No, this is not the motto of North Laine Traders [though it might be!] nor yet that of the Brighton Business Forum, it is a quote from a town guide of 1826! Do not take this at face value, for the North Laine at that time was the town’s manufacturing base; manufactures in the 19th century context refers to goods made for sale outside the immediate area.

How did North Laine come to be this centre of industry? and why has it now lost that role but found another as the ‘Bohemian Quarter’?

When the growing 18th century resort burst out of the confines of the Old Town in the 1780s it could only grow in three directions, east and west along the coast was taken up with upmarket housing as was the area immediately bordering the promenade ground of the Steine, that left an area in the north split by the London Road valley. What is now the Hanover area [formerly the Hilly Laine] was too removed from the commerce of the Old Town or the glamour of the Steine and seafront to be used for resort housing and its very steep slopes ruled out all but a few small industries. North Laine, on its gently rising site, adjacent to the trade of the resort with large open fields was ideally based to take the re-located industries being forced out of the Old Town by rising land prices and pressure for manufacturing space. King St and Portland St were the first of the industrial streets and were in use by the 1780s for builders’ yards, bakers’ ovens and metal working sites. Occupiers of large spaces such as stables and market gardens were mapped in the block north of Church St -now Brighthelm- by 1799.

North Laine was perfectly located along the route from rural Sussex to the Brighton market place to transform the raw materials into marketable goods. The stream of oak and pine timber from the Wealden forests was sawn at the mills in Trafalgar Lane [now Travisl Perkins] before passing on to the furniture workshops in Bond St [now Greenwich Village and earlier Mead &Co furniture auctioneers]. The fittings for the goods, locks and hinges, handles and leather coverings, were all part of the areas manufacturing network, the finished products finally appearing in the retail emporia of North St and Western Road. Animals on the hoof were walked in from Patcham and Preston and corralled on the North Steine [20,000 sheep for the sheep fair of 1821] before ending up in the North Laine slaughter houses-seven in Vine St alone. By- products of these were carted up the hill to soap works in Foundry St. and tallow-chandlers in Spring Gardens-“much complained of ”- as a health report of 1847 has it. Between 1811-1821 Brighton’s population grew by 103%, food for the rapidly growing resort was processed and stored throughout the Laine, butchers shops all over, but principally in Sydney St [five still in 1954-including one horsemeat trader!] corn stores in Gloucester Road where William Wood a Hurstpierpoint farmer had his store, hay lofts in Jubilee St [now under the library] bacon curing stoves next door in North Place.

Hot metal [there must be a North Laine record shop called that!] was a prime industrial component-and polluter- with the big Regent Iron and Brass Foundry in North Road [now the Postal Sorting Office] a lead pipe works next door in Foundry St and the Portland Foundry on the corner of Church St.

North Laine on the edge of a rapidly expanding area was not just a large and varied workshop, the workforce for the area had to be housed and builders abounded, the earliest and one of the largest being Patchings in Portland St that was there before 1800. Shopping has always been a big feature of the North Laine scene and in the 1920’s shoppers in North Road could patronise either their local traders or choose Marks and Spencer  [Sussex Fitted Kitchens] or the Brighton Co-op [Glazed Expression] as late as the 1980‘s Tesco [formerly Victor Value] occupied the Komedia building [note, chain stores in retreat from North Laine!] Attractions from the Grand Theatre [LA Fitness] to the Coronation Cinema [new housing below Cheltenham Place] and scores of pubs kept the community entertained.

Post WWII industry declined sharply in the area, new trading estates at Hollingbury and Coldean drew off manufacturing investment, increasing awareness of urban living conditions meant expansion of premises was not viable, increase in delivery vehicle size and rising urban costs meant one by one the industries went, foundries and printers, engine sheds and rail sidings, bacon stoves and food distributors. As the employment went so the fabric of the area, housing and roads, retail and amenities also declined. A proposal in 1973 to punch a stilted highway through the area met with a new community defiance, which eventually saw the area became a conservation area, reverting to its historic name and evolving into the vibrant‘ Sprit of Brighton’ district we have today. The cheaper housing and the small retail units brought in a different sort of trader, Brighton’s special air of quirkiness, it’s post-university population, its gay and theatrical crowd, it’s metropolitan commuters, found this inner city area close to station and town centre a revitalized community with trading opportunities for enterprises far removed from the high street and mall.

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