Brighton Revisited

I anticipated this post would be purely selfish. And yet after digging a bit deeper, perhaps it has some relevance to Regency-world lovers also.

As I have mentioned, Brighton has family associations for me. My dear mother in law, Kit, lived there as a girl, and it is where she met her husband Richard Samuel.  And it is not every family that can lay claim to a huge building in a major town - or at least a small part in its beginning.

This is the Burton Tailors building on the corner of North and West Streets in Brighton.

Richard Samuel and his brother Lawrence had a hand in its construction in 1926.  They were bricklayers.  And this is how Sam, as he was known, who originated in London's East End, met Kit, because just up the road from here lies Wyckham Terrace. Clearly whoever designed the building was trying to capture some of the Regency style of the town.

If you are wondering about the blob at the top of the picture. That is a rain drop. England, people! Raining!  Naturally, I could not resist investigating the building's history. Burtons occupied the store until the 1990's. But what a wonderful surprise, look the tailors are gone to smaller premises and now it hosts a lovely bookstore.  Waterstones.  Such a thrill to find such a neat connection.





Travelling back in time, courtesy of the regencysociety.org the corner was occupied by Geo. Bull, Grocer and Tea Dealer in 1875




http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume21/source/jg_21_003.html

But here is the real treasure, North Street in 1851.  G. Bull occupies number 71 on the corner. Father or grandfather, perhaps. I think North Street might well have looked similar in the period of the Regency, don't you?

http://regencysociety-jamesgray.com/volume21/source/jg_21_001.html 


Until next time....................