Artillery Street, before slum clearance. Now Churchill Square. Royal Pavilion & Museums.

1. Artillery Street

 

“The houses were strange in Artillery Street, tall, dim and smelly, all slums. It is a shame though they are not there anymore. Nearly every street I lived in Brighton has gone. Although they were slum areas they were happy areas. Quite a few men down the street worked at Tamplin’s brewery; it was a busy little street. Down the bottom was Russell Street which was quite a busy little thoroughfare because it separated West Street from Artillery Street. There was St Paul’s Church which is still there, and the Odeon and the ice rink. Around the clock tower the pie man was a familiar sight, he used to stand on the corner of Aire Street. He had a funny little black oven on a barrow with iron wheels and he would heat the pies up for you; there were also hot chestnuts for sale. We did any kind of money-making thing that we could do. We would walk right out to Stanmer Park, pick loads of bluebells and primroses and tie them on a stick and come back up Western Road and sell them like two little waifs. We were always doing something.”


Leave Churchill Square, originally Artillery Street, through Imperial Arcade. Cross Dyke Road and cut through Air Street turning left to walk up Queens Road. Cross the road and turn right into Church Street.