By the early 1980s Brighton was awash with music and performance. Outlandish clothes and eccentricity were commonplace and there was a generosity towards new ideas and new approaches.

The Zap Club’s founders, Neil Butler, Pat Butler and Dave Reeves, had all been students at Brighton College of Education and Sussex University in the early 1970s and had been involved in putting on a range of social events. They ‘scraped together all the money they could find, hired the basement of the New Oriental Hotel, and devised a programme.’

From 1982-84 around 200 people went every week to the New Oriental Hotel, then the Escape, and finally the Richmond for the Zap experience. It was always about ideas and ideology, always about providing alternatives to the established arts economy.

As the Zap became ever more popular, increased numbers meant the founders had to consider a larger venue. It moved to the Arches (191-193 Kings Rd) on the Seafront and for the next decade and a half it played host to an extraordinary array of performers, artists, DJs, dancers, bands, poets, Live Artists and comedians from across the world. It was a catalyst in the regeneration of Brighton’s beleaguered seafront in the mid-1980s, helped launch the careers of many young artists who have since become household names, and introduced a whole generation to a viable and stimulating alternative to mainstream culture.

After thirteen years in its permanent home beneath King’s Road, the Zap Club was sold to Webb Kirby Ltd in November 1997. During its time it played host to an eclectic array of performers, artists and musicians including Julian Clary, Rory Bremner, Mark Almond, Chemical Brothers, Sonic Youth, John Hegley, Blur, Paul Weller, Mark Steel, Stomp and Eddie Izzard to name but a few.

The alternative Live Art /performance culture that had, through the Zap, an ad-hoc start in Brighton has now become a recognised part of the fabric of the community.

Go up the ramp to the upper level of the promenade and cross over Kings Road using the pedestrian crossing by the Old Ship Hotel. Bear left, then turn right into Ship Street and continue past the Quaker Meeting House. Stop at Fabrica Art Gallery on the left, on the corner of Dukes Lane.