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| copyright © J.Middleton The photograph was taken on 11 July 2020 and the scaffolding on the right shows just one of many improvements and new building work taking place at Hove despite difficult times |
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove Adelaide Crescent and Brunswick Terrace on the Lower Shoreham Road (Kingsway) in the 1850s |
The road has been known by different names such as the Coast Road, Lower Shoreham Road , and just Shoreham Road. But obviously this caused confusion with Old Shoreham Road, once known as Upper Shoreham Road. For a short time it was known as King’s Road, but this was equally confusing because the continuation to the east was King’s Road, Brighton, and visitors were not always sure where the border between Brighton and Hove was situated.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove An Edwardian photograph of the boundary between Hove (left) and Brighton (right) marked by a line of bollards. |
In February 1910 Hove Council decided to re-name the road Kingsway. This was in honour of Edward VII’s private visits to Hove to visit or stay with members of the wealthy Sassoon family. When he was still Prince of Wales, in 1896 he visited Reuben Sassoon’s residence at 7 Queen’s Gardens, and in 1908 and 1910 he also stayed at 8 King’s Gardens with Arthur and Louise Sassoon. Edward VII died at the age of 68 on 6 May 1910.
One of the earliest mentions of the road was a complaint dated 29 August 1856 about Mr Sharp’s ‘offensive piggeries’, which were situated near Hove Street.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove 1892 map of the eastern end of The Kingsway (Lower Shoreham Road) |
In 1893 there were five cab-stands situated at different points in the road; three were between Waterloo Street and the Brighton boundary, one was opposite Osborne Villas, and one was opposite Seafield Road – the latter was to be paved at a cost of £40.
In 1896 the surveyor reported that Harry Stoner had erected a building south of the road without seeking planning permission. The wooden structure was situated 477-ft east of the Adur Hotel on the bank between the road and Wharf Road. The building was 14-ft in length, 8-ft in width and 7-ft 6-in in height – it was to be used for the sale of refreshments. Harry Stoner was told to demolish it.
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| copyright © J.Middleton This old postcard records the stately buildings on the north side of Kingsway |
Pavements
In January 1899 it was reported that the brick paving on the south side opposite Medina Lawn and Courtenay Terrace was worn and defective. It was decided to replace the bricks with artificial stone slabs and granite kerbs at a cost £140.
Brick pavements were common in Hove at the time, and timber blocks were also a possibility. But the Hove authorities thought wood blocks would be too expensive a luxury to contemplate. For example, if a new hardwood pavement were to be installed in front of Brunswick Terrace, Queen’s Gardens and King’s Gardens, it would cost an astonishing £30,513, while even softwood paving would still come to £23,513. Sensibly, it was decided to install artificial stone.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove The Kingsway in the early 1900s looking towards Brighton |
Shetland Ponies
In June 1922 Mrs K. Todd of 8 Waterloo Place, Brighton, applied for a licence for two small Shetland ponies (saddled) to ply for hire on the road west of Hove Street. Her husband was an invalid and she was the bread-winner for both of them, earning income by letting apartments. However, in the following year, the application for a licence was refused.
Illegal Electricity
In December 1924 Hove Council decided to undertake proceedings against a Croydon-based engineer who had wired a house in Kingsway. The house-owner would have enjoyed free electricity because the engineer ‘interfered with the council’s apparatus’ so that the supply of electricity by-passed the meter.
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| copyright © J.Middleton
The pavement looks vast, and Kingsway untroubled by much traffic.
Note also the extensive display flowers on the Hove Lawns
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A Dangerous Road
In June 1925 the Chief Constable of Hove Police stated that he thought the mounted patrol should be re-started along Kingsway during the busy summer months. A mounted officer could be seen from a great distance, and his presence was felt to be helpful in controlling the traffic. In the summer it was necessary to have eight constables on duty in order to direct and control traffic. In the Chief Constable’s opinion, Kingsway was ‘not very safe for young, elderly or nervous people to cross’. Therefore it was decided that two temporary refuges would be placed in the centre of Kingsway – one opposite Hove Street and the other opposite Walsingham Road.
Road Widening
In July 1880 a draft agreement was signed between the Hove Commissioners and the Trustees of the Vallance Estate to widen the road from Hove Street to the western boundary with Aldrington. The Hove Commissioners carried out the work, and the Trustees then paid them £1,000 in instalments for undertaking it.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove A view of the Kingsway looking west from the Peace Statue to Shoreham Harbour, c1912 |
In 1904 Hove Council was anxious to widen the road east from Hove Street to St Aubyns. There was no difficulty about purchasing land from the Admiralty, and the Trustees of the Tooth Estate agreed to give the council two strips of land for road widening purposes. However, the Vallance Estate proved to be the fly in the ointment. According to the council, the Trustees insisted on ‘unacceptable conditions’. Eventually, the Trustees did come to an agreement that some land would be sold to the council for £1,550 plus £75 to cover legal expenses. The Trustees also wanted the council to make good the northern wall of the cottage next to the road, and to re-form the sloping approach.
It seems that this agreement was never implemented. Instead, the land in question became the subject of a compulsory purchase order known as the Hove Order (No 1) 1906. This order gave the council the right to purchase land for road-widening purposes, which would expire on 29 July 1909. The Trustees of the Vallance Estate were listed as follows:
J. H. R. Livesay
Walter S. Livesay
Emma Kate Vallance
Augustus Charles Woolley
Hove Council was therefore able to acquire the south gardens of old houses once known as Hove Terrace, including the following:
The garden belonging to Dial House, owned and occupied by Laura Watson
The garden belonging to Channel View, owned by Henderson Webb, and occupied by Ernest Byron Gayford
The roadway and garden belonging to the Trustees of the will of John Tooth, and the Trustees of Frederick Tooth
Revd William Robert Finch Hamilton also had to be compensated in respect of a right of way and usage. Strangely enough, although the order also covered the gardens belonging to 1-6 St Aubyns, nothing was done at this stage, probably on the grounds of expense. It was not until August 1909 that the council purchased these gardens and private roadway for £1,000 from the Trustees of Frederick Tooth.
In 1925 the Works and Improvement Committee recommended that Hove Council should purchase some vacant land between the Coastguard Station and St Aubyn’s Mansions, which included land on the east side of St Aubyn’s Square. The two westernmost pieces belonged to the Tooth Estate, while the piece adjoining the Coastguard Station was owned by the Vallance Estate. The price was stated to be £10,500 – the General Purposes Committee obviously thought the price was too high and turned the proposal down. However, after further debate it was decided that Hove Council ought to purchase them after all with £5,500 going to the Vallance Estate and £5,000 paid to the Tooth Estate. Since Hove Council did not have sufficient funds for such an outlay, the Ministry of Health was approached for a loan. But the Ministry would only agree to a loan of £4,000. It is interesting to note that the District Valuer also thought the land was overpriced, and in his opinion it was only worth £4,000. Hove Council had to abandon the larger scheme and concentrate on a smaller acquisition, which was agreed by nineteen votes to twelve to buy one piece of land for £4,300.
Kingsway varied in depth as recorded in 1926 as follow:
Between Albany Villas to Seafield Road, it was from 58-ft to 60-ft
Between Seafield Road and Hove Street, it was from 80-ft to 100-ft
Between Hove Street and Wharf Road, it was from 70-ft to 100-ft
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove |
Kingsway and Aldrington
In 1921 there were complaints about the state of the road between Langdale Road and Wish Road because it was strewn with large lumps of earth and rubbish. Hove Council took up the matter with the solicitors to the Duke of Portland’s Estate without much satisfaction.
Then a letter arrived from J. H. Stretton on behalf of Stretton’s Trustees stating their land had been sold to the Aldrington-on-Sea Estate Ltd and anyway the dangerous parts of the road lay on the Duke of Portland’s land.
The Borough Surveyor estimated that the private street works would cost £3,033-12s to implement. The two aforementioned owners of this land were horrified at such an expense and promptly lodged their objections. Hove Council’s next step was to apply to the Court of Summary Jurisdiction about the impasse. But it seems that by March 1922 the two landowners had realised which way the wind was blowing, and had withdrawn their objections. The Duke of Portland was obliged to pay three-fourths of the cost of making up the road, but the amount must not exceed £927-10-2d, while the amount payable by Aldrington-on-Sea Estate should not exceed £780-9s.
In 1922 it was recorded that throughout the Kingsway stretch in Aldrington, the road varied between a width of 40-ft to 70-ft.
By December 1925 Hove Council was ready to make up the north side of Kingsway from Boundary Road to Tennis Road under the Private Street Act 1892, and the usual notices were served to adjacent owners. The nine owners of houses in St Leonard’s Terrace raised objections because they were being charged the same as owners further east. Their quibble was that whereas the road opposite St Leonard’s Terrace was only 10-ft in width, the road further east had a width of between 25-ft to 50-ft. It was settled that the Justices would decide the outcome.
More About Roads
In 1926 negotiations were going on between Hove Council, East Sussex County Council, and the Ministry of Transport to use tarred macadam in place of of the existing granite macadam.
The part of Kingsway between Hove Street and Langdale Gardens was designated a main road, and the entire cost (estimated at £14,822-19s) would be borne borne by the County Council.
The part of Kingsway between Langdale Gardens and Tennis Road was designated a class 1 road, and the Ministry of Transport would make a grant of 50 per cent.
Messrs Chittenden & Simmons’s tender to lay tar macadam at a cost of £10,352-12-1d was accepted. The Kent-based firm were to surface the road between Boundary Road and Hove Street.
A Monstrous Road Scheme
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| copyright © J.Middleton If that road scheme had gone ahead, the graceful Adelaide ramps would have been lost |
In the 1960s there were radical plans to construct a six-lane highway along Kingsway. This would necessitate the Adelaide Ramps being set back while part of the gardens belonging to Brunswick Square and Adelaide Crescent would be destroyed. So obsessed were the authorities with their vision of a super highway that the other alternative was to put it through Hove Lawns. The first plans were proposed in 1963, and the next lot of plans were proposed on 21 July 1965. It is sobering to record that Hove Council passed them a mere eight days later.
Happily, this dreadful decision caused an absolute uproar. Hove Civic Society and the Regency Society, who had opposed the plans from their inception, were up in arms. Indeed, the anger of Hove people was so strong that Hove Council were obliged to hold a town poll, which showed that the majority of people had no wish for a six-lane highway trashing the sea-front. The Adelaide Ramps, the gardens, and Hove Lawns were saved, and all of them today are considered to be an invaluable asset to the ambience of Hove.
No More Free Parking
In March 1998 it was stated that one of the effects of Brighton and Hove becoming a unitary authority was that free parking along the Kingsway, consisting of 126 parking spaces, would be lost. From 1 April 1998 car-drivers would have to pay to use them. Tickets could be purchased from five solar-powered machines, thus:
60p for 2 hours in both summer and winter
£3-80 for 9 hours in the summer
£2-10p all-day tariff in the winter
Street Lighting
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| copyright © J.Middleton Double lamp standard Cast by Every of Lewes |
In September 1893 it was stated that there were eleven lamps between Albany Villas and St Aubyns but these were to be re-arranged, and four new ones installed at a cost of £33.
In January 1894 it was reported that Colonel Hough had complained about defective lighting by San Remo and neighbourhood. The surveyor reported that the length of Westbourne Terrace, San Remo, Walsingham Mansions and Walsingham Terrace was 970-ft, and light was provided by six lamps. At Westbourne Villas there was a distance of 160-ft between lamps, while at Sackville Gardens there was a distance of 280-ft. The surveyor recommended that the unlit lamp on the west side of Westbourne Villas, and on the east side of Sackville Gardens should be lit by the Hove Commissioners, provided that the lamps were repaired and made ready by the owners.
In January 1900 the Borough Surveyor reported that there were 108 lamps from the Brighton boundary to Carlisle Road, except for the lamps on the south side opposite Western Lawns. The new lamps at the corner of the Avenues (six in all) and the new lamps at Brunswick Terrace were to be fitted with new lanterns and burners – namely Welsbach number 4 (Kern) at a cost of £4
In 1926 there was a scheme to improve lighting on Kingsway between Albany Villas and Seafield Road. At that time Kingsway was lit by 77 lamps with one large electric lamp at the corner of Albany Villas plus six electric lamps with side brackets in the centre of the carriageway between Hove Street and Carlisle Road, and 70 ordinary street lamps placed at the edge of foot-ways. Sixty-one of the lamps were gas-lit and eleven were electric lamps; only 29 lamps were kept alight throughout the night and 48 lamps were lit for part of the night. Hove Council resolved that suspended lamps should be hung above the carriageway at a cost of £650.
In 1955 mercury lamps were fitted to street lighting – 400-watt lamps being placed on the south side and 80-watt lamps used on the south side. The scheme cost £6,920.
In 1994 replica cast-iron light standards were installed as part of a project to improve the appearance of Kingsway. The existing bases were used – these were cast by the well-known Lewes-based firm of Every – all except for three that needed to be replaced but matched the others. The twin-pendant Sugg lanterns were hung from brackets made of cast aluminium on a steel frame. The Sussex martlets motif was worked into the design. The project was undertaken by East Sussex County Council in conjunction with English Heritage and there were 26 double-pendant lamps stretching from the Brighton boundary to The Drive. Some people find the lanterns a little on the large size, but they are certainly a handsome addition to the street-scape.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The 2005 new lamp standards on the Brighton & Hove seafront designed by Philip Andrews |
In 2006 ‘bespoke street-lights’ were installed on the south side of Kingsway stretching from Embassy Court to Grand Avenue. They were designed by Ditchling architect Philip Andrews who kindly produced his designs for free. He said he drew his inspiration from the seaside, namely waves, boats and surfboards, and thus his lamp holders were undulating and made of steel. The previous street-lights were removed, and their aluminium would be re-cycled because aluminium was worth £700 a tonne.
Buildings
Adelaide Mansions
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| copyright © J.Middleton It would be impossible to squeeze any more intricate detailing into the fascinating facade of Adelaide Mansions |
In 1918 the two houses at the western side were converted into the Lawns Hotel. In the Hove Official Guide 1937-38 it was stated that the hotel was ‘noted for its quiet comfort and excellent cuisine’ and there were gas fires in every bedroom. Alex Miller owned the hotel in the 1930s and during the war years. Rear Admiral Sharp, who later lived at Hove, remembered that as a young man he lodged in the hotel during the early part of the Second World War, together with five men from Liverpool, while they trained to be come RNVR officers at HMS King Alfred. After the war Miller sold the hotel, and purchased Kingsway Hotel in Queen’s Gardens, further along the Kingsway.
By the 1970s there were around 25 permanent elderly residents living at the hotel; they paid from £52 and upwards for full board and lodging. One resident was Miss Gladys Gilbert, aged 98, who was brought up in a spacious mansion in Warwickshire. She had lived in Portugal for 40 years, and was once a fine mandolin player as well as being an excellent golfer. But by the time she fetched up at the Lawns Hotel, she was so impoverished that friends used to bring her tea in the afternoon or a glass of sherry to cheer her up in the evening.
Pianist Godfrey Kitchener ‘Mr Music’ used to play in the bar of the hotel from 1974 until his death in March 1982. He had enjoyed a long and successful career. In 1946 he was in Jamaica tinkling the ivories for rich Americans in smart hotels. One customer who admired his piano playing was Noel Coward who gave him some unpublished songs to play. By the 1950s Kitchener was a well-known pianist and singer in London night-spots.
In 1983 George Tambaros took over the hotel. In November 1986 a car drove through the railings and was left dangling over the basement below with the engine still running. Tambaros was not a happy man because the redecoration of the hotel had just been completed, and now he reckoned that to replace the damaged railing would cost from £1,500 to £3,000. However, worse damage was on its way. On the night of the Great Gale (17/18 October 1987) the hotel received such a battering that it sustained damage amounting to £75,000. This was not all either, because the chimneys were in a dangerous state and repairs would cost another £25,000. Then in March 1988 people occupying the upper floors began complaining of headaches and an irritating smell. Gas engineers were summoned and discovered that exhaust fumes were leaking from the central heating system; they told the manager to shut two rooms, and close the top two floors – the hotel had 47 bedrooms.
In April 1988 there was an interesting development when the owner of the hotel applied to Hove Council for permission to refurbish the bar. The simple request caused a flutter at Hove Town Hall because nobody could find documentary evidence that the bar had ever been licensed in the first place, and the space in question was listed as a drawing room. Certainly in the 1970s the bar was called Maxim’s Bar, and there was a separate entrance to it, while the piano held pride of place in front of the window. The matter was sorted out and in June 1990 the new Zipadeedoodah Bar opened, run by Gary Worley. It catered for 25-plus age group, and imported beers were a house speciality, while the bar food included calamari, swordfish, and vegetarian kebabs. It was a remarkably short venture because soon there was a new restaurant to replace it called First Avenue Restaurant, the entrance being in that road. The restaurant specialised in sea-food, and there were seven different Dover sole dishes plus five lobster specialities. The chef had previously worked at the Eaton Gardens Restaurant, and the manager was Jim Underwood, but the owners were still the Tambarous family.
However, by 2001 the entire block of Adelaide Mansions had reverted to being private residences.
Argentum
This is the name of an ultra-chic new block of flats completed in 2024 at 239 Kingsway with apartments going on sale in March. The exterior of the flats bears some resemblance to Embassy Court, Brighton, but the developers are keen to point out that their inspiration comes from the Japandi style mixed with Scandinavian simplicity. The development also includes the ‘world’s smallest heat and smoke detectors’. There are 33 homes – a mixture of two-bedroom and three-bedroom flats.
The cheapest flat on offer is a two-bedroom flat at £625,000 while the most expensive apartment is a mind-boggling £1,250,000. Every flat has a sea view, some have two balconies, and for the ground-floor residents there is a patio.
The name Argentum complements the name of the company’s other development at Hove, Aurum. While Aurum means gold, Argent is silver.
The property developer is Cayuga Homes, who reportedly borrowed a cool £18 million to get the project off the ground. The company’s first venture into Hove was the block of flats named Aurum, and currently they are setting out to work on a new development on the seafront at Shoreham. (Argus 27/3/24)
Aurum
This recent block of 52 flats was built on the site of the late lamented Sackville Hotel at 189 Kingsway. At first Brighton & Hove City Council wanted the developers to include three affordable flats, but the developer stated it was quite impossible. The compromise was settled at seven flat leases with shared ownership. The majority of the flats came with an underground parking space.
The developers are Cayuga Homes, which in 2021 was based at Preston Street, Brighton. The company was only founded in 2016, and their address now is 2a Addison Road, Hove. Their unusual name perhaps comes from Cayuga County, New York, and conveys an impression of luxury.
The name chosen for the development is ‘Aurum’ – the Latin name for gold and there are gold strips on the balconies for emphasis that glow in the sunset.
Barford Court |
| copyright © J.Middleton The east side of Barford Court |
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| copyright © D. Sharp Barford Court's front garden |
The entrance courtyard was on the north side, and cars used to drive in via the eastern wing, which has since been blocked with additional building. The cars would sweep in under a ceiling decorated with geometric designs and into an inner courtyard enlivened with patterns of banded brick; the garage could accommodate three or four cars at the same time. All this was designed with cars in mind – unusual for that time – and should the visitor arrive in the dark, the floodlights would automatically come on while the fountain was activated. Naturally enough, the chauffeur enjoyed living in his own flat on the premises.
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| copyright © D. Sharp The Kingsway Road view of Barford Court behind an imposing wall |
Millar chose the wheatear as his motif, and it was to be found in the gates of the outside wall as well as on the curved front door. Inside the house, most of the floor was covered with quarry tiles with parallel lines of cream tiles; the two-tone décor was continued in the doors that were panelled in two different woods. Indeed, natural wood was a theme in the house, being used as a base for wall-lights in the living room and for the central five-branched light fitting; there was also a three-branched central light fitting. The study and the dining room had half-moon shaped fireplaces – in the former there was a fluted feature on either side, while the latter had two dark contrasting bands around it. The dining room had a circular bay window, and the study had french windows leading to the patio and gardens. But the best views from the house were obtained from the south-facing bedroom windows where you could look out over the gardens, and the bowling green across Kingsway towards the sea. There were two master bedrooms plus five guest rooms, and accommodation for three servants.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The east side of Barford Court |
An unusual feature of the house was the staircase that dispensed with the standard style, and instead was composed of solid stepped blocks bordered by sets of four bronze strips curved in the shape of a quarter circle. Other notable features were under-floor central heating, hidden lighting, and thermostats that were flush to the wall. Altogether, the house has a curious feel to it – somewhere between Art Deco and functional with overtones of cinema décor.
In 1946 Millar put his mansion up for sale. The surprising purchaser was Hove Hospital who bought it for £40,000. Its official title was the Hove General Hospital Annexe, and it became the quarters of the nursing staff employed at Hove Hospital. This meant that their previous quarters at the hospital could be converted into more wards for patients, and thus the number of beds at Hove Hospital rose from 51 to 86.
In October 1963 there was another change of use when the premises became the Brighton & Hove School of Nursing. Previously, the three major hospitals in the area – Brighton General Hospital, Royal Sussex County Hospital, and the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital – had run their training schools separately. But under this scheme resources were pooled into one unit. It is amusing to note that the chauffeur’s flat was converted for the use of tutors. The cost of conversion came to £27,000. Of course, nursing is nothing if not practical, but it is sad the pergola was demolished in order to build extra classrooms.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The north side of Barford Court |
In 1989 the Brighton & Hove School of Nursing moved to Sussex University campus. By May 1989 the garden was completely overgrown, and a family of foxes had taken up residence in the collapsed greenhouse. It was stated that Brighton Health Authority were hoping to sell it for £1 million, but there were no immediate takers.
In September 1993 Ed Cruickshank-Robb’s proposal that Hove Museum should move from Brooker Hall to this house was lost by just one vote.
In December 1993 the Department of Health and the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution submitted an application to turn the house into a 40-bedroom home providing residential and nursing care.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The unusual wall of Barford Court |
On Sunday 11 September 1994 the house was opened to the general public as part of the Heritage Open Days Scheme, and there was a much greater response than was anticipated. Most probably, people understood that it was their last chance to see inside an interesting house. However, it must be admitted that it was in somewhat of a sorry state because renovation was only just beginning. The name was changed to Barford Court; on 3 December 1996 the Duke of Kent, a Masonic Grand Master, formally opened the premises.
Channings
This block of 96 flats occupied the whole frontage between Carlisle Road and Langdale Road, and replaced the five or six houses previously there. Channings is numbered as 215 Kingsway. Unusually, provision was made for car-parking for each flat at the rear of the building. The name was chosen by William Weeks, founder director of R. Green Properties, and it was the same name as his house in Southwick. Mr Weeks said he had seen the potential of the site many years ago. The Hove Channings cost £750,000 to build, and on 9 June 1971 the Mayor of Hove, Alderman Stanley Howard, officially opened them. The price of flats was from £7,000 to £11,800, while the size varied from a three-bedroom flat with two bathrooms to a two-bedroom flat with one bathroom.
Courtenay Gate
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| copyright © J.Middleton If only modern blocks of flats were as pleasing to the eye as the stately pile of Courtenay Gate |
During the Second World War Courtenay Gate did its bit for the war effort – not that it had any choice in the matter because it was requisitioned by Mr J. Ellman Brown, the man responsible for requisitioning buildings on behalf of the Admiralty. Of course Courtenay Gate was not the only one in this situation because many other Hove buildings were taken over including Princes Hotel, Hove College, the new swimming baths and houses in Grand Avenue. Apparently, the Admiralty took care of Courtenay Gate.
By 1945 housing was such a problem in Hove that Hove Council wanted to take control of Courtenay Gate ‘to provide accommodation for inadequately housed families’. Unhappily for the council, the Ministry of Health turned them down. Then a deputation from Hove, headed by Alderman V. R. Hudson and Councillor H. Green, went to see the senior regional officer of the Ministry of Health on 16 October 1945. The officer said he would see if the decision could be reversed. In the end nothing happened, mainly because of the amount of money the Ministry of Health would need in order to purchase the building. (For further details of ownership, see under Flag Court).
Dial House
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| copyright © Hove Library It is not difficult to see why it was called Dial House. The photograph was taken in 1910 and the old lady is probably Mrs Watson |
This old house was situated at number 3 Hove Terrace. The name came from a garden sundial consisting of a squat classical-style column with the sundial on top. In 1851 wealthy Charles Howell lived in the house, which he had occupied for many years. According to the Morning Chronicle (18 October 1856) Howell ‘erected at the back of his house, a very pretty and fanciful Temple of Flora, of which he was justly proud.’ In 1859 he erected eight houses on the west side of George Street, Brighton, intended for ‘the reduced in circumstances at Brighton and Hove that have seen sixty summers and have not during ten years received parochial relief.’
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copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove
This 1969 photograph shows Howells Almshouses in George Street,
Brighton. Charles Howell endowed these tiny houses which were first
occupied in 1859, and thereafter they were supported by voluntary
contributions They consisted of just two rooms, one up and one down,
with a tiny kitchen and an outside water closet. The houses were demolished
not long after this photograph was taken and a three storey row known
as Howells Court was erected in in 1987.
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He inherited his wealth from his father Thomas Howell who started out as a simple brick-layer and jobbing builder, and ended up a man of property. Charles Howell died at the age of 83 on 18 December 1867. The Brighton Gazette (19 December 1867) published a fulsome obituary:
‘A native of Brighton, unlike some men, he never abandoned the place of his nativity but took up his residence nearly sixty years since at Hove, in the house where he died and there spent a long life in easy circumstances, devoted to the care of his family, his boats and a farm he rented at Paythorn under the hills near Devil’s Dyke. His quiet habits would have attracted little attention but no one can have passed along the road to Shoreham any time this half century without noticing the cluster of little white round white houses with conical and hemispherical roofs, which stand on the beach opposite Hove Terrace and the tall flag-pole in their midst. Here it was that Mr Howell formerly built his little fleet of fishing boats in which in his younger days he delighted in going out to sea for a fishing excursion, and here it was he more recently built first one and then another observatory in which he at last set up a large equatorial telescope of 7 ¾ in aperture with clockwork movement and all the modern improvements by Cooke of York… He spent much of his time watching celestial phenomena being one of his principal amusements. He could not, however, be considered an astronomer, as being utterly ignorant of mathematics he understood none of the scientific parts of the subject. Nevertheless he was very liberal in showing the moon, planets and other interesting objects through his glass, and very kindly allowed those who occasionally wished to use it for purposes of accurate observation to have free access whenever they pleased… One of the little white houses before mentioned contains a very large camera obscura, the largest we have seen.’
At least Charles Howell is still remembered in a marble tablet ‘erected by his widow Ellen who died at Bath 19 January 1871’inside St Andrew’s Old Church because of his tomb there is no trace, having been obliterated in the unfortunate re-use of churchyard land. His eldest daughter Charlotte died in 1890, Mary died in 1906.
In 1880 the Watson family moved into Dial House, and continued to live there for 35 years. In 1909 Laura Watson was recorded as the occupant. It was around this time that Dial House lost its front garden due to a compulsory purchase order for a road-widening scheme.
In 1931 Mrs Jane Poole ran tea rooms at Dial House, but the 1936 Street Directory records a private club known as the Blue Lagoon in Dial House at 7 St Aubyns Gardens. In September 1936 Lionel Pay, manager of the Blue Lagoon was fined £50 for aiding and abetting three employees in supplying intoxicating liquor during prohibited hours – he was also ordered to pay £36-6-5d in costs. It was noted that an appeal was to be launched, not against the conviction, but against the fines imposed, and also on behalf of Mrs Louisa Florence Pay, against the decision to disqualify the club for five years.
During the Second World War Primrose Taylor worked at the Blue Lagoon and had a wonderful time entertaining officers. She was a glamorous blonde with tight curls and pencil-thin eyebrows, and when she smoked she used a long cigarette holder. People told her she looked like a film star, and indeed she did win the Miss Southern Beauty title, but when she worked at the clubs she was known as Primrose the Hostess. She frequently received gifts of stockings from American officers, which was a great luxury, stockings being virtually unobtainable with many girls resorting to painting their legs. Once an English officer enquired if she would like some bacon, and the next time he arrived he was carrying a whole shoulder.
Dorset Court
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| copyright © J.Middleton The plaque is near the entrance to Dorset Court |
This block of flats was built on the site of what was part of Walsingham Terrace, and also replaced two houses. This part of the terrace had been damaged by machine-gun fire and cannon fire on 9 March 1943. Unhappily, one of the demolished houses was once home to the celebrated Charles Stewart Parnell and his wife Catherine, who was popularly known as Kitty O’Shea. On 7 November 1986 a plaque was unveiled at Dorset Court to commemorate Parnell, and Noel Dorr, the Irish Ambassador, attended the ceremony, as well as 90-year old John Parnell, a cousin of the great man.
Parsons, Son & Bailey negotiated the sale of the site on the corner of Carlisle Road in around 1952 on behalf of A. M. Bourne. Building work started in May 1956, and the flats were completed by September 1957. The eight storey-block contained 38 flats and stood at a height of over 80-ft. It was the first block of flats to be erected on Hove sea-front since the war. Wilfrid L. Micklewright designed the flats, which were built and owned by R. Green Properties. The flats were rental properties, and were available from £195 a year to £360 a year. Locally-obtained materials were used; on the south side there was a white-fluted front, while there was natural brick on the west. However, the flats were built at a time when there was a strict steel allocation, and so steel was only used in the reinforced concrete floors. The flats had central heating and each had a gas fridge. William Hill furnished the show flats.
Windows were replaced in 1996 and Messrs Austin erected scaffolding around the building. But in February gale-force winds brought the scaffolding crashing down at 10 a.m. Fortunately, nobody was injured but several cars were wrecked and ten people were evacuated from the flats. Parts of Kingsway and Carlisle Road were also sealed off for a time.
Essex House
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| copyright © J.Middleton The building on the left at the corner of Vallance Gardens is called somewhat pretentiously The Mirage – the smaller building next door is Essex House |
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| copyright © G.Middleton The air ambulance landed on number one Western Lawns on 17 September 2020 |
Fairlawns
In 1977 three spacious houses (numbers 159, 161 and 163) were demolished to make way for a new block of flats numbered at 159 Kingsway.
Flag Court
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| copyright © J.Middleton The unusual shape of Flag Court enabled as many flats as possible to enjoy a sea view |
This was the name of the original house on the site. It was built in 1919 for Mr E. J. Budd in a mock-Tudor, half-timbering style. In 1926 Clayton & Black’s design of a garden house was approved. Mrs E. F. Budd was the last resident to live in the house. The lady must have been very fond of the house, because when she decided to move she took the house with her. The house was taken down, brick by brick, and timber by timber, and re-built at Henfield. This was supervised by builder Mr E. Bilham. The work was going on when the nation was celebrating the coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth on 12 May 1937. The weather was so hot that one of the men working at the Henfield site was reputed to have quaffed 44 pints of beer in order to keep his cool.
The Hove site then stood empty for over twenty years. At first, it was thought building work was imminent when in the late 1930s a hoarding went up announcing that the Hotel Ambassador would be built there, but nothing came of it. It was not until 1958/1959 that the nine-storey Flag Court was constructed. The building was obliquely angled in a V-shape to maximise the sea-views, and only nine of the 54 flats did not enjoy a sight of the sea – there were more than 400 picture windows. The reinforced concrete frame was faced with contrasting buff, and heather-brown Sussex handmade bricks, and the structure was specially treated to resist salty-air weathering. The flats were designed as high-class modern residences for rent ranging from £450 to £680 a year. The people responsible for building Flag Court were as follows:
T. P. Bennet & Sons, architects
T. J. Braybon & Son, builders
Norwich Union Insurance Society, owners
Norwich Union also owned nearby Courtenay Gate, and the head porter in that building, Mr E. McLellan, was to include Flag Court in his duties; an oil-fired boiler at Courtenay Gate was adapted to serve Flag Court as well.
In November 1971 Norwich Union sold Flag Ciourt, Courtney Gate and 4 Grand Avenue (100 flats altogether) to City & St James’s Property, the Hanson Trust subsidiary. This was part of a £5 million deal of some 30 blocks of flats in Hove and London.
In early 1972 the flats were sold on to merchant banking clients of Aylesford & Co of London as part of a package deal that also included three blocks of flats in Leicester.
By January 1973 Jeanusse Ltd were the new owners, a subsidiary of Site Projections Ltd of London. Thus the flats had had four different owners within the space of eighteen months.
Then the tenants of Flag Court were horrified to receive notices to quit. The owners stated that by this time very few flats were rented, and it was their policy to sell the flats on a 125-year lease at prices ranging from £21,000 to £35,000. Lord Royle, a resident of Flag Court, stated he would raise the matter in the House of Lords.
In April 1989 some men were engaged in window maintenance at Flag Court when their cradle suddenly collapsed. Robert Bird, aged 56, from Southsea, fell to his death, while his brother Clifford Bird managed to escape by clinging on to the platform despite sustaining a broken hip. Another man, Andrew Voak, received serious head injuries.
Hove Terrace
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| copyright © J.Middleton Hove Terrace / St Aubyns Gardens are some of the oldest buildings in Kingsway |
This was the name of a group of old houses built on the north side of the coast road with St Aubyns later being built on the east side. Hove Terrace continued to appear in Street Directories until 1932 but by 1934 the houses had been absorbed into St Aubyns Gardens. The houses were built at a time when Hove was little more than a village. In 1738 they were known as New Terrace, and included the house occupied by Dr Morell’s Academy where Isambard Kingdom Brunel once went to school. This house was also called Hove House or Old Hove House. According to the 1850 Directory there were three houses listed under Hove Terrace. The 1851 census recorded that Revd John Malleson (the academy’s subsequent head) occupied number 1, together with his wife, two daughters, two sons, two visitors, three servants, and 22 scholars. Number three was known as Dial House, but was later numbered as 7 St Aubyns Gardens.
A fascinating lease concerning 2 Hove Terrace was dated 12 December 1843 when Samuel Capon, gentleman, leased the premises to William Bentley, upholsterer, for 21 years at £50 a year. The property included the house, a coach-house and premises, and a three-stall stable, and outside there was joint use of the pump. The schedule included the following items. In the front attic there was a painted deal linen press with lock and key, and a roller blind with rack and pulley. In the best bedroom there was a bath stove, chimney board and cupboard with a row of clothes pegs and lock and key to the door. In the back room there was also a bath stove, chimney board and cupboard. In the drawing room there was a register stove with bright and black bars, marble mantelpiece and Venetian drop blinds. The dining room had two register stoves, a roller blind, rack and pulley to the window, Venetian drop blinds and invisible wire blind in mahogany frame. There was another bedroom on the same floor with the same arrangements as the other bedrooms. The housekeeper’s room contained a large cupboard with three shelves and lock and key to the door. The pantry contained two sets of shelves, roller, rack etc. The kitchen contained a dresser, large cupboard with four shelves, locks, wires and pulls. There were six window laths and curtain rods.
King’s House
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| copyright © J.Middleton King’s House once formed part of Queen’s Gardens |
Sir James Knowles designed the building, which was erected in the 1870s by J. T. Chappell, and it was the western block of two structures originally called Queen’s Gardens. King’s House was once a prestigious establishment known as Prince’s Hotel. In 1942 the Admiralty requisitioned it, and it was subsequently commissioned as HMS Lizard.
In 1947 it became the headquarters of the South East Electricity Board. On 31 May 1974 it was made a Grade II listed building. In 1981 at vast expense the building was thoroughly restored, and a northern extension built to the designs of Fitzroy Robinson Miller Bourne. In the 1990s Seeboard decided to give up the building and move elsewhere. By August 1995 it became apparent they were having difficulty in selling it, and instead proposed to convert the old part into 58 flats, which might make it easier to let the newer, modern building in Grand Avenue. However, it was felt that planning permission was unlikely to be granted for a change of use.
In August 1996 Seeboard sold the property to Brighton & Hove Council in a deal thought to be worth around £4.5 to £5million. Tony Smith, managing director of Seeboard’s business group, handed over the keys to Steve Bassam and Ivor Caplin, leaders of the council. In December 1996 staff from the economic and public relations unit, plus architects and surveyors moved from Hove Town Hall into King’s House. Howard Attree, chief finance officer of the newly established unitary authority of Brighton & Hove Council, also moved to King’s House. Eventually, some 600 council staff would work there. In 2000 repairs were carried out, the main parts requiring attention being the roof and brick-work – the work was expected to cost in the region of £300,000.
In 2012 it was reported that the council was considering the sale of King’s House, which was valued at £13million. In October 2012 two options were put forward as follows:
Sell all of King’s House, and two-thirds of Hove Town Hall, which should raise £18million – but converting parts of Hove Town Hall to office space would cost between £9.3million and £15.9million.
Sell King’s House, convert public spaces in Hove Town Hall to office space – this scheme would cost £12.2million.
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| copyright © J.Middleton King's Gardens looking east towards King's House |
Perhaps the estimate of King’s House being worth £13million was a little wide of the mark because in September 2013 it was stated King’s House would be sold for £9million, but since the conversion work (blithely called ‘investment’) in Hove Town Hall would cost £16 million, there would be no profit at all, unlike first assumptions. One justification for getting rid of King’s House was that it would save the council the annual running cost of more than £500,000. By July 2017 Warren Morgan, council leader, said that not having to maintain King’s House would save the council in the region of £2million a year. But some people thought disposing of such an iconic structure was akin to flogging off the family silver.
Then in October 2015 it was suggested that King’s House could be worth far more than originally estimated, and might even be worth £24million. This too proved to be an over-valuation, and in 2016/2017 the asking price was £14million, and there were said to have been almost 200 enquiries. Matters went as far as discussions between the council and a consortium of nine companies. Unfortunately, the talks collapsed, and King’s House was put back on the market in April. By July 2017 King’s House was sold off for £26million to a joint venture between local developer Rego Property and London-based Pacific Investment – the company being called Mortar Nova Grand Avenue. A Freedom of Information request set the price at £26,125,000.
On 26 January 2018 Mortar Nova Grand Avenue put their plans on display at the Cornerstone Community Centre. Alan Coleman, co-director said, ‘We are preparing to restore King’s House to its former glory.’ He also said they had brought together a top-quality project team, including Crowther Associates, to develop designs that would bring back its grandeur. The extension and the glazed link would be demolished, and replaced by two separate apartment properties, one fronting Grand Avenue, and the other facing Second Avenue, currently in use as a car park, which would restore the ambience of the Second Avenue street scene. They would reinstate the main entrance in Queen’s Gardens, and would install chimney-pots and original-style windows.
Following on feedback, some adjustments were made to the design. In May 2018 the Brighton Society graciously said they were ‘pleasantly surprised’ and it was now ‘more polite’ with the top floor being better ‘articulated, more elegant and less dominant’. Naturally, there were some constraints of what could be done to a listed building with regard to floor space in the apartments. Social housing was not considered nor expected. However, the Brighton Society thought the whole scheme was an over-development of the site while some of the windows in the new blocks would look into ‘sunless internal spaces’.
In November 2018 planning approval was granted for 160 flats with 69 of them being in King’s House, while the rest would be in the two new blocks. One block would be 10-storeys high, and there would be enough space in underground parking to accommodate 80 cars. Affordable housing was not an option in the scheme, and instead the developer had agreed to come up with £265,000 to put towards affordable units elsewhere in the city. There would also be £13,000 to be spent on Kingsway, Hove Lagoon, Palmeira Square, St Ann’s Well Gardens, Hove Park, and Aldrington Recreation Ground. A further £164,000 could be spent on the same locations as well.
Kingsway Court
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| copyright © J.Middleton Kingsway Court replaced the eastern part of Queen’s Gardens |
In 1981 confectionery giant Mars purchased Kingsway Court for £77,000, and by 1992 the property was valued at between £500,000 and £1million. The Great Gale of October 1987 caused damage to Kingsway Court, and it was while repairs were being carried out that severe defects were uncovered. However, a long, drawn-out dispute then ensued as to who was responsible for the repairs. Lease-holders cited negligence on the part of Mars, while Mars retorted that some people had not paid their maintenance dues. Residents were furious that Mars had taken money out of the maintenance fund in order to fund the administrative costs arising out of the dispute. Mars retorted that it was perfectly legal. In response Kenneth Lane and John Scott (formerly treasurer and secretary of the residents’ association) set up a company called Kingsway Court Hove in order to try and buy out Mars’s ownership of the property.
Meanwhile, the cost of repairs to the concrete shell and the asphalt on the roof was put at £1.5million. In 1992 the residents received bills for up to £20,000 each, although they already had to stump up maintenance bills of between £1,500 and £2,500 a year. The dispute dragged on for years with the case being heard in the High Court in 1993 and 1995. In July 1995 the case had still not been resolved when the headline in The Leader announced ‘Hove Residents Lick Choc Bar Giants’. What happened was that a band of more than 80 residents had won the right to purchase the freehold of their flats for £300,000 from their landlord Mars Security. At first it seemed a hopeless endeavour to the residents because Mars’s solicitor simply ignored their letters. Events moved at last when the property expert of the Evening Standard phoned the solicitors and reminded them of their obligations under the 1987 Landlords and Tenants Act.
The restaurant on the ground floor of Kingsway Court continued to flourish. In the early 1980s it was called Scottie’s; in 1986 it became the Classic Bar and Restaurant. This venture was short-lived and in 1988 the Bali Brasserie opened. It was an Indonesian and Malayan restaurant that specialised in an Indonesian Rijsttafel (rice table). Two brothers, Santa and Tanjit Calais, and their wives, Barbara and Kubbir, were the owners. It is still in operation.
It is amusing to note that during the original building operations and in order to retain the licence formerly held by the Kingsway Hotel that occupied the site, a temporary structure was erected in the garden and served as a bar throughout the building process.
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| copyright © J.Middleton On the left is the former Prince’s Hotel (King's House) on the right the former Kingsway Hotel (now demolished) |
Kingsway Hotel
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| copyright © J.Middleton In this aerial view you can just see the words ‘Kingsway Hotel Kingsway’ on the facade; the hotel was so busy in its heyday that it had four telephone lines |
By 1935 Alec Miller was the manager, and after the war he purchased the hotel, having previously owned the Lawns Hotel, in Adelaide Mansions, further east along Kingsway. When the Kingsway Hotel became really busy, family members were roped in to help, including young Janet, Alec Miller’s daughter. She remembered some famous guests including the actresses Anna Neagle and Sophie Steward, actor Michael Wilding and director Herbert Wilcox. The eminent artist Sir Muirhead Bone stayed at both of Miller’s hotels, and in 1947 he worked on a beautiful pencil drawing of Hove sea-front.
In the late 1950s Mr Miller became ill and could no longer run the hotel, but unfortunately he could not sell it as a going concern; it was inevitable that it would be snapped up by a property developer whose company would go on to acquire the rest of this part of Queen’s Gardens – Kingsway Court was built on the site.
This modern block of 57 flats was sold in July 1990 for £238,000. It was stated that the building produced annual rental fees of more than £20,000, and most of the flats were held on a 99-year lease.
Langdale Court
These flats were built in 1961.
Langton House
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| copyright © J.Middleton Langton House was once home to Hove College |
The house was situated east of Princes Crescent, and was designed by Clayton & Black. It was built for Revd W. D. Challice in 1902 who continued to live there until the early 1930s. In 1934 Raymond Jackson and John Dickson, joint headmasters of Hove College, purchased the house, and moved their school there in January 1935; their former premises were in Cliff House, situated on the west corner at the bottom of Hove Street. But a London syndicate was prepared to pay a good price for this piece of land, and subsequently Viceroy Lodge was built there.
When Hove College moved to Langton House, they took with them, as a souvenir, the old front door from the previous premises. In their new quarters, the drawing room was decorated in a lavish Versailles style. The school library was placed in the former billiard room that boasted large, plate-glass windows reputed to be replicas of those to be found in the billiard room at Windsor Castle. In the dining room the original panelling was retained as well as the beautifully carved fireplace with its green-glazed tiles. Mr W. M. Caddy of Waterloo Street, Hove, made the refectory tables and benches for the dining room.
Langton House was requisitioned during the Second World, and it was occupied by Canadian and South African officers; by 1943 the 2897 Squadron RAF (formed in 1942) was in residence, and remained until 1944. Fortunately, the house was not much damaged by its wartime occupants. When Hove College returned from its wartime sojourn in Wedmore, Somerset, Mrs Jackson decided to leave the initials carved by the servicemen in the red stone porch as a historical memento.
When Hove College closed down, the house was sold for £150,000 in October 1981, although in 1971 it had been valued at £250,000. Canadian Dr Lingaraj Bahinipaty purchased the building with the intention of turning it into a nursing home. It was stated that the renovations cost in the region of £500,000, and the exterior certainly looked fine. Unhappily, on 21 December 1981 the building was gutted by fire, and demolished in August 1983.
In May 1985 construction work began on a new 48-room luxury private hospital for Dr Bahinipaty, and cost £1.5 million. The doctor wanted to call the establishment Hove College Hospital. But the former owners of Hove College objected, and so it was named the Kingsway Hospital and Nursing Home, opening on 21 January 1986. However, the enterprise was not a success, and in November 1989 the building re-opened as the Princes Marine Hotel.
Police Convalescent Home
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, opened the premises at 205/209 Kingsway in 1966. The Home had moved from its old site in Portland Road that been known as the Convalescent Police Seaside Home. At least the new premises did overlook the sea, whereas the old Home’s sea views had long been blocked off by new housing. In 1984 it was announced that the Home would be moving to Bexhill where there would be 62 rooms with en-suite bathrooms, instead of the 50 available at Hove. The Hove Home closed on 18 June 1988.
It took a year to convert the building because there were many structural changes to be made, and a new outside terrace was added. It became the Excelsior Hotel, and Adam Christoforou was the owner. In November 1991 an advertising feature stated that there would be 58 bedrooms – all en-suite – including two honeymoon suites and six family rooms. The hotel had three fully-stocked bars, while function and conference suites could cater for numbers ranging from ten to 200 people. A series of monthly events were planned, and guests could quaff the newly-created cocktail ‘Save the Seagulls’ with part of the price donated to Brighton & Hove Albion F. C. On 11 August 2000 there was a suspected arson attack, and the manager had to scramble across a glass canopy to escape from his first-floor room. The fire caused a nightmare for Andrea and Robert Storey of Portslade, who had arranged their wedding reception and disco at the hotel; they had precisely 24 hours in which to make alternative arrangements before the wedding took place at St Nicolas Church, Portslade. Their reception was finally held at Courtlands Hotel.
Prince of Wales Court
This was described as as a prestigious development of sea-front apartments with a uniformed porter on duty at the reception foyer. The development was completed by 1989, and the prices ranged from £162,000. However, the apartments did not sell as quickly as anticipated, and by October 1990 only one-third of the seventeen luxury apartments had been sold. The developers Croudace then decided to make substantial reductions. For example, a one-bedroom apartment that had been for sale at £162,000, was now priced at £99,500, while the penthouse was reduced by 13 per cent and could be purchased for £313,000, These measures had the desired effect and by January 1992 there were only two apartments left – one on the third floor priced at £118,000, and the other on the third floor for £124,000.
John
Sullivan O.B.E. (1946-2011) the famous script-writer of Only
Fools and Horses was
one of the original owners of Prince of Wales Court. He and his wife
first occupied a third-floor flat but went on to live in the
penthouse. On 10 November 2022 a blue plaque in his memory was
celebrated outside the building.
On Saturday 9 December 2023 residents of the flats were startled by a loud crash. At first it was assumed that there had been a traffic accident on Kingsway, but in reality it was the sound of two solidly-built balconies from the first and second floors collapsing onto the ground.
Bricks fell on top of a silver Nissan Juke parked there; the vehicle was crushed but fortunately the owner was safely inside the building. East Sussex Fire and Rescue attended the scene; they placed a notice on the front door of every flat warning residents that all balconies were now deemed unsafe, and to stay safely inside. (Argus 11/12/23)
PrioryThe original house was built in 1864 as part of the Cliftonville development, and stood at the foot of Medina Villas. It had Dutch gables, and diapered brickwork; it was demolished in 1959.
Sackville Hotel - see separate page
St Leonard’s Terrace
It was on 15 June 1899 that Hove Council decided that a group of houses on the Shoreham Road (Kingsway) situated between St Leonard’s Road and Boundary Road should be given this name.
San Remo
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums Brighton Graphic February 1916 |
Number 1– Winchester House School, boarding and day school for daughters of gentleman.
Number 2 – In 1940 Lord Belstead lived here.
Number 5 – From around 1915 to 1927 a boys’ school known as Merton House occupied this house, and was established by Hugh Rennie Brown, a Cambridge MA. But Miss Brown ran it in later years. In 1940 Captain Charles Palmer lived here.
Number 7 – At one time there was a preparatory school for Girton House but it had ceased to be there by 1918. In 1940 Lady Montgomery lived here.
Number 8 – From around 1911 to 1916 Miss Hare ran a School for the Deaf here.
During the Second World War, the Admiralty took over San Remo, and originally the premises were used as sick quarters for Cadet Ratings from HMS King Alfred, but by 1941 it was an establishment for Wrens who worked at the various sites associated with HMS King Alfred.
By 1949 the name San Remo had been dropped, and the houses were numbered in Kingsway. For example, Mrs Joy who lived at 8 San Remo, now found herself listed at 187 Kingsway. Furthermore some properties had been converted into flats and numbers 181 and 185 Kingsway contained five flats each.
Saxon Court
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| copyright © J.Middleton It is such a relief to see a new apartment block with a ‘proper’ roof instead of the usual boring flat surface. Saxon Court at 321 Kingsway was photographed in July 2020 |
Retirement Security Ltd paid £700,000 for the site of the former Endeavour Motors Garage in June 1986. The company wanted to build a block of flats to provide sheltered accommodation, with the flats costing between £56,000 and £70,000. In September 1987 outline planning permission was sought to demolish four detached houses on a site between Norman Road and Tandridge Road, and erect a four-storey block of 55 flats. Victor Chandler made the application. In the event there were 46 apartments spread over four floors. The flats were built with an admirable attention to detail; the bricks used on the ground floor were a purple/brown colour, while the next three storeys were white brick with dark string courses. A peculiar feature were the red-painted wood surrounds of the windows at the corner, which jutted out and were finished by a large ball at the bottom – the type of embellishment you might expect to see atop a gate pier. Tim Sainsbury, Hove’s M. P. opened Saxon Court in October 1988. It was stated that the Nationwide Housing Trust and Retirement Security were responsible for the development.
Viceroy Lodge
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove Viceroy Lodge in the 1930s |
This block of flats was built on the site of Cliff House and its grounds, which for many years was occupied by Hove College. Viceroy Lodge was built in the 1930s by E. D. Winn & Co Ltd, and is generally reckoned to be rather a handsome building, and so much easier on the eye than modern tower blocks. However, it is just as well to remember that conditions for the unfortunate workers were far from ideal, and indeed the company was prosecuted for two offences.
In May 1936 the firm was prosecuted in Hove Police Court, and fined on two counts under Building Regulations. The first involved the collapse of a trench on 25 March 1936 that buried 40-year old Owen Turner up to his ears. His colleagues dug him out, and took him to Hove Hospital where he was found to have a fractured arm. The soil was said to be a mixture of shingle and sandy loam with the trench being a depth of around 5-ft 6-in, but there was no timbering support at all, and one side caved in. The magistrates decided that a trench of that depth should have had timber supports, and fined the firm £25 plus 18/- costs.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Viceroy Lodge is still an imposing edifice |
In the second case the company was fined £10 for failing to have a proper guard on the fly-wheel of an engine that drove the compressor for a pneumatic drill.
Lady Douglas, estranged wife of Lord Alfred Douglas of Oscar Wilde fame, lived at flat 45 where she died on 12 February 1944, and Lord Alfred Douglas stayed in the flat for a few months after her death.
Walsingham Terrace
Some of the houses in this terrace were called Walsingham Mansions, and in 1894 E. J. Ockenden received planning permission to build number 4, while in 1903 H. T. Bonner received planning permission to built four houses.
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copyright © R. Jeeves |
There was a ladies’ school called Kingsclere at number 1 Walsingham Mansions, which was eventually absorbed into neighbouring Girton House.
The terrace’s chief claim to fame was that Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) and his wife once occupied numbers 9 & 10. Unfortunately, this part of the terrace suffered machine-gun fire and canon fire on 9 March 1943, and was later demolished. Dorset Court was built on the site in 1956/57.
An interesting literary connection is that the writer E. M. Delafield (1890-1943) was born on 9 June 1890 at 6 Walsingham Terrace where her family lived for a while, and her parents had to go to Steyning to register the birth. Her name was Edmee Elizabeth Monica de la Pasture, her father being Count Henry Philip Ducarel de la Pasture. Since her mother wrote under the name of Lady Henry de la Pasture, it was obvious that her daughter must choose a different surname, albeit an English variant of the original. Delafield became a versatile writer – some would say she was too prolific. Her most famous work was The Diary of a Provincial Lady, which started life as a magazine article, and being popular, progressed into a series of books. Delafield certainly had an interesting back-story, having entered a nunnery in Belgium in her youth, then leaving and serving as a VAD nurse in Exeter during the First World War. In 1919 she married Colonel Arthur Paul Dashwood, and they had two children. But she was devastated when her son Lionel died in 1940, dying herself in 1943, and being buried near to his grave. Meanwhile, her mother outlived both her grandson and daughter, dying in 1945.
A New Development |
| copyright © J.Middleton The view across Hove Lagoon shows new buildings such as Saxon Court and Vega dwarfing older housing |
Their cause was taken up by Peter Kyle, MP for Hove & Portslade, and the two Conservative councillors for Wish Ward, Robert Nemeth and Garry Peltzer Dunn. In July 2019 the relevant committee voted seven to three against granting planning permission for the scheme to go ahead, despite the claim that the design was inspired by Embassy Court, the well-known Art Deco building just over the border in Brighton. Agenda Homes then appealed to the Planning Inspectorate who overruled the council’s decision in December 2020, enabling the eight-storey block with 37 flats to be built. The inspector, while acknowledging the arguments against the proposed building said ‘I conclude that in the development along the western seafront, these factors would be comparable to the existing and anticipated relationships between taller buildings fronting Kingsway and the houses that adjoin them.’ A Hove resident complained that the council and local people had been ‘completely overruled by the Bristol-based Planning Inspectorate.’
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| copyright © J.Middleton These more traditional houses are to be found west of Wish Road |
Yet More Flats?
It will be sad to see the last vestiges of well-built 1930s semi-detached houses that remind us of a more spacious age in Kingsway hit the dust. The trouble of course is that land is so valuable and is seems amazing the houses have lasted so long. Now plans have been submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council for a seven-storey tower block. It means that four houses – numbers 145 to 151 Kingsway – will give way to 42 two-bedroom flats. But with a nod to present trends, there will be 42 resident bicycle spaces with 14 additional spaces for visitors arriving on their bicycles. There will also be 2 motorcycle spaces and 30 parking spaces. The building would have sand-coloured bricks and glass balconies.
Nearby
residents are not so happy with the proposal because some of the
daylight would be blocked from their homes, and their gardens
overlooked. (Argus
24/10/23)
It seems the battle to demolish these two houses has been going on longer than you might think because between 2008 and 2010 permission to go ahead was refused six times. Then in August 2024 there came the cheering news that the council did not think much of proposed new plans at all. In fact everything about them was criticised.
First and foremost for the 42-apartment, nine storey block was its ‘excessive size’ in a sensitive place on the seafront. The block would cause a significant loss of light and privacy to nearby residents, and instead of the outdoor spaces being planted areas, only hard surfaces were itemised. Then there were concerns about 28 of the flats having a single aspect, which meant those facing north with or below balconies, would face insufficient light, while those facing south would often be too hot.
The council received communications from the following against the building of this block:
Hove Civic Society
Regency Society
Conservation Advisory Group
74 objections from the general public
There were only ten letters of support, citing the need for housing, and it being an energy-efficient building.
The council turned down the application (Argus 16/8/24)
Business PremisesCaffyns
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums,
Brighton & Hove Caffyns in the 1960s |
In 1921 Hove Coucil gave planning permission to Messrs Hartley & Midgley to build a motor depot on the south-west corner of Saxon Road. In 1927 Mr G. Phillips provided plans for an enlargement of the premises. Then in the late 1920s Caffyns took over from Hartley & Midgley who had been running a Ford Motor Service Depot on the site at 331 Kingsway. E. J. Love was the architect who designed the distinctive Art Deco building, which was erected in 1928. There were advertisements for various brands such as Austin, Bean, Clyno, Trojan, Buick and Sunbeam. In January 1928 Caffyns asked Hove Council for a petroleum licence in order to store 6,000 gallons in six tanks measuring 10-ft by 4-ft 6-in. The tanks would be sunk in the forecourt with one pump to each tank. In February 1929 E. J. Love wrote to Hove Council concerning the wall of the west side of the garage ‘now in course of construction’. He wanted to make it of lime mortar, instead of cement compo; this was because there was an option to purchase the adjacent plot to the garage, which expired within twelve months. Mr Love envisaged having to take down the wall to expand the premises.
There must have been some hitch because the expansion did not take place until the late 1930s, when Peter D. Stonham & Son, chartered architects and surveyors of Eastbourne, drew up plans in 1937. The garage was originally built for the sale and repair of commercial vehicles, but when the premises were enlarged in 1938, private cars were catered for as well.
During the Second War the garage became one of the first Army Auxiliary Workshops. There is an interesting photograph from that time showing two females hard at work on a Morris Commercial Field Artillery Tractor popularly called the Quad; it was used to tow guns. The garage also undertook the manufacture of aircraft parts. By 1943 the garage had been given an interesting assignment – the task of converting cars to run on Producer Gas.
Caffyns continued with more normal business after the war, holding the franchise for Rover and Mini, as well as for VW commercial vehicles. But by 2001 the Rover franchise had been transferred to the Preston Road site. In November 2001 it was announced that the Volkswagen commercial service department at Caffyns had closed, and been taken over by another firm, while in December 2001 came news that the car showroom at the Kingsway premises would close; meanwhile the parts centre would remain there until another site was found.
Unfortunately, the Kingsway premises were said to be in such a poor state that scaffolding would be needed to prop it up until its future was decided. It is sad to reflect that in July 1982 it was included in the Hove District Plan as a building that ought to be preserved. Michael Ray said it was ‘one of the best examples of development between the wars’. However, by 2001 the site had become totally impractical due to the heavy traffic along Kingsway and parking restrictions.
The Caffyns building was demolished in 2004. In February 2005 developer Berkeley Homes produced plans for what was described as an ‘artistic tower’, designed by architects Alan Philip Associates. The proposed structure would rise to 11-storeys on the east side but would dip down at the west side. Neighbours complained about the possible loss of light. Nothing came of it.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The Vega building between Brittany Road and Roman Road also carries echoes of Embassy Court, just over the Hove border |
In April 2011 the Southern Housing Group produced plans for a 4-storey building, principally of glass and steel, with 40 apartments and a medical centre.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums The Vega building's design was inspired by the Art Deco 'Embassy Court' in Brighton. |
The Southern Housing Group’s new building was designed by Yelo architects, and it was important for two reasons. The first was that unusually there was provision for affordable housing and because of this the Homes & Communities Agency allocated £2.69million towards the project, and the second was that the Art Deco design was an acknowledgement to the former Thirties building.
The second reason is also why the building was given the unusual name of Vega because it dates from the Thirties as well when the intrepid Amelia Earhart became the first women to fly across the Atlantic, and her plane was a Lockheed Vega. There are 40 apartments, and only two of them are at market rent; nine are for affordable rent, and 29 are for intermediate rent while four are wheelchair accessible.
Lagoon Bait & Tackle Shop
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| copyright © J.Middleton There are not many business premises in Kingsway today but here you see some brave survivors such as Lagoon Bait, a cafe, and a Bed and Breakfast establishment |
In May 1992 it was stated that this business at 327 Kingsway had been established 25 years previously, and was now being extended. Peter Winder was in charge and it was a family-run business, becoming one of the largest stockists of rods, reels and accessories for all types of fishing. There were 300 trout fly patterns on display. They were the South East service agent for Penn, the American reel manufacturer, as well as being agents for Abu Garcia from Sweden.
Ocean Sports
Father and son surfers, Ray and James Roberts, plus friend Grant Winter, founded the business in 1989; by October 2001 Ray’s wife Christine, and daughter Jo, were running the mail order sales. The business is situated at 368 Kingsway, on the south side of the road, and the family had taken over a building that had been empty for several years. A departing squatter caused a great deal of damage when, spitefully, he left all the taps turned on. There was no alternative but to gut the building and start afresh. In 1999 the building was given an Art Deco makeover, which was felt to be appropriate, having been erected in 1932.
In October 1999 Ocean Sports was the sole UK distributor of a new American craze called a Freeboard. It was 44-in length, and there was a special six-wheel system allowing skaters to turn 180 degrees while on the move. A Freeboard costs £200 and simulates the effect of snow-boarding without the snow. Ocean Sports was the largest surf shop in Britain and produces its own catalogue Board Riders’ Guide, which has a circulation of more than 40,000 and has become known as the surfers’ Bible.
Texaco Site
In June 2012 there were gales of 40mph, which amongst other damage at Hove, tore off the canopy over the Texaco garage. Then in 2015 it was a lorry that inflicted damage, and by May of that year it had closed for good. In November 2015 there were proposals for an 8-storey block of flats containing 51 flats on the 0.13 hectare site, while at ground level there would be an expanded Co-op store. The developers were Rocco Homes and LCE, architects, and ECE Planning. (Brighton architects LCE had been runners-up in the bid to build a new King Alfred). By August 2016 there had been various tweaks to the original plans, and there would now be a 9-storey block containing 55 homes. The top floor would house a 4-bedroom apartment, while the rest of the building contained 1, 2, or 3-bed flats. Perhaps surprisingly, the proposed 20-space car park in the basement had been dropped, and now there were only nine resident parking spaces, which works out at one space for every seven flats. The adjacent pub Alibi would be converted, and there would be flats above a flexible, commercial space on the ground floor. Valerie Paynter of saveHove thought the council needed to take a tougher line with developers over the knotty problem of affordable housing. The developer then agreed they would provide twelve homes to help the situation, that is six homes for affordable rent and six for shared ownership. The final tally was 58 luxury apartments.
On Friday 23 September 2020 a Co-op store opened on the ground floor of the new block of flats. Never mind its old and solid background, this new Co-op is bang up to date, and should cheer every green heart in the city because the store is run on 100 per cent renewable electricity. It also lays emphasis on its Fair Trade ranges, plus the fact it is not owned by some oligarch but belongs to its members and is one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives. The Co-op has invested some £160,000 in this site and created seventeen jobs.
On 4 December 2001 a mobile phone mast was erected on land owned by the Texaco Garage; it was a 15-ft monopole with ancillary equipment cabin for the benefit of One-2-One (part of Deutsche Telecom) that became T-mobile in early 2002. The history behind the mast is quite extraordinary. On 28 February 2001 the architect Don Proctor sent a five-page letter concerning the proposed mast to Brighton & Hove City Council, and it was signed for on 15 March. Unfortunately, it was delivered to Brighton Town Hall, Bartholomews, instead of Hove Town Hall, Norton Road. By the time the missive had ground through the works it arrived at Hove on 19 March. Officials thought the 42-day period for objections to be raised started then, but they were mistaken, and although the council intended to object to the mast, they missed the deadline. Most nearby residents, except for one couple in Bath Court, had any inkling about the possibility of a mast being raised. Retired chartered surveyor Jerry Laurie, aged 71, had occupied his flat at Bath Court for sixteen year and he was incensed; he resolved to lead the fight against such a monstrosity in a planning-sensitive area. He examined official documents, discovered discrepancies, and an unusual note in his reaction was to install two metal dustbin lids outside his sixth-floor flat to reflect back signals from the mast and disrupt communications. Meanwhile, a spokesman for One-2-One said they had conformed with all planning regulations, and that it was up to the council to inform interested parties. There had been a notice attached to a lamp-post, and a Site Notice in the Texaco kiosk that nobody had noticed.
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| copyright © J.Middleton This is the new building built on the Texaco site. It is a shame that it rather overpowers the graceful lines of the former pub |
Woodie’s Longboard Diner
In October 2001 the owners of Ocean Sports put in a planning application to create a restaurant in the next door premises, previously occupied by Rentokil. It was intended to add to the surfing atmosphere, and would be appropriate for families. There were a few protests, but there was also a petition in favour signed by 1,100 people. Planning permission was granted. It proved to be a very successful venture, and celebrities such as Paul McCartney and Brian May patronised the establishment. However, it closed down in October 2016 because it had been very hard work with the owners claiming it had been virtually a 24/7 responsibility.
Some Famous Residents
Sir Albert Clavering (1887-1972) - He lived in a ground-floor flat at Courtenay Gate. He was famous for breeding Friesian cattle and he died aged 85. His widow Lady Clavering continued to live in the flat. It is interesting to record that in 1980 the East Sussex Rent Assessment Panel reduced the fixed rent on her flat by £50 because of the nuisance caused by summer and weekend visitors to the beach; her rent was thus reduced from £1,829 to £1,779 a year.
Marie Corelli (1855-1924) – Although she was a famous Victorian novelist of over twenty works, she was actually trained for a career in music. No less a person than Queen Victoria was reputed to be a fan of Corelli’s books. She was born in London and her exotic name was a pseudonym, her real name being Mary Mackay. When she was still a child, Corelli had been taken to the Bedford Hotel, Brighton, and it was at Brighton that she met Bertha Vyer who was to become her constant companion. Vyer neglected her own painting career so that she could look after Corelli who suffered a bout of ill-health in the 1890s. In 1897 Corelli rented a house on Hove sea-front hoping the sea air would improve her health. The Hove Gazette (9 February 1898) wrote the following ‘We are pleased to record that Miss Marie Corelli, the popular novelist, is now on the road to recovery from her recent illness and desires to thank all kind enquirers who called or sent cards of sympathy to her in Hove’. It was during her sojourn at Hove that Corelli began to write her best-seller The Master Christian published in 1900; it was an attack on Roman Catholicism and by the end of the First World War, some 184,000 copies had been sold. Amongst her other works were the following:
A Romance of Two Worlds (1886)
Wormwood (1891)
The Soul of Lilith (1892)
Barabbas (1893)
Gwen Catley (1906-1996) – She was born in London on 9 February 1906. She showed an early aptitude for singing, much to the horror of her father, a strict Baptist, who did not think a career on the stage would be a suitable occupation. Despite him trying to put obstacles in her path, she became a famous coloratura soprano. At a comparatively young age she was accepted at the Guildhall School of Music where she studied under Bantock Pierrepoint, whom she described as a splendid old gentleman. He introduced her to Sir Landon Ronald, a pianist and conductor, who found Gwen’s voice reminiscent of the great Dame Nellie Melba. Gwen Catley also studied with Julian Kimber who extended her range enabling her to make a sensational debut at Sadler’s Wells in 1937 singing the Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute.
In 1936 she married Allen Ford, a cellist with the BBC, and he helped her with her career. Besides appearing on the stage and in films, she made many records and broadcasts, and indeed by 1964 she was celebrating her 600th broadcast. She was famous for her interpretation of Gilda in Rigoletto. She left the Carl Rosa Opera Company in1957, and enjoyed a second fulfilling career as a teacher. She and her husband lived on Kingsway, and she died at Hove on 12 November 1996 aged 90. The following year a CD was published containing some of her favourite arias and songs, including the Bell Song from Lakme, and Sweet Echo from The Fair Maid of Perth.
Celia
Cavendish (1903-1997)
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| copyright © J.Middleton Celia and her famous opera singer mother, Isabel Jay |
Celia Cavendish visited the Royal Academy of Music every year to adjudicate in the Isabel Jay Memorial Prize. Celia Cavendish was chairman of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society for more than 40 years, and became its co-president. She appeared in many musical productions, both as an amateur and as a professional. But she was always modest about her achievements. In private life she was the Hon Mrs Mitchell Anderson, and she and her husband had two daughters, Isabel and Fiona. The couple lived at Hove for more than 60 years. Dr Anderson pre-deceased her, and she died aged 94 in November 1997 – her home being on Kingsway.
Percy Hoskins (1904-1989) – For around 25 years Percy Hoskins lived in a flat at Kingsway Court, Kingsway. He was born at Bridford, Dorset, and moved to London at the age of nineteen to join the Evening Standard. Nine years later he moved to become a crime reporter with the Daily Express, a post he held for over 40 years, and it was not surprising that he came to be regarded as the doyen of Fleet Street crime reporters. His proudest memory was his defence of Dr John Bodkin Adams, the memorable medical practitioner from Eastbourne. Hoskins made careful enquiries about the doctor, and became convinced of his innocence. He was affronted by the campaign waged by other newspapers against Dr Adams long before he had even been charged with murder. Hoskins was virtually alone in his opinion of Dr Adams, and even his boss, Lord Beaverbrook, had doubts about Hoskins’ views. But one can hardly blame the newspapers for jumping the gun when it transpired that Dr Adkins had benefited from more than 132 wills. On 9 April 1957 Dr Adams was acquitted of murder, and Hoskins was vindicated. When Hoskins came to write his autobiography in 1984 he chose the title Two Were Acquitted from a remark made by Lord Beaverbrook because if Adams had been convicted, Hoskins’ reputation would have been ruined. Michael Foot writing in Tribune stated that Hoskins’s campaign ‘conducted almost single-handed, to ensure that Dr Adams should receive the proper protection of British justice, stands out as one the finest examples of honest and courageous journalism in living memory’. No doubt Adams was indebted to him, and sent a Christmas card to Hoskins every year.
Another notable event was when Donald Hume confessed to Hoskins that he had murdered Stanley Setty, eight years after he had been acquitted of the crime. Hoskins also produced the first account of the disappearance of the notorious spies Burgess and Maclean. Another book he wrote led to the famous TV series No Hiding Place. By coincidence, the actor Raymond Francis, who played the part of Inspector Lockhart in the series, lived at Hove as well, but only for a few months before he died in 1987. Hoskins had a wide circle of friends including J. Edgar Hoover, Ian Fleming and Alfred Hitchcock. Hoskins died aged 84 in1989.
Gerald Lip (1929-2021) – He was born at Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and at the age of eleven he won a scholarship to Harrow School of Art. When he was sixteen years old, one of his paintings was hung in the Royal Academy; his only regret was that he did not continue with his fine art studies. But he has painted landscapes, and produced many pen and ink sketches. He hates modern architecture, and has an extravagant taste in bow-ties. He was married with one daughter and the Lips lived on Kingsway. During his working life Lip was cartoon editor of the Daily Express, Sunday Times, and Evening Standard. But many local people with long memories will know his name because for over 26 years he illustrated Around Historic Sussex that appeared every Friday in the Evening Argus, the first subject being Bosham Harbour.
William Llewellyn ‘Buster’ Lloyd-Jones (1914-1980) – At the age of four Buster decided to become a vegetarian, and always knew that he wanted to work with animals when he grew up, despite his father’s strong views on an alternative career. When Buster was aged seven he became ill with polio, and although he recovered, the disease caught up with him in later life, and he was confined to a wheelchair by 1960. However, he enjoyed a successful career as a vet, having an almost mystical understanding of what was ailing his animal patients. He treated the pets of famous people, and once tried to stop Winston Churchill from giving chocolate to his dog Rufus because it was ruining his teeth. During the London blitz Buster treated trapped and maimed animals, but he found it difficult to visit all his canine patients scattered about the country until a friendly undertaker drove him around in a hearse. In 1951 Buster founded Denes Natural Health Care as a mail-order business in London. He had used such remedies in his own practice for some 30 years, and he was the world’s first qualified veterinary herbalist.
For fourteen years Buster practised at Denes Close, Brighton, retiring in 1965. From 1960 to 1970 he occupied the penthouse suite at 31 Courtenay Gate. Buster had a host of famous friends, and at one memorable party thrown at Courtenay Gate his guest list included Jack Tripp and Allan Christie (his favourite comedians) Marie Lohr (famous for her rich deep voice) the director Herbert Wilcox, and actors Jack Hawkins, Michael Denison, Dulcie Grey and Dame Flora Robson. Another close friend was the actress Margot Bryant (Minnie Caldwell in Coronation Street) who also lived at Hove. Buster enjoyed living in his penthouse with its spaciousness and spectacular views over the sea-front. But there were drawbacks – such as witnessing sights he would rather not have seen, such as the time two children playing on a groyne were suddenly swept out to sea; although he gave the alarm immediately, their bodies wee never found. He had an eye-witness view of the Bedford Hotel going up in flames. Then there were sudden sea-mists that played havoc with his chest not to mention the occasional south-westerly gale.
While he was living at Courtenay Gate, Buster embarked on a second career by writing books. The Animals Came in One by One became the best selling book of Christmas 1966, and Harrod’s was obliged to send a taxi to the distributors because the books were selling out like hot cakes. It was a tremendous boost for Buster who had recently emerged from hospital where doctors had told him he had a year to live – in fact he survived for another fifteen years but he was in constant pain. He even managed to travel to New York to promote his book, and happened to meet the Duke and Duchess of Windsor on board ship. In 1972 he produced the sequel entitled Come into My World, and the following year it came out as a paperback. Another old friend was Denise Robins, and although she was busy writing her 150th book, she found the time to attend Buster’s book launch at Hatchard’s, such literary events being old hat to her. In 1970 Buster moved to a house near Hove Park, and on the day he moved in the famous contralto and friend of Ivor Novello, Olive Gilbert, arrived to present him with a lovely magnolia and some lilac trees. That very night, a cow escaped and chomped its way through the lot.
Ken Lyon – He was a popular musician of many years standing, and in his latter years lived on Kingsway; he and his wife frequented Hove Library. Before the Second World War Lyon played in bands at home and abroad, then during the war he formed a double-act with Joe ‘Mr Piano’ Henderson. Lyon was a versatile musician, and although he was band leader for many years, he could also croon Crosby-style while his favourite instrument was a 100-year old double bass that he called Alphonse. He used to play in the bandstand on Hove sea-front during the summer, and also led the Pavilion Trio at Brighton. He became musical director at many of Brighton’s top hotels, and quite often broadcast on radio. In 1967 he and Frank Harlow were musical directors at the theatre on the West Pier. By 1991 he and his wife Velda had been married for 50 years, and they had two sons, Keith and Peter.
Peter Lyon followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a pianist. But sadly Keith was stabbed to death in 1967 at the age of twelve as he was walking along a country foot-path between Woodingdean and Ovingdean. There was a massive police investigation with 6,000 schoolboys being finger-printed while 80,000 home visits were undertaken. There were no arrests, and Ken Lyon died aged 75 in January 1991 without any resolution of the case. However, Keith Lyon is not forgotten, and his brother Peter has agitated for the case to be re-opened now that methods of detection have become more sophisticated. There was a TV re-enactment on BBC Crimewatch UK, and on 17 May 2001 a £10,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer. But so far there has been no satisfactory outcome.
William Robert Smith – He was a retired director of a London catering and bakery firm, and lived at Langdale Court, Kingsway. He served as Mayor of Hove from 1961 to 1963. The high-light of his mayoralty was when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited Hove on 16 July 1962, and his grand-daughter Susan presented the Queen with ceremonial scissors on a cushion. But it must be admitted there is a conflict of information about the identity of the little girl in question because a different source states it was six-year old Julie, daughter of Bill Reynolds, secretary of the George Street Traders’ Association, and it was George Street that had been re-furbished, and was ceremonially re-opened by the monarch. Perhaps there were two cushions with golden scissors. The royal couple’s first port of call was Hove Town Hall where there were received by the Mayor and \Mayoress, Mr and Mrs W. R. Smith, and so it seems likely that a young family member should be involved in such an important occasion. But the Queen and Prince Philip also visited the Greyhound Stadium for a mammoth youth rally, and opened the new Hangleton Library.
Another notable occasion was when the 600th anniversary of the formation of the Magisterial Bench in Sussex. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Kilmuir, presided over a meeting of Sussex JP’s at Hove.
Frank Waren – He was an inventor who lived on Kingsway in the 1970s. During the Second World War he worked at the Inter-Services Research Bureau. He came up with the idea of a motorised submersible canoe nick-named ‘hole-in-the-bottom’ canoe, and this invention played an important part in the Allied crossings of the Rhine. As a reward for his invention he received the princely sum of a £1 a week pay rise. Another of his wartime inventions was un-sweepable mine cable that helped to safeguard the protective ring of mines around British ports. After the war he worked for ITT Creed Research & Development at Burgess Hill where he remained for a period of 22 years. In 1967 he invented a home-made helipede, and in 1973 a sea-going catamaran capable of moping up oil spills.
See also separate pages for the following:
Brunswick TerraceCoastguard Station
Courtenay Terrace
Girton House
Hove Bandstand
HMS King Alfred
HMS Lizard
Hove College
Hove Lagoon
King Alfred Site
King’s Gardens
Mills Terrace
Queen’s Gardens
Sackville Hotel
St Catherine’s Terrace
Victoria Cottages
Victoria Terrace
Sources
A History of Caffyns from 1865 (1999)
Argus (18/8/03 / 22/10/04 / 4/2/05 / 30/9/05 / 13/3/06 /29/4/06 / 21/5/06 / 25/5/06 / 15/6/06 / 26/4/11/ 11/6/12 / 4/10/12 /16/10/12 / 5/9/13 / 14/3/15 / 26/10/15 /19/11/15 / 21/11/1 5 / 25/11/15 /31/12 /15 / 18/2/16 / 2/6/16 / 19/8/16 / 26/11/16 / 12/12/16 / 6/4/17 / 3/7/17 / 22/7/17 / 8/9/17 / 28/10/17 / 9/11/17/ 15/12/17 / 1/6/18 / 13/1/18 / 15/1/18 / 2/5/18 / 7/6/18 / 2/11/18 / 8/11/18 / 25/9/20 / 27/10/20 / 31/12/20)
Brighton & Hove Independent (8/1/16 / 28/10/16 / 25/11/16 / 26/1/18)
Brighton Herald
Bruce, E. A. A Seaside Villa: 1 Prince’s Crescent, Hove (1978) thesis, Hove Library
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Hove Council Minutes
Personal interviews with Mrs Roberta Jackson (Hove College)
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove