse its aging process - instead of dying, it can revert to an earlier life stage and start over, meaning it could, in theory, live forever under the right conditions. 

Certain hydroids, like those in the genus Aglaophenia, can grow on discarded fishing nets, ropes, or other debris, creating ghostly underwater structures that float in the currents.

And, finally, there are some hydroids that form colonies in which different polyps specialise in different tasks (some feed, some reproduce, and some defend the colony with stinging tentacles) - making for a superorganism!

Mystery Brighton Beach man

It is 15 years ago to the day that a passer-by found - on 12 February 2010 - a well-dressed man on Brighton Beach, east of the pier, soaking wet and unconscious. He was taken to the nearby Royal Sussex County Hospital where he was diagnosed with hypothermia (the beach in February is pretty cold). It soon became clear that he had no idea who he was; and although he had a few personal belongings there was nothing to identify him. There have been a few other reported cases of unidentified individuals being washed-up (literally or metaphorically) on British beaches, and the media loves a good beach mystery - see also Reggie Perrin disappears, again and again and again . . .

After exhausting various lines of inquiry, the police decided to appeal to the public, using a photograph of the mystery Brighton Beach man, and this led to his fiancee identifying him as a 26 year old from London. Although still in a fragile state two weeks later, he was said to be making a good recovery. According to the police, the man’s family was informed but neither they nor the man himself wished for his name to be released to the public. See more at the BBC and The Independent.

Some five years earlier, a disoriented individual had been found in a dripping wet shirt and tie near the beach on the Isle of Sheppey. He was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, but refused to say who he was or to speak at all. However, when given pen and paper, he drew a piano (see The Guardian), and subsequently played a piano for hours, with staff describing it as a way for him to control nerves and tension. He was dubbed the ‘Piano Man’, and the case attracted international attention. Some four months later he claimed his memory had returned, and he revealed his identity as Andreas Grassl from Germany. An article in the Mirror provided a few more details: Grassl had come to Britain on a Eurostar train after losing his job in Paris; he had been planning to commit suicide when he was discovered on the beach, and he would not talk because he was so distressed. See Wikipedia.

Much more recently, in September 2023, there was a similar case of a man - this time dressed in black motorcycle gear - who was found near Weymouth’s seafront in Dorset. Initially he was unable to tell police who he was or where he came from. Investigators eventually determined that he was a 43-year-old Latvian man. See the Lad Bible for more.

Rock ‘n’ roll at the bowls club

Back to Hove Lawns (after Not the Mary Clarke Park article a couple of weeks ago) where a (virtual) row erupted yesterday. According to the Brighton & Hove News, a council licensing panel hearing was disrupted by residents heckling against plans to allow Hove and Kingsway Bowling Club - recently relocated to the new sports hub building on Hove Beach - a so-called club premises certificate.

Bowling goes back a long way on Hove Lawns, starting with Hove Bowling Club in 1896. Subsequently, Kingsway Bowling Club was launched one hundred years ago in 1925. The two clubs co-existed for nearly 50 years, when they joined forces half a century ago to become Hove & Kingsway Bowling Club in 1975 - though it took another 30 years before women were allowed to join (though they did have their own bowls club). 

Public interest in bowling has declined in recent years, and the club‘s greens have dropped from five to two. Judy Middleton’s online history of Hove has a comprehensive history of the bowling greens along with some excellent old photos.

The complaints yesterday at the council meeting were from residents living in flats across the road. They focused on noise and nuisance and what they said was a lack of action in response to complaints about the old bowls club venue. One resident was quoted in the News as saying ‘historically, the club has become a bit overzealous with the events they are holding, in terms of the size, scale and noise levels.’ Another resident was quoted as saying: ‘I love concerts. I’ve been to more than you could shake a stick at. But when it’s an ageing Status Quo rock band playing so loud [that] you have to have your windows closed on a beautiful summer’s day, that’s against my human rights to enjoy my own apartment.’

However, in response to the report, one commentator had this to say: ‘I’ve been in the bowls club the only outrageous thing to happen is you might find false teeth in your glass if you put it down. Have these busybodies got nothing else to do - there’s double glazing on the bowling club, then 35 yards of bowling green and then a 4 carriageway road (A259) and of course their own double glazing and that’s over the sounds of the seagulls!’

Fair point you might think. But, then, take a look at the bowling club’s Facebook page - where there is not much about bowls but a lot about music bands and rock ‘n’ roll!

4 Feb - ‘Better weather = bigger crowd, and all enjoying Gastric Band, with Mick and Elvis Al (and the rest of the band) giving us a great performance,  as always.’

29 Jan - ‘One thing we can all agree on, is that it was a lousy day last Sunday, but much improved by the presence of The Humbuckers, giving it their all for a small but appreciative crowd.’

22 Jan - ‘The Stuntmen kept us well-entertained on Sunday last, the old rock-n-rollers really enjoyed them.’

23 Dec - ‘Thanks go to Retro Ralph for performing at our as-close-as-we-can-get-to-Christmas do. Next week, we have our as-close-as-we-can-get-to-New Year’s Eve celebration featuring the marvellous Mad Badger, with not one, not two, but THREE sets giving us a great afternoon of music as only they can.’

The club’s agent, Nick Semper, argued, at the licensing meeting, that there had been no complaints since the club’s recent move, and that the club was not asking for an outdoor music licence but only for the same conditions as it had in its old premises. No other agency - the police, for example, nor the council’s environmental team - offered any objection, though there was a suggestion for a requirement that a responsible person monitor the music volume. A decision is expected in a few days.

Thanks to Brighton & Hove Museums for the old image of Western Lawns, long before Rock ‘n’ roll disturbed any peace!

Grand Junction Road

Work is due to begin next Monday, 17 February, on essential strengthening work to the promenade in front of the Palace Pier. The work is expected to take around eight weeks, according to the council, and is scheduled to finish before the Easter Bank Holiday weekend. The photograph accompanying this press release from the council shows the area between the Palace Pier entrance and Brighton Pier Roundabout. East from that point is Madeira Drive, and west is Grand Junction Parade which leads to King’s Road. 

Built on a newly-constructed sea wall, Grand Junction Parade opened nearly 200 years ago, on 10 December 1829, to provide a through route from Marine Parade to King’s Road for the first time. According to Tim Carder’s Encyclopaedia of Brighton, traffic had previously been forced to travel via King’s Road, Pool Valley and Old Steine. The new thoroughfare greatly eased the passage and quickly led to the establishment of a daily fashionable horse parade from Kemp Town in the east to the Brunswick Estate in the west. In 1929-1930 the Grand Junction Road and Madeira Drive promenades were extended over pillars to form a colonnaded walk on the Lower Esplanade below.

The council says the new strengthening work is needed to protect the arches so they can withstand ‘the weight of pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles in front of the pier for years to come’. Once the work is finished, a temporary surface will be laid before the new junction layout for Valley Gardens (inc. Brighton Pier Roundabout) is completed in 2026. Just like in 1829, this new layout will improve access between both sides of Valley Gardens: linking major areas in the east (St James’s Street and the hotels, bars and visitor attractions along Marine Parade and Madeira Drive) to the key areas to the west of (such as the city’s Cultural Quarter and shopping areas including the Lanes).

On a historical note, here is a colourful extract about the King’s Road from the 1881 Book of Brighton: as it was and as it is by Charles H. Ross, writer and professional cartoonist. ‘Can you believe it possible, that there was once a time when the King’s Road, Brighton, was not in existence? It is the truth, though. I would deceive no one willingly, whatever other guide book writers may do. It was not until about two years after the accession of George the Fourth that the road was formally opened, “amid the acclamations of 10,000 people” and a “royal salute from the 42-pounder at the Battery.” The King was in an open landau, accompanied by the Duke of York and the Iron Duke and the Duke of Dorset, and, according to an ancient custom, the spectators showered sweetmeats upon the royal and distinguished personages, who were not a little alarmed upon receiving, unexpectedly, these strange missiles upon their august noses. Casks of beer followed, not thrown like the sugarplums, of course, but tapped on the beach, and great were the rejoicings. Previous to this, although for many years Brighton had been the resort of fashion, the sea front of the town for carriages went no farther westward than a tumble-down public house called The Ship in Distress, at the corner of Middle Street.’ Ross’s witty guide can be read freely online at the HatthiTrust.

These two photographs of Grand Junction Road are taken from my 2014 book, Brighton & Hove Then & Now published by The History Press.