Lewes Road is a major road in the English seaside city of
Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
. It was part of the
A27 cross-country trunk route until the Brighton Bypass took this designation in the 1990s; since then it has been designated the A270.
The road runs northeastwards from central Brighton through a steep-sided valley, joining the A27 at the city boundary (formerly the borough boundary) and continuing to
Lewes
Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...
, the county town of
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...
.
The road originated in the 18th century as an alternative to the ancient
drove road
A drovers' road, drove ''roador droveway is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were ancient routes of unknown age; oth ...
across the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...
which was much used by fishwives bringing fish caught in Brighton to the market in Lewes. Lewes Road was
turnpiked in 1770, and urban development spread rapidly along the road from the early 19th century.
Most of the road is built up on both sides, and many important buildings flank the road:
one of Brighton's largest churches,
a former barracks, many university buildings, a major bus depot (formerly the hub of Brighton's tram operations),
The Keep archive centre and a large supermarket. Proximity to
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
and
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
Universities makes the area a centre for student life and accommodation, and a major redevelopment scheme started in 2018 to provide more buildings and facilities for the University of Brighton.
The road is a key bus corridor, but the
Kemp Town branch railway's Lewes Road station was short-lived and its infrastructure no longer survives. Lewes Road has been altered and modernised several times since
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and is now a
dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
along most of its length. Bus lanes, cycle paths and the Vogue Gyratory—"a fiendish maze of one-way systems, roundabouts and crossings",
named after a pornographic cinema—add to the road's complexity.
Description and designation
Lewes Road is one of the main entry routes into Brighton, and therefore gives "many visitors ... their first impression of the city."
Sitting at the bottom of a dry valley with hills on each side, particularly alongside the northern part of the route, the road is sheltered and hidden from distant views. It is an important commercial and industrial area for its surroundings and the wider Brighton area, and is known as the city's "academic corridor" because of the presence of the city's two universities,
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
and
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
.
The road's character changes substantially along its length, and the city council considers it to have three separate character areas: the central fringe (
The Level to the Vogue Gyratory), largely
Victorian in character with a mixture of housing and retail and an "uncoordinated urban realm"; the inner suburban area (Vogue Gyratory to Natal Road), dominated by the dual carriageway and "hostile to pedestrians", with council flats, privately rented terraced houses, industrial buildings and the large university buildings; and outer suburban, consisting mostly of rented housing, more university buildings and some open space, giving "a very green approach to the city".
Lewes Road is the longest continuously named road in Brighton:
it runs for northwards to the city boundary from Waterloo Place, where it diverges from the
A23 (London–Brighton road). This point, close to the rear of
St Peter's Church, is at the southeast corner of The Level.
The area of marshy open land now known as The Level was the meeting point of three
winterbournes, including one which occasionally surfaced along the
dry valley
A dry valley may develop on many kinds of permeable rock, such as limestone and chalk, or sandy terrains that do not regularly sustain surface water flow. Such valleys do not hold surface water because it sinks into the permeable bedrock.
There ...
where Lewes Road runs. It has been used for fairs, sport and recreation since the 18th century.
The road forms the eastern boundary of The Level, then meets Union Road and
Elm Grove at a major junction. Elm Grove is the main route to
Brighton Racecourse
Brighton Racecourse is an English horse racing venue located a mile to the northeast of the centre of Brighton, Sussex, owned by the Arena Racing Company.
Location and layout
It is situated on Whitehawk Hill, on the edge of the South Downs, abo ...
;
it originated as part of a
Roman trackway which formed part of the ancient trackway across the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...
to Lewes (Juggs Road), and was developed with housing from the mid-19th century.
The next major junction is the Vogue Gyratory, where Upper Hollingdean Road, Upper Lewes Road (both of which link Lewes Road with Ditchling Road, another major route) and Bear Road meet the Lewes Road. This was the northern boundary of Brighton until the borough was expanded in 1928; to the north and east was the parish of
Preston, and the residential area east of Lewes Road and north of Bear Road (now known as the
Bear Road area) was historically known as East Preston.
In this area there is also some industrial development on the east side of the road,
and the
University of Brighton
The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...
has several buildings.
North of this, the
Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb () is a suburb of Brighton, Sussex, England, on the northeast side around Lewes Road, between Coldean and Bevendean, north of the seafront. The eastern edge adjoins Falmer Hill on the South Downs. It is often divided into smaller ...
council estate
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...
was built in several phases in the mid-20th century alongside the Lewes Road. Further north, the road passes the east side of a deep valley originally known as "Cold Dean", between
Hollingbury
Hollingbury is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. The area sits high on a hillside across the north of the city, east of Patcham which lies in a valley to the west, Coldean in a valley to the east, and the A27 bypass forming ...
and
Stanmer
Stanmer is a small village on the eastern outskirts of Brighton, in East Sussex, England.
History
The etymological root of the name is "Stony Mere", Old English for "stone pond", referring to the sarsen stones around Stanmer village pond. The ...
. Scattered farm cottages near Lewes Road were the only buildings in the valley until Brighton Corporation developed it for council housing from 1950 as the
Coldean
Coldean is a suburb of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Located in the northeast corner of the urban area, it was developed by Brighton Corporation in the 1950s as one of several postwar council estates necessitated by the acute housin ...
estate.
The designation of Lewes Road within the
British road numbering system has a complex history. For many years the
A26 road
The A26 road is a primary route in the southeast of England, going from Maidstone to Newhaven through the counties of Kent and East Sussex. The road is almost entirely single carriageway with one lane on each side, although some of the road is ...
ran from
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
, the county town of
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, to Brighton, and the entire length of Lewes Road within Brighton bore this number. The A27 trunk road joined it at the Upper Lewes Road junction. When the A26's southern terminus was moved to
Newhaven, the whole of Lewes Road took the A27 designation: the section between Upper Lewes Road and The Level became a spur of the A27.
The Brighton Bypass was completed in 1995, and Lewes Road took the number A270 as far as the bypass.
History
A route has existed for centuries between Brighton and Lewes, the county town of East Sussex (and historically of Sussex as a whole), which is to the northeast. The historic route to Lewes ran in a more easterly direction on a
drove road
A drovers' road, drove ''roador droveway is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were ancient routes of unknown age; oth ...
across the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...
; it still exists as footpaths and
byways. It was travelled regularly by the wives of Brighton fishermen, who carried the fish to market at Lewes: fishermen were known locally as "jugs" or "juggs", and the eastern section of the old route is called Juggs Road.
It lay further south, followed a different valley and entered Lewes at Southover.
The present road, which takes a north–northeasterly course from the centre of Brighton as far as
Falmer
Falmer is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England, lying between Brighton and Lewes, approximately five miles (8 km) north-east of the former. It is also the site of Brighton & Hove Albion's Falmer ...
, existed by the 18th century and became a
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
in 1770; the
toll gate
Toll Gate or Tollgate may refer to:
* Toll gate, a barrier across a toll road or toll bridge that is lifted when the toll is paid
Entertainment
* "Tollgate" (Hale single)
* ''The Toll-Gate'', a 1954 novel by Georgette Heyer
* ''The Toll Gate'', ...
at the Lewes end survives, but that at Brighton—near the Bear Inn—is no longer standing.
Development of Lewes Road started at the south end, closest to the centre of Brighton, and was confined to the east side at first because the open ground of The Level was to the west. Until the creation of "Greater Brighton" in 1928, when the borough of Brighton absorbed territory from several surrounding parishes,
the borough boundary was at Bear Road. North of this was the parish of
Preston,
which was wholly absorbed by Brighton in 1928.
This section remained undeveloped (apart from Preston Barracks) until the 1890s, when
the area east of Lewes Road was developed with housing and industry.
Further north, the road was flanked on both sides by undeveloped
downland
Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...
. The present Moulsecoomb area was an outlying part of
Patcham
Patcham () is an area of the city of Brighton & Hove, about north of the city centre. It is bounded by the A27 (Brighton bypass) to the north, Hollingbury to the east and southeast, Withdean to the south and the Brighton Main Line to the west. ...
parish, with scattered farm cottages and
a 16th-century manor house,
and the land south of Moulsecoomb and east of Lewes Road now covered by the
Bevendean
Bevendean is a district of the city of Brighton and Hove, in East Sussex, England.
The estate lies to the north-east of central Brighton, and was largely developed after World War II with a mixture of council housing and private development. ...
estate was in
Falmer
Falmer is a small village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England, lying between Brighton and Lewes, approximately five miles (8 km) north-east of the former. It is also the site of Brighton & Hove Albion's Falmer ...
parish. In 1940 it was "a small settlement with an 18th-century farmhouse".
Preston Barracks was built on open land on the west side of Lewes Road in 1793–1795, when war was threatening in Europe. Facilities included accommodation, a hospital and a riding school, and "a small community grew up" on the east side of the road in connection with the barracks.
Much of the barracks site, which was latterly owned by the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
, was redundant by the 1980s. The southern part of the site was bought by a developer and became the Pavilions retail park, whose first superstores opened in 1989.
Halfords
Halfords Group PLC is the UK's largest retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom.
Halfords Group is listed on the Lond ...
,
B&Q,
Comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
and
Harveys Furniture
Harveys Furniture was a British retail chain, specialising in living room and dining room furniture, and was once the largest furniture specialist in the United Kingdom, with over 150 stores.
History
Harveys Furniture was established in the U ...
were among the early tenants.
Brighton and Hove City Council bought the rest in 2002 and unveiled a £150 million redevelopment scheme in 2016 in conjunction with the University of Brighton.
This developed into the "Big Build" scheme. An earlier proposal for a mixed residential and commercial development, announced in 2003,
foundered during the
2007–2008 financial crisis; an alternative scheme was put forward by the University of Brighton in September 2009.
The "Big Build" project started in 2018.
The scheme provided five halls of residence for 800 university students, an academic building, gymnasium,
student union
A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
building, car park and a pedestrian bridge above Lewes Road connecting the various buildings.
Work on this, the final part of the scheme, started in January 2022,
and the bridge opened in September 2022.
As part of the £300 million scheme, the university announced in late 2021 that it would close its three sites at
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
and consolidate their facilities at Lewes Road.
![Lewes Road Viaduct - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Lewes_Road_Viaduct_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1567666.jpg)
Brighton's first piped water was supplied from a small pumping station on the west side of Lewes Road in 1834. It was expanded in 1853 but was superseded by the new
Goldstone Bottom pumping station in Hove in 1866.
Attempts to restart pumping work at Lewes Road in 1896 were unsuccessful because the supply had become polluted, and the works was demolished in 1903.
Soon after this, in 1910, industrial development began nearby with the opening of Allen West & Co. Ltd's first factory near the junction with Natal Road. This electrical engineering company expanded to become one of Brighton's largest employers, and it opened several factories along Lewes Road in the interwar period.
Two munitions factories were also established alongside the road by 1915.
Brighton's first
council house
A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...
s were built in the
Elm Grove area in 1897,
but only in the 1920s with the commencement of the
Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb () is a suburb of Brighton, Sussex, England, on the northeast side around Lewes Road, between Coldean and Bevendean, north of the seafront. The eastern edge adjoins Falmer Hill on the South Downs. It is often divided into smaller ...
estate did significant council house building start. The development of Moulsecoomb was part of a council policy of "providing good family housing in the more healthy environments away from the town centre".
Wartime restrictions and bomb damage in central Brighton meant that by the 1950s much more new housing was needed, and the council's policy of developing outlying estates resumed. Large developments of houses and flats took place in Moulsecoomb—expanding it to cover land on both sides of Lewes Road—Bevendean, at the south end of Moulsecoomb, and Coldean, northwest of Lewes Road.
Between 1869 and 1976 Lewes Road was crossed by a railway viaduct carrying the
Kemp Town branch line
Kemp Town branch line was a railway line running from Brighton to Kemptown in the UK that operated between 1869 and 1971. It ran from a junction off the Brighton to Lewes line between London Road and Moulsecoomb stations, to Kemp Town railway ...
above the valley floor. It was long, high and had 14 arches, and contributed to the substantial cost of the line: £100,000 at 1864 prices, the year the line was authorised.
The opening ceremony for the line, on 6 August 1869, started with the ceremonial laying of the final brick of the viaduct.
The west end of the viaduct immediately adjoined the platform at
Lewes Road station.
Passenger trains and goods trains ceased in 1932 and 1971 respectively, and Brighton Borough Council bought all the infrastructure including the viaduct,
which was mostly demolished in April 1976. The remaining arches at the western end were demolished in 1983
as part of the scheme to build the Vogue Gyratory and the Sainsbury's supermarket, which has a series of arches on its façade to commemorate the viaduct.
In relation to politics, "Lewes Road" was the name of a ward within the Borough of Brighton between 1894 and 1983.
In 1926, during the
general strike
A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...
of that year, tensions linked to the proposed operation of local tram services with volunteer labour came to a head in the
Battle of Lewes Road on 11 May, when "vicious struggles" broke out between 4,000 strikers and police officers.
Buildings
Waterloo Place, where Lewes Road begins, was designed as a 14-house terrace in 1819 by
Amon Wilds
Amon Wilds (1762 – 12 September 1833) was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry WildsIn this article, Amon Wilds is referred to as ''Wilds senior'' and his son Amon Henry Wilds a ...
and his son
Amon Henry Wilds
Amon Henry Wilds (1784 or 1790 – 13 July 1857) was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in resid ...
. The southernmost pair survive alongside the A23; Lewes Road itself starts alongside the "brutal intrusion" of the Phoenix Building, part of the
University of Brighton School of Art
Founded as the Brighton School of Art in 1859, the University of Brighton School of Art and Media is an organisational part of the University of Brighton, with courses in the creative arts, visual communication, media, craft and fashion and textil ...
, which was designed in 1976 and which replaced the other 12 houses.
Behind this is the site of Tamplin's Brewery (latterly the Phoenix Brewery), established as one of Brighton's main breweries in 1821. Only the adjacent pub (latterly called the Free Butt; now closed), built in the same year,
and the
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
brewery office of 1893 survive.
Immediately to the north are the villas of Richmond Terrace—also designed by Wilds senior and junior in 1818, and an example of the speculative housing development which was rife in Brighton during the early 19th century.
These houses are next to the former Brighton College of Technology, a Grade II-listed
Jacobean Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
-style building of 1895 which was converted into flats in 2007.
Hanover Crescent, one of several set-piece residential crescents in Brighton, was built between 1814 and 1823, again as a speculative development to the design of Amon and Amon Henry Wilds.
Next to the crescent are the
Percy and Wagner Almshouses
The Percy and Wagner Almshouses are a group of 12 almshouses in the inner-city Hanover area of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. The first six date from 1795 and are among the few pre-19th-century buildings left in the city. Six mor ...
, the only surviving
almshouse
An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...
s in Brighton. When the first six were built in 1795, they "stood in open country",
being the only buildings north of
Old Steine
The Old Steine () is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of Ci ...
on the turnpike.
Six more were added in 1859 at the expense of the Vicar of Brighton
Henry Michell Wagner and his sister Mary.
North of the Elm Grove junction, the land on the west side of Lewes Road was common land until 1822, when it was sold to local entrepreneur James Ireland who established the Royal Gardens there. The large houses of
Park Crescent was in turn built here from 1849.
Densely built smaller streets west of Lewes Road and north of Park Crescent, such as Caledonian, Aberdeen and Inverness Roads, were built in the 1860s, as was the whole of the east side of Lewes Road as far as the present Vogue Gyratory.
The most significant development on this side was the "impressive"
gault
The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in Fol ...
brick Gladstone Terrace, dating from the late 1860s.
Opposite is St Martin's Church, the largest church in Brighton by capacity.
A cinema, originally the People's Picture Palace but latterly known as the Arcadia, stood nearby from 1910 until 1957;
the local Labour Club stands on the site.
On the east side, the Franklin Arms pub was destroyed by a bomb on 21 September 1940
and was rebuilt after the war.
Another pub, the Gladstone, is nearby.
Further north, near where the railway viaduct crossed the road, were the Lewes Road Congregational Church (1878) and its church hall of 1892, and the Connaught Institute (1879).
Many shops line both sides of this section of the road: in 1985 Brighton Borough Council described Lewes Road as one of six "important shopping areas" in Brighton, subsidiary to the two "main
hoppingareas" of
Churchill Square/Western Road/North Street and London Road.
The demolition of the viaduct and the construction of the Vogue Gyratory on its site brought great changes to this part of Lewes Road. The Vogue Cinema opened in 1937 as the Gaiety and was
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
in style.
Its first renaming, to the Ace, took place in 1965. It was temporarily converted into a
bingo hall
Bingo is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers. Bingo, also previously known in the UK as Housey-Housey, ...
three years later, but it reopened as a cinema in 1969 and became the Vogue two years later, specialising in
pornographic film
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...
s and
striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or an "ex ...
.
In its last year (1979–80) it was called the Classic. The 1,500-seat venue, with its distinctive façade, was demolished soon afterwards as part of the wholesale redevelopment of the area. The site is now buried under the Vogue Gyratory.
Behind the cinema, at the Upper Lewes Road junction, stood Cox's Pill Factory. It was built in the 1860s as the Brighton Steam Laundry, but the sons of Arthur H. Cox—who had patented a flavourless coating for pills—bought the building in 1910 and converted it into a factory in 1912. Pills were manufactured there until 1979;
thereafter the building stood empty until a large
Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...
supermarket opened on the site in April 1985.
A landmark clock which had been installed on the factory when it opened was reinstalled on the façade of the supermarket.
On the northeast corner of the gyratory is the Bear Inn, a historic pub with 18th-century origins but since rebuilt. Its name derives from the bear-baiting which regularly took place at the pub. The inn gave its name to Bear Road and, by extension,
the whole residential area north of Bear Road and east of Lewes Road.
North of the Vogue Gyratory, beyond the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Lewes Road depot of the
Brighton & Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
bus company, many of the buildings are associated with the University of Brighton, whose "Big Build" project resulted in much rebuilding from 2018 onwards.
The Preston Barracks site took up of land on the west side of Lewes Road, but by 1990 only remained in use by the
Territorial Army and two original buildings survived.
The large warehouse-style stores of the Pavilions Retail Park were in place by 1989,
and the rest of the site has been developed by the university. Opposite, Mithras House—another University building—was built as a factory and design office by local electrical engineering company Allen West & Co. Ltd in 1966 but was sold soon afterwards to Brighton Polytechnic, as the university was then.
Allen West had several other factories along this part of Lewes Road, but all have been demolished.
The university's original, pre-"Big Build" accommodation along this stretch of Lewes Road consists of "a collection of utilitarian modern buildings" on both sides of the road.
As well as Mithras House, there is the ten-storey Cockcroft Building (1962–63), the Aldrich Library (1994–1996) and the Huxley Building (2010).
Further north, the housing of Moulsecoomb, described in 1940 as "a model village",
was "some of the earliest suburban council housing in the country"
and now dominates both sides of Lewes Road. In the 1920s development stopped at The Highway, where The Avenue was later built to connect the Bevendean and East Moulsecoomb estates, and the land beyond was still farmed.
South Moulsecoomb, commenced in 1923, was the earliest part; the denser North Moulsecoomb followed in 1926–30; East Moulsecoomb was started in 1935, just after the development of the adjacent Bevendean estate; and the Bates Estate or West Moulsecoomb, mostly 1950s and 1960s flats, took up land on the west side of Lewes Road.
One older building survives on this side:
Moulsecoomb Place, the Grade II-listed 16th-century manor house. It was bought by Brighton Corporation in 1925 and was occupied by its Parks and Recreation Department;
it also housed various recreational facilities for the estate's residents,
and served as the Moulsecoomb estate's first library, before being bought by the University of Brighton in 1993.
Moulsecoomb's present library stands close by, opposite The Avenue. It was built in 1964 on the site of one of Moulsecoomb Place's lodges.
Close to the city boundary at the north end of Lewes Road are the
Brighton Aldridge Community Academy
Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) is a coeducational academy school in Brighton. It opened on 1 September 2010.
The school replaced Falmer High School and is part of the Aldridge Education multi-academy trust. Dylan Davies became Brigh ...
, built in 2010–11 and set back from the road into the hillside,
and
The Keep (2011–2013), an archive and historical resource centre for East Sussex and the city of Brighton and Hove.
Churches
St Martin's Church is the
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
serving this part of Brighton. It stands on the west side of Lewes Road near the Elm Grove junction. It succeeded a smaller building and was built between 1872 and 1875 to the design of
George Somers Clarke. The church was built on the initiative of
Arthur Wagner
Arthur Douglas Wagner (13 June 1824 – 14 January 1902) was a Church of England clergyman in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He served for more than 50 years at St Paul's Church in the town—first as a curate, then from 1873 as its vicar. As ...
to commemorate his father, the Vicar of Brighton
Henry Michell Wagner, who had died in 1870.
The present Lewes Road United Reformed Church was registered in September 1996,
replacing an older chapel further south on the road. This was built as a
Congregational church
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
in 1878 in the
Italian Gothic style to the design of architect A. Harford.
The façades of the old chapel and its adjacent Sunday school have been retained, and
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
-supported flats have been built behind.
The Brighton
meetinghouse of the
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
is on the north side of the Vogue Gyratory. It was registered for worship in August 1993.
The former Connaught Institute, which had entrances on Lewes Road and an adjacent side-street, was built in 1879 as an institute for soldiers and manual workers, where religious services were held (it was registered for
non-denominational
A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination.
Overview
The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...
worship in 1890)
and educational facilities, medical care and other activities were provided. It was also used as an Anglican mission hall and an Evangelical church, but it went out of use in 2003 and was demolished in the following decade.
Transport
In 2016 it was reported that Lewes Road carried 25,000 vehicles daily.
It is a
dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
from the Vogue Gyratory to the city boundary and then as far as the edge of Lewes. The first dualling work took place between 1963 and 1964. The section between The Avenue (Moulsecoomb) and
Stanmer Park
Stanmer Park is a large public park immediately to the west of the University of Sussex, and to the north-east of the city of Brighton in the county of East Sussex, England, United Kingdom, UK. It is a Local Nature Reserve and English Heritage, un ...
was not done at that time, but this gap was filled in 1967–68.
The section beyond the borough boundary as far as Lewes was converted into a dual carriageway in 1981.
Between October 2009 and January 2011 major changes, including the construction of a flyover, were made to the road layout at the junction of Lewes Road and the A27 Brighton Bypass to provide better access to the new
Falmer Stadium
The Falmer Stadium, known for sponsorship purposes as the American Express Community Stadium and also referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in the village of Falmer, in the City of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31 ...
, The Keep and the University of Sussex campus. The work was part of a larger scheme to turn the full length of Lewes Road into an "academic corridor", linking the Falmer, Moulsecoomb and Brighton (Grand Parade) campuses of the two universities.
In 2012 the speed limit on the northern part of Lewes Road was reduced from to . The number of accidents fell substantially after this change.
In 2013,
Brighton and Hove City Council
Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services ...
spent £1.4 million on converting one lane of Lewes Road in each direction into a shared bus and cycle lane with traffic light priority for cyclists and 14 "floating" bus stops (where the cycle lane diverges and passes behind the bus stop, allowing buses and bicycles to avoid each other). These were the first such bus stops in the United Kingdom.
In July 2023 it was announced that the southern section of Lewes Road, between Elm Grove and the Vogue Gyratory, would be turned into a
red route
On United Kingdom roads, the term red route may refer to a stretch of road with painted red lines signifying that vehicles cannot stop there, or to a road which has historically high accident rates.
Painted lines
Red routes are major roads wit ...
in spring 2024. Double red lines would be painted along both sides of the carriageway, preventing parking other than in officially designated parking bays.
Vogue Gyratory
![Vogue Gyratory, Brighton (from Upper Lewes Road)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Vogue_Gyratory%2C_Brighton_%28from_Upper_Lewes_Road%29.jpg)
The Vogue Gyratory was named after the Vogue Cinema, which in its last years was a venue for pornographic films.
The new road system was completed in mid-1984. It is the meeting point of Lewes Road, Upper Lewes Road, Hollingdean Road and Bear Road.
A "fiendish maze of one-way systems, roundabouts and crossings", it has been described as "an issue that was identified by almost everybody in
ouncilconsultation events" and "a fairly brutal place ...
speciallyif you're a pedestrian".
Radical redevelopment plans were prompted by the discovery in 2005 that the gyratory was one of the most polluted sites in the city: it was even suggested that the whole area could be demolished (including the Sainsbury's supermarket) and laid out again from scratch. More modest changes were made instead from 2007, including additional bus and cycle lanes.
Tramways
An open site on the east side of Lewes Road north of Bear Road, occupied at the time by a
travellers' camp, was chosen as the site of the
Brighton Corporation Tramways depot, offices and workshops. Construction started in May 1901
and the first tram ran on 25 November 1901 on the "Lewes Road route" (Route L) to Victoria Gardens (
Old Steine
The Old Steine () is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of Ci ...
). Routes E and Q to
Elm Grove and
Queen's Park Road respectively were established later and used the Lewes Road tracks as far as the Elm Grove junction.
Short-lived Route M ran from the depot to
Seven Dials, avoiding central Brighton, in summer 1922.
Plans were also made to extend the tram tracks north from the depot along Lewes Road towards the developing
Moulsecoomb
Moulsecoomb () is a suburb of Brighton, Sussex, England, on the northeast side around Lewes Road, between Coldean and Bevendean, north of the seafront. The eastern edge adjoins Falmer Hill on the South Downs. It is often divided into smaller ...
estate, and the council and central government (who were required to pass a
Light Railway Order
The Light Railways Act 1896 (59 & 60 Vict. c.48) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
History
Before the Act each new railway line built in the country required a specific Act of Parliament to be ob ...
) authorised an extension in 1920; but Brighton Corporation Tramways never took up the option and the permission lapsed.
Trolleybuses
The tram route along Lewes Road was the first to be replaced by
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es, with effect from 1 May 1939.
The network reached its greatest extent in 1951, but as the operation of trolleybuses became increasingly expensive following the
nationalisation in 1948 of Brighton Corporation's electricity supply and the consequent loss of a cheap electricity source, the system was cut back and eventually withdrawn entirely in 1961. The Lewes Road trolleybus routes were replaced by conventional motor buses from 25 March 1959 and the wires were taken down.
Buses
Lewes Road is an important corridor for bus routes, and buses are well-used.
The growth in passenger numbers on routes along Lewes Road serving the universities was greater than on any other part of the
Brighton & Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
bus network between 1986 and 2010.
The service of three buses per hour between central Brighton and the University of Sussex in 1986 was first augmented by a limited-stop service from September 1991; the frequency was then doubled in May 1996
and rose again in 2001 (eight buses per hour) and 2002 (12 per hour).
Services from the universities via Lewes Road to the
Royal Sussex County Hospital
The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital, it is administered by the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. The services provided at the hospital inc ...
and
Brighton Marina
Brighton Marina is an artificial marina situated in Brighton, England. It features a working harbour and residential housing alongside a variety of leisure, retail and commercial activities. The construction of the marina itself took place betw ...
started in 2002.
In 1996 a service of three buses per hour was introduced between central Brighton and the Coldean and
Hollingbury
Hollingbury is an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. The area sits high on a hillside across the north of the city, east of Patcham which lies in a valley to the west, Coldean in a valley to the east, and the A27 bypass forming ...
estates,
running the full length of Lewes Road and replacing an older route whose frequency had fluctuated.
Routes to the
Bear Road, Coombe Road and Meadowview areas of Brighton use the southern part of Lewes Road and have run at various frequencies over the years.
Originally operated by Brighton & Hove,
these are now run by Compass Travel.
The Moulsecoomb and Bevendean estates are served by regular buses which travel to the city centre direct down Lewes Road.
Brighton & Hove's longest route, the long-standing "
Regency Route" to
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...
via Lewes and
Uckfield
Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald.
Etymology
'Uckfield', first recorded in writing as ...
, and its shorter variant to
Ringmer
Ringmer is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. The village is east of ...
, also provides regular services along the length of Lewes Road.
By 2009 the various routes combined to give a bus approximately every three minutes to the city centre.
The Corporation Tramways depot, on the section of Lewes Road also known as Coombe Terrace, is now part of the Lewes Road bus depot,
one of three bus garages in the city.
Railways
The
Kemp Town Railway, a branch line from
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
to
Kemp Town
Kemp Town Estate, also known as Kemp Town, is a 19th-century Regency architecture residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England, UK. It consists of Arundel Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square, Chichester Terrace, and ...
, crossed Lewes Road on a viaduct at a point just south of the historic boundary between Brighton and Preston parishes.
A station called Lewes Road was in use between 1 September 1873 and 31 December 1932, when the line closed to passenger services; despite its name it was on D'Aubigny Road in the
Round Hill area and could only be accessed from Lewes Road by means of a long footpath. Lewes Road Viaduct, which was long, was partly demolished in 1976, five years after the line closed to all traffic. The last section was removed seven years later. The site, and the land previously occupied by Cox's Pill Factory and the Vogue Cinema, was cleared to make way for the Vogue Gyratory and the adjacent Sainsbury's supermarket.
Open space
Saunders Park occupies a site on the west side of Lewes Road between the Latter-day Saints meetinghouse and the site of Preston Barracks. It opened on 17 September 1924 on the site of the 19th-century waterworks and pumping station.
Although it is "the only green space along the route" until
Wild Park
Wild Park is a Local Nature Reserve in Brighton in East Sussex. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove City Council. It includes Hollingbury Castle, an Iron Age hillfort which is a Scheduled Monument
In the United Kingdom, a schedule ...
at Moulsecoomb is reached, its location on the busy road remote from housing means it is underused.
Much of the land on the east side of Lewes Road opposite the Vogue Gyratory has been given over to cemeteries since the mid-19th century. The Brighton Extra Mural Company was formed in 1850 to buy land to form a private cemetery; over time it expanded, and a public cemetery (now called Woodvale Cemetery) was laid out alongside it in 1857. Nearby, the Brighton Borough Cemetery was established in 1868 and the Brighton and Preston Cemetery 18 years later.
The Extra Mural and Woodvale cemeteries occupy a sheltered, well-wooded hillside above Lewes Road and have been described as among "the most delightful spots in the whole of Brighton";
they are open to the public, and have been considered "one of the most pleasant and quiet places in Brighton in which to take a walk" since the Victorian era, when a guidebook was published with suggested walks around the Extra Mural Cemetery.
Close to the cemeteries on the east side of the road is
William Clarke Park
William Clarke Park, better known as The Patch, is a public park in Brighton, England, which was opened in the late 20th century. The park has a sports area, which contains a basketball hoop and a football goal, a children's playground and a pon ...
, also known as The Patch. The park covers just under of land which was a railway cutting of the
Kemp Town branch line
Kemp Town branch line was a railway line running from Brighton to Kemptown in the UK that operated between 1869 and 1971. It ran from a junction off the Brighton to Lewes line between London Road and Moulsecoomb stations, to Kemp Town railway ...
until it was demolished. The park has a sports area, a children's playground and a pond among other things. It is also the venue of
Patchfest, an annual community festival which has live music.
Further north, at Moulsecoomb,
Wild Park
Wild Park is a Local Nature Reserve in Brighton in East Sussex. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove City Council. It includes Hollingbury Castle, an Iron Age hillfort which is a Scheduled Monument
In the United Kingdom, a schedule ...
was bought by Brighton Corporation in 1925 to preserve it from development and has been left as open downland, apart from the construction of some sports pitches.
Wild Park and
Hollingbury Hill together make up the city's largest
Local nature reserve (LNR), covering west of the Lewes Road.
The Wild Park area itself covers about , with a further adjacent to it used as farmland.
Notes
References
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Streets in England