I visited the UK’s most popular seaside city — 1 thing made it worthy | UK | Travel

Over the May bank holiday I decided to join everyone else in the UK and head to the seaside – specifically Brighton. I had been before, but never as an adult and with the temperature set to rocket above 30°C in London, I thought it was high time to get a bit of sea air. As soon as my boyfriend and I arrived at London Bridge to get our train, it became clear we were not going to be getting a seat – in fact, it was so packed full of people that the train skipped several stops to take us straight to Brighton.

As we headed to the seaside with hordes of other people escaping the heat, I knew I didn’t want to go straight to the beach. For one thing, I hadn’t packed a swimming costume, and for another, I am from New Zealand, where the beaches are white sand, and even in the height of summer, often almost abandoned – and the idea of being crammed in with thousands of other people on the pebbles did not appeal in the slightest.

Instead, we chose to head to North Laine – a trendy street nestled away in the city with more than 300 independent shops, boutiques and restaurants. It’s all tucked into less than half a square mile, and as everyone flocked to the beach, it was significantly quieter than the seaside strip.

We wandered through the bright, cheerful streets and narrow cobblestoned pathways, exploring all the different shops. From jewellery to homewares, driftwood art pieces, and vintage clothes, there was something for everyone. In my eyes, it was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

After a couple of hours of browsing, we stopped in Mange Tout – an independent French restaurant located in North Laine.

Coming from London, we were ready to fight for a seat or be put on a waiting list for a table, but we could take our pick of the seating.

Sat outside in the sunshine watching the world go past, it felt a million miles from the chaos of the seafront. We enjoyed a delicious lunch – a breakfast bun for my boyfriend and moules marinière for me – as well as a couple of drinks; we were on holiday, after all.

After lunch, we decided we couldn’t go to Brighton and not at least look at the sea, so we made our way back down North Laine towards the ocean. On our wander, we stopped in at several shops we had missed on the first walk up, before coming into view of the sea.

I had known it would be busy, but the sheer volume of people on the beach had to be seen to be believed. As far as the eye could see in either direction, the pebbled beach was awash with people sunning themselves, paddling in the water or hiding under umbrellas. In the sea, jet skis zipped back and forth, and a brave snorkeller swam ever further out.

In the very distance, I could see the wind farm out in the ocean, and we decided to head down the pier to try and get a closer look at the turbines all the way on the horizon.

It cost £1 each to go down the pier – another thing which shocked me – and as we headed down, we decided to go through the gigantic arcade located about halfway down. It was one of two arcades on the pier, and like the beach, it was rammed with people.

It was dark, loud, and so sweaty I felt like I had fallen off the pier and into the sea.

I was horrified and quietly asked my boyfriend why on Earth the arcade existed – “Who comes to the beach, just to be inside?”

He replied, “How often do you think the weather is actually good here?”

The pier was definitely an experience – but not one I particularly enjoyed. However, if I were seven years old, I think it would probably be absolutely magical. There are fairground rides, candy floss and doughnuts, all accompanied by the sea washing underneath the pier.

Alas, I am 31 years old, and the majesty of a fairground ride is lost on me. Once we had walked all the way to the end of the pier, we decided it was high time to head back to London – but not before stopping back past North Laine to get an end-of-day pint.