The grand designs of Kemptown and Brunswick were conceived to be elegant and appealing to the affluent classes.

Brunswick Town, now simply called Brunswick, was founded by the Rev. Thomas Scutt and designed by Charles Busby following his involvement in the development of Kemptown.

His scheme, largely completed between 1824 and 1830, was for four terraces of first-class housing facing the sea and set around three sides of a long square running inland, with second-class houses running in streets to either side. He chose a name that patrons would have associated with the royal family, intrinsically linking his building scheme with upper-class fashionable life.

Although it started as just Brunswick Square and Brunswick Terrace, the project soon became a town in its own right, with its own Town Hall, chapel, Market Hall, and later, for a while, its own station.

My father had been driving a very high-class lady, who had a summer flat in Brunswick Terrace. She was a middle-aged, very nice looking lady, with a lovely smile and such a pleasant way of speaking to you that it made you feel that the aristocrats were such delightful people: that it was all lies that they looked down their noses at the working-classes and only tolerated them because somebody had to work and keep their properties, or whatever it was they owned, clean and in order.

By the mid-twentieth century most of the large houses of Brunswick Town had been divided into flats, many lacking basic amenities, and the area has become one of the most deprived in the south-east despite the grandeur of the architecture. Hove Council discussed the demolition of the whole area in 1945, a proposal that led to a massive public outcry, and also to the formation of the Regency Society which is dedicated to the preservation of Brighton. The Brunswick area remains a fascinating, contrasting area of magnificent architecture, interesting mews, and small side streets.

Continue to walk East along Brunswick Terrace and turn left into Waterloo Street.