You might have moved to West Hill from London so you could commute to work. When I lived in Alexandra Villas, my partner was on that train every day. 

As a coastal city with a mild climate, Brighton has been a magnet for migrants for centuries. Brighton and London have been strongly connected since the 19th-century development of the railways turned the seaside town into a popular destination for leisure and pleasure. The London to Brighton train line was electrified in 1933, and the ‘service was considered to be fast, frequent, clean and reliable.’  The journey took 60 minutes – little longer than the fastest trains today. 

With the ability to commute to work, alongside comparatively lower rents and house prices, many Londoners have opted to move to Brighton, particularly in recent decades. 

“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in London, and there were various reasons for choosing Brighton, one of them was… that it wasn’t terribly far from London, another was that my parents lived in Sussex.” Rachel

The growth of the creative industries in Brighton from the 1980s has brought migrants to the city. 

“I had a job in London working for the Arts Council, but the daily commute was exhausting and I was searching for a Brighton-based role.’  Alongside Chris Bailey, I set up Same Sky, which became the largest community arts charity in the south-east, and is best known for the annual winter solstice festival Burning the Clocks.” 

Pippa Smith, moved down in 1986

Brighton has been a destination for gays and lesbians for nearly a century. In the 1950s and 1960s – before the legalisation of male homosexuality in 1967 – many LGBTQIA+ people moved to the city. The relative freedom was a revelation. 

“When I came to Brighton I discovered that there were real bars only for men who liked other men. And that there were a lot of these kind of men here. And so I suddenly found myself like a pig in clover. I was here in paradise, a paradise which in my wildest dreams I’d never seen as possible” Pat

The settlement of newcomers has helped to create a Brighton and Hove multiculture. Thousands line the streets to watch the colourful Pride Parade every August, ice-cream parlours provide a welcome space for non-alcohol drinkers, and there is a greater ease with difference. The city has drawn migrants from outside Brighton, too. Many have come for jobs or have set up small businesses. Italian couple Eugenio and Enza run Buon Appetito in Western Road, Hove. Eugenio moved to England in 1995 to learn English and work in a pizza restaurant to see if his dream of opening a restaurant was realistic. He decided it was.

He and Enza married in 1997, and five days later, they moved to England, where they frantically saved money to buy their own restaurant. The first restaurant the couple owned was in Haywards Heath. They set up two other successful restaurants in the South East, and then established Buon Appetito near Palmeira Square. 

“It’s still run as a family business. My wife is involved, my brother, my brother-in-law. So we are a big family. Everybody cooking in the kitchen…. And all the staff around like to work with me because they feel like their own home. Some [of] them call me Papa” Eugenio

Nowadays, Brighton is full of eateries established by entrepreneurs like Eugenio and Enza. 

One of those places is right on our doorstep. Luqman Onikosi, originally from Nigeria, helped to establish the Jollof Café at the West Hill Community Centre. Every Wednesday lunchtime, refugee volunteers cook a hearty, nutritious vegetarian meal on a ‘pay as you feel’ basis. Local West Hill residents are most welcome to come along.

Brighton Bound features these and other stories, the stories of people and communities who have made Brighton their home over the past 100 years. 

l Brighton Bound: Stories of moving to, around and out of the city, 1920s–2020s

By Cath Senker, Ben Rogaly and Amy Clarke (QueenSpark Books, 2024) is available from Kemptown Bookshop, City Books and from QueenSpark Books: