Brighton Accommodation

Flowerpot people at Brighton Festival held in the grounds of the Royal Pavilion. Britainonview/Brightononview
Brighton Burning of the Clocks parade. Britainonview/Brightononview
Crowds of people in the street enjoying the Pride in Brighton summer festival. Britainonview/Brightononview

Brighton Festival Pride Fringe Comedy East Sussex UK

If Edinburgh is the north's premier festival city, then Brighton is where it's at festival wise in the south. Boasting a full year programme of festivals hosted in the city's huge choice of Entertainment venues including the Brighton Dome and numerous clubs, Brighton covers all the festival themes from Pride to Music to Food and Comedy. Look out for the new White Night End of Summer Festival to be held annually at the end of October (see the Whitenight weblink right for details).

The big Brighton International Festival and Festival Fringe runs across May annually and now ranks as one of the UK's top festival events. Brighton also offers not one but two spectacular Pride events, the Summer July/August Gay Festival and Winter Pride Festival in February. Highlights include one of the best and most colourful Pride Parades you're likely to see towards the end of Brighton's Summer Pride. The parade culminates in the big festival event at Preston Park. Brighton's festival choice is endless from kite festivals to the big Great Escape Music Festival featuring the best of new talent. Brighton resident Fatboyslim hits Brighton Beach for the annual Beach Boutique event and the Brighton & Hove Food Festival runs annually through September with feature events including Fish on the front and food markets on Hove Green and at Brighton Racecourse. Book early is the general advice for Brighton Festivals as all are popular events in the south.

Featured Sussex Accommodation

Sea Breeze Brighton Guest House - Brighton

Welcoming 4 Star Silver awarded bed and breakfast in Brighton with ensuite rooms with a contemporary, modern feel. Delicious breakfast, parking available.

£49 to £195 Per person per room (2 sharing)

Brighton International Festival & Festival Fringe

The Brighton International Festival is one of the UK's premier festivals, and one of the largest, running over three weeks annually in May and seeing numerous feature premieres, exclusives and free events across the city's many acclaimed cultural venues. Performance, theatre, dance, music, debate and family friendly outdoor and indoor events all feature in this festival extravaganza in the south. Alongside the Brighton Festival runs the acclaimed Brighton Festival Fringe, the third largest festival fringe in the world after Adelaide and Edinburgh!

With a long history, the Brighton International Festival has something for all from big band shows and concerts to intimate lunchtime performances, parades and art exhibitions. Brighton's festival venues include the Theatre Royal, Brighton Dome, Komedia and the Sallis Benney Theatre. Plenty is on the menu for children including the popular Children's Parade which takes on a new theme every year and is usually one of the Festival's kick starting events from Sydney Street to Madeira Drive. Fesitval events often push out to peripheral Brighton areas such as Glyndebourne near Lewes and Brighton Marina.

The Brighton Festival celebrated 42 years of providing an outstanding programme of dance, music, theatre, debate and family shows in 2008. Expect over 200 events annually and the advise is to book early, particularly for the most popular debates and shows which often sell out. Brighton's Festival Fringe has a close connection with the international festival, but with an emphasis on open access and new up and coming artists and work. Certainly alongside Edinburgh, the Brighton Fringe is one of the best in the UK. Popular Brighton Fringe venues include the city's many bars and clubs, churches, independent museums and art galleries, community centres, live music pubs and fringe theatres like the Nightingale. For details on how to book, venue maps, forthcoming programme and Brighton Festival and Fringe archives check the Brighton Festival and Festival Fringe weblinks right.

For Brighton International Festival events book in person at the Ticket Office, 29 New Road, Brighton BN1 1UG, open 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and during the festival daily til 7pm. Book online via the festival's website or by phone call the Brighton Dome Ticket Office on 01273 709709 from 10am to 6pm Mon to Sat and daily during the festival til 7pm. More booking details are on the Brighton Festival Website. For Brighton Festival Fringe bookings call the Dome box office too on 01273 709709. More details on Fringe enquiries and booking are via the website. Both festivals run consecutively and both produce their own brochures.

Brighton Pride Summer & Winter Festivals

Brighton's celebrated and internationally famous Pride Summer Festival Week runs annually from the end of July into early August (see Brighton Pride's weblink right for forthcoming dates). Consistently voted the top Pride event in the UK by Gay Times, inclusive in events is the famous Brighton Pride Carnival Parade and Park Event with the parade starting at Madeira Drive adjacent to Brighton Pier and usually kickstarting around 11am following along Kingsway then up to West Street and back down to North Street then on to Old Steine and up towards Preston Park for 1pm and the Park Festival. Countries from around the world contribute floats and costumes - Brighton's Pride Parade is one of the most colourful out there. Brighton Pride also holds a Winter Pride week event in early February annually.

A dazzling programme of events and activities takes place through Brighton Pride week in the summer including dog shows, club nights, theatre and street parties often on St James's Street in the heart of the gay village. Brighton's Pride has long roots dating back to 1992, but Brighton's lesbian, gay and bisexual history as the Gay Capital of the South stretches much further back to the early 19th century when huge numbers of soliders were garrisoned at Brighton during the Napoleonic Wars. The superb 'Brighton Our Story' weblink right explores in-depth Brighton's Queer History from the early 1800s through to todays Community Comes of Age and the huge success of Brighton Pride and the celebrated gay scene in the city. Plans for a Lesbian Gay & Bisexual Heritage Centre in Brighton are underway and you can read more via the Brighton Our Story weblink right.

Winter Pride in Brighton is newer than the August Pride week and is seeing continued growth and success with events running across 37 venues around Brighton and Hove. Find out more on both Brighton Pride events via the Pride weblink.

Pride in Brighton and Hove, 6 Bartholomews, Brighton, BN1 1HG. Tel. 01273 775939.

Brighton Comedy Festival & Comedy Festival Fringe

Running for three weeks across October, the Brighton Comedy Festival and accompanying Comedy Fringe Festival ranks as one of the UK's top comedy events. Big names often featuring include Alan Carr, Dara O Briain, Ed Byrne, Clive James, Bill Bailey and Roy Walker.

Comedy events take place across a selection of popular Brighton Venues including the Dome's Concert Hall, Pavilion theatre and Corn Exchange and Komedia. Book online via the Brighton Ticketshop weblink and checkout the forthcoming Brighton Comedy Festival programme via the Brighton Dome weblink right. Brighton Dome Ticket Office 01273 709709.

Brighton's Comedy Festival Fringe overlaps with the main comedy festival and centres around the fantastic intimate 'boutique' venue - Upstairs at Three and Ten. Checkout the forthcoming comedy fringe programme via the weblink right and see more details on Three and Ten's website.

Brighton Comedy Fringe at Upstairs at Three and Ten, 10 Steine Street, Brighton BN2 1TE. Tel. 07786 984 900. (weblink right for details).

Brighton & Hove Food Festival

Celebrating the best of Sussex food and drink, the Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival runs annually through September. With Brighton and Hove's many acclaimed restaurants getting involved, Brighton makes a superb location to celebrate the best of Sussex produce.

Over 100 Sussex producers take part and the festival has an emphasis on local production, healthy eating and low food miles. Campaigns featuring include CAMRA, the Local Food Partnership and Sussex Enterprise's 'A Taste of Sussex'.

Main events during the Brighton Food Festival include Fish on the Front based at Brighton Marina's inner harbour and the main Taste of Sussex Festival Weekend across New Road, Jubilee Street and Square and around the Royal Pavilion Gardens. Don't miss too the Sussex and World Food Market held for two days on the Hove Lawns and usually one at Brighton Racecourse. For more details see the Brighton & Hove Food Festival's weblink right. Numerous other events take place around Brighton and Hove Restaurants, Hotels, Pubs and Cafes during the festival. See listings on the website in the Fringe section and more details on all the main events.

Brighton Music Festivals Big Beach Boutique & the Great Escape Festival

The Big Beach Boutique featuring Fatboy Slim, Brighton resident Norman Cook, is a regular affair now usually held on the last Saturday in September. Checkout Fatboyslim's myspace link right for forthcoming date and ticket availability. Hugely popular, especially with Brighton residents, the event usually sells out early although recently special ticket allocations have been reserved for non-residents. For news and details see Fatboyslim's myspace.

Tickets are available through Ticketline and Ticketmaster and the event takes place on the beach near Madeira Drive and the Pier. Kick-off for Beach Boutique is usually 3pm with the event running right through to the evening culminating in Fatboyslim on stage. The Big Beach Boutique After Party follows at Coalition.

Over three days in May the Brighton Great Escape Music Festival hits town. On offer is around 200 new local and international artists performing in around 25 venues across the Brighton and Hove area. (see the Great Escape weblink right for details). Billed as Europe's leading new music festival, expect the latest talent showcased in this music festival. Live music, themed parties and club nights are all on offer.

Brighton Film Festival

In conjunction with the Duke of York's Picturehouse and the University of Brighton, the Cine City Brighton Film Festival is held annually at the end of November into early December (see the Brighton Film Festival's weblink right for forthcoming dates).

This acclaimed film festival in Brighton sees film screenings across all of Brighton and Hove's cinemas, but especially at the art house mecca the Duke of York's Picturehouse. Expect screenings of new features before their major release dates alongside classic film reissues and archive treasures.

The festival also offers a fair sprinkling of film focusing on Brighton and Hove. Find out more via the Cine City Brighton Film Festival weblink.

World Sacred Music Festival Brighton

The World Sacred Music Festival in Brighton takes place annually across one week in mid-October. The festival celebrates sacred music from across the world with an aim to inspire, entertain and to encourage understanding between people of all faiths.

Local, national and international musicians feature and come from a cross section of faiths including Buddhist, Celtic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, African, Native American and Sikh. Concerts, workshops and free events take place in several venues around Brighton and Hove including Brighton Unitarian Church, the Chattri Memorial, the Friends Meeting House, Sallis Benney Theatre, The Old Market and St Bartholomew's, St George's and St Nicholas Churches as well as the Royal Sussex County Hospital Chapel.

For details on how to book and information on the World Sacred Music Festival's forthcoming programme see the festival's comprehensive webguide link right.

Brighton Festival of World Sacred Music, 21-22 Old Steyne, Brighton BN1 1EL. Tel. 01273 648374.

Featured Sussex Accommodation

Sea Breeze Brighton Guest House - Brighton

Welcoming 4 Star Silver awarded bed and breakfast in Brighton with ensuite rooms with a contemporary, modern feel. Delicious breakfast, parking available.

£49 to £195 Per person per room (2 sharing)