Archive for the ‘Brighton Entertainment’ Category

Its never an easy question to answer: “What’s on in Brighton this weekend”, especially when you see what’s on this weekend – it’s rammed!

There’s so much happening. If you didn’t already know, there’s the double cultural fest of Brighton Festival and Brighton Festival Fringe. One puts on the top names at the best venues, while the other shows of the eclectic and multiarious talents that are emerging locally and nationally – expect some oddities and eye-openers.

Brighton - the place to be

Strangley , it’s all kicked off with a children’s parade. Starting at 10:30 floats from schools all over the city will be taking over the streets bringing a real Rio feel to the place. Expect the town centre to be rammed with buggies and bunting-draped floats.

Even more fun for kids is the Comedy Club 4 kids at the town’s most famous comedy club Komedia.

For more info about activities for families in Brighton, check out ChildfriendlyBrighton’s pages, here

And for art lovers everywhere there’s the Artists Open Houses – some of the town’s most celbrated artists and complete unknowns open their doors to all.  Not to be missed, especially if you are looking for something unique to take home as a souvenir of your stay in Brighton.

And if that’s not enough, well  I can tell you what’s on in Brighton: the summer is on in Brighton! We’ve had stunning weather for nearly a month so expect the beach to be rammed too!

Have a great stay and make sure to check out our Brighton local events pages for more details

We’ve great Brighton accommodation offers, so if you’re looking at coming back, just give us a call.

Happening this weekend!

Student Pride is clearly a celebration, but what else has it got going on?

In which Brighton clubs and locations will we find you?

How has Student Pride evolved over the last six years?

"the most LGBT friendly town in the UK"

Great idea to make the day event free, what’s happening?

Staying the weekend in Brighton, why is the town so special for the UK LGBT community?

You can catch up with the organisers and keep up to date this weekend by following @studentpride and @ambassadorbtn or on Facebook

Its a wonderful place, it’s unique  and every weekend people grab hotel offers looking to arrive at the last minute and take a chance.

The straightest man in the village...

But if any city has a bit of a reputation, it’s Brighton. We’ve all been there: in a conversation with someone from another town, once you’ve said you are from Brighton pretty soon some half-arsed comment gets sent back in your direction. “Oh, it’s full of gay people, isn’t it? that kind of thing.

Well, we love living here. And we know that everyone who visits leaves with a good impression – and sometimes they never leave at all…

There’s plenty of sterotypes about Brighton, and we are glad to say that many of them are true!

Here’s 5 unlikely things said about Brighton which are actually true.

People skateboard to work

Oh yes they do!  There was even a crazy roller-blading guy on Lewes Rd. Whoever he was , he’d be seen roller-blading his way into town in just a pair of shorts, even in winter.

It’s full of gay people

Oh yes, of course its full of gay people: it’s Brighton! But don’t think its Mardi Gras everyday, in fact the best thing you can do is not think. This is the gay capital of the country – it sets the standard – and frankly on most days you’d be pushed to even notice,  so get over it.

It’s a party town, just for party people

No, it’s a party  town for everyone! Our hotel offers attract every type of visitor, from young couples to pensioners to students: the town isn’t some naff fairground and club zone. But oh yes, we party!

Got to love it

It’s a freakshow

Damn right it is! Be all you can be, be everything you can be – in this town everything goes. So the people who would stand out in other places, fit right in. And we love to celebrate it so watch out for parades, street parties, punks and pimps.

It’s the end of ambition

I couldn’t believe it when a friend of mine told me this. His new colleague in London said, “Brighton: it’s the end of ambition, isn’t it?” F**k off! this city is buzzing for business, and is set to recover faster than any other in the country because of its progressive attitudes.

We love it because it’s great for families, too – not just digital media coolios and dykes on bikes – take a look at our Brighton local events and what’s happening on half term in Brighton and you’ll get the idea.

Come and stay with our hotel offers and find out for yourselves.

And if you like where we are coming from, share this around!

There’s always live music on bank holiday in Brighton. So when you’ve got two bank holidays, you just know the town is ready for some serious gigging!

On top of this we’ve a royal wedding- incase you hadn’t noticed. Well, in celebration of all this time off, Brighton has lined up one of the best sessions of live music, ever.

Brighton Live!

Starting with the big venues, there’s former Jam member Bruce Foxton, The British Pink Floyd Show, N Dubz and Beady Eye all playing the Brighton centre between the 22nd April and the 27th.

The Buena Vista Social Club are on at the Brighton Dome  on the 17 April, there’s body percussion sessions and African drumming skills on the Monday and Tuesday that follow.

We all know that live music on bank holiday in Brighton is not just about the big venues: Concord 2 is packing in the acts towards the end of the month: DJ Yoda, Christian metal band Underoath, and US legends of ska and rock fusion, Fishbone are all lined up.

With all this time off handed to us, it’s about time we got out there and back into the scene – this is the best town in the UK for live music, so lets make the most of it!

You could be preparing bunting for a street party… or you could be jumping on the train to check out the live music on bank holiday in Brighton, and every other weekend this month.

For more information about which bands are on, and all the other events on our bounus bank holidays , check out our listings, below:

Brighton Centre

Brighton Dome

Concord 2

Want to stay over? Discounted rooms in Brighton

If you have your heart set on spending half term in Brighton, you’ll be looking for discounted rooms, and we’ve got them!

Book just two nights throughout the halfterm week 17 April – 24 April and you’ll get 12% off!

We know how important it is to get loads to do for the family and kids, so we’ve put together more information than you could ever need.

This is half term in Brighton, so you’ll never be short of things to do. But to help you we’ve hooked up with Child friendly Brighton to make sure your entertained from start to finish.

Half term in Brighton for kids – look here

The five things to see in Brighton

And if you’re still not sure if you’ll be spending half term in Brighton, here’s a selection of our favourite pictures. Come on, you know you want to…

Our discounted family rooms

Brighton Beach

Brighton - by the sea

Half term fun

What it's all about

Pier and skytrails - Image: M Pawlak

Spring madness

Usually it’s Summers that people associate most with festivals. Well, Brighton has got two events back-to-back that turn this on its head. Spring is on its way and with it are the Brighton Festival and The Great Escape, Brighton’s festivals by the sea.

The Brighton Festival gets underway in May, with the first of hundreds of performances by top name entertainers. And there’s its bastard brother, the Fringe Festival. Roommates but not bedfellows, the two festivals help contrast the famous with the freaky.

Headline acts at the festival are DJ Shadow, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Asian Dub Foundation, and headman, voodoo looney and musical genius, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

The Fringe is no less colourful, actually it’s set to be properly odd: on one night you’ve the Netherlands National Theatre, on another you’ll get a look at the world’s best portable crazy golf course. There’s the Rotten Wedding – an interactive wedding reception, and projects running cross the city by the Youth Arts Festival.

Brighton's music festival by the sea

With this under your belt – trust us, you couldn’t possibly see everything, even if you did take a holiday in Brighton for the entire month – your best bet is to stay in festival mode all the way through May. Because before you know it, you’ll be thrown in at the deep end of another one of Brighton’s festivals by the sea, The Great Escape.

Some of the worlds’ top acts descend on Brighton: Paulo Nutini, The Vaccines, Friendly Fires, Hauschka, Katy B -this festival is rammed.During the three days from 12-14 May there’s 300 artists playing at 30 venues and a convention of speakers from the music industry.

So it’s begun! Delegates can get discounted rooms at the hotel, although with all the after-parties going on, it could be that they don’t get in much before dawn anyway…

Brighton Festival 7-29 May

Brighton Fringe 7-30 May

The Great Escape 12-14 May

Discounted rooms for the festival – 20% off bookings of 2 nights!

Image- Stuart Isett - isett.com

Staying in Brighton you can’t help but be whisked along by the Brighton Festival. And if you haven’t heard yet, this year’s guest director is the civil rights protestor Aung San Suu Kyi. Now if you are drawing breath and asking: “Who?” then here’s some background on the lady and her remarkable life:

Aung was born the daughter of a hero of Burmese independence, Aung San, who was assassinated when she was only two years old. Having studied at Oxford she married an Englishman, before returning home to help her sick mother.

As the Burmese were fighting for democracy, Aung gave speeches across Burma in support. She went on to lead her opposition party. But the Burmese military, realising the threat she posed, acted against her.  Banned from standing for election, imprisoned and generaly abused by the leadership, she still won a massive share of the votes.

Well, the government kept power and kept her locked up whenever it could – it even attempted to assassinate her at one point.

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, The Sakharov Prize and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, she is possibly the world’s best knows political activist . And after a total of 15 years in detention, she was released in November 2010.

Freedom and creativity - here comes the Brighton festival!

Why the Festival? Well, it’s more about her inspiration to people fighting for their rights, in whichever form this may take. Oh, and the Burmese government is unlikely to let her back in to the country if she leaves. So, guess what? She’s staying and continuing to fight for freedom!

The festival takes place from7-29 May, and if you’ve never spent any of your weekends in Brighton, pick one this May. The Festival and the Fringe Festival define this crazy, mixed up, spun-out little bastion of creativity.

And for more about this remarkable woman, take a look at The Burma Campaign UK’s website – if you have a political bone in your body , or campaign for rights for the LGBT community, you will be inspired…

Enjoy more weekends staying in Brighton hotels with our special offers .

Well, I say in town, it’s in Hove actually. But that’s hardly a bad thing. Just hop on any bus from Churchill square, or walk along the seafront – when you read the end of the grassy bit (Hove lawns) take a right into town one block, and you’ll find yourself at the town Hall.

Get supping!

As expected tickets are in short supply, so if you are spending this weekend in Brighton and want to enjoy some of the country’s greatest brews, this is your chance.

Tickets are available for morning and afternoon sessions – I guess there’s only so much ale and cider you can drink…

You’ll have plenty of trinkets to tempt you . And if you’re one of the growing tribe of cider drinkers, there’s likely to be 30 ciders to sample, and for those who prefer pear, there’s 14 perries to taste.

As usual there are some amazing names to search out: Merry Moon Scary Pearry Perry (from Kent) and Springfield Red Dragon Cider (Monmouthshire) are our favourites. And there are a few winners among the ales, too: Legless Rambler, Hip Hop, Halfway to Heaven and Hanging Judge.

A weekend in Brighton is never complete without a pint in a Sussex pub, so if you struggle to get into Hove town hall, don’t worry: there’s plenty of places you can drown your sorrows!

Last minute hotel rooms in Brighton

More on the  Sussex Beer and Cider Festival

‘Could’ host the royal wedding, as in it’s a possibility that may have been realised – don’t start flapping and buying hats – you’re probably not invited anyway!

Even so, there’s no reason why this town of ours couldn’t have pulled it off- what better message to send the world than to do away with all that tradition, pomp and un-necessity and book out the Pavilion, with a reception in a marquee on the seafront.

Photo op for Brighton lovers

And forget all the military bands and horses and swords, we’d have tranny stilt walkers with surfboards making the wedding arch of swords, and music by that nutter on the recycled drum kit – if you get the chance stop and listen to the man, he’s fantastic.

We’d have the official wedding photos taken on the pier, with Kate and Wills’ faces peering through the cardboard cut-outs of cartoon bathers, we’d even offer the royals discounted rooms in Brighton – just don’t book one for Harry, too rowdy for us!

It’s not as if there’s a shortage of places they could have their picture taken; the newly renovated bandstand in Hove has wedding parties queing up. Or just take them on the beach. Can you see it? Half way through the photo shoot by Testino, some student chilling between exams asks Prince Phillip if he’s got a light for the BBQ…

Then they could all drift along to Hove lawns for refreshments and a game of football: 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards vs Hove lifeguards and Spartan Fitness.

But no, it’s all happening up in London. So the least we could do is provide royal wedding discounts on our hotel rooms in Brighton – after all, you know every other American is already booking flights to the UK right now!

If you’re coming to the south coast we’ve royal wedding discounts for you! See you there.

Winter Pride 2011!

Pride weekend is not the only weekend in Brighton worth coming here for:  Have you seen what’s going on and the events running during Winter Pride?

There’s top events running at Brighton’s top LGBT venues, so keep your eyes open for some fun and fabulous stuff  going on around town.

We’ve all the details on our sister LGBT Brighton blog

And plenty of Discounted rooms in Brighton

See you there!