A Seafront Hotel

This is a study of one of a number of hotels situated on Brighton seafront with sweeping views over the Channel. Known as The Bedford, it was easily identified by its four doric-style frontal columns.

Situated opposite the now defunct West Pier, its owners must have felt limited by its five floors and sought to have it demolished and replaced by a modern block of some fourteen storeys. Ironically, planning permission was not forthcoming – although this original architectural gem burnt to the ground in the early 1960s. So, in the middle of the twentieth century, Brighton lost two outstanding pieces of architecture – The West Pier and the original Bedford Hotel.

As an interesting footnote, the Victorian Hove Town Hall was up for demolition but failed to obtain the requisite planning permission, and that too, in a short space of time, also burnt to the ground.

Approx 1957

Pen & Ink