Today, I’m sharing my favourite secret places to visit in Brighton. This list is for you if you’ve ticked off Brighton’s main attractions and are curious to scratch beneath the surface of this creative seaside city on England’s south coast.

My guess is you’ve probably snooped around the Royal Pavilion, had donuts on the Palace Pier, and been shopping in the bohemian North Laine. Now you’re ready to wander off the beaten path and explore Brighton away from the tourist crowds.

If this is the case, welcome! You’re in the right place. When I created my travel website, I began by sharing secret places in Brighton to visit. A few months later, a publisher asked me to write Secret Brighton. I guess you can say that I know Brighton well.

Some of the secret places and experiences in Brighton on this list are from the secret Brighton archives on my travel website; while others feature in my bestselling guidebook to the city, Secret Brighton.

secret places in Brighton

What do I mean by ‘secret’? I’m talking overlooked places you won’t find on most tourist itineraries. This doesn’t mean they aren’t worth visiting or trying out – far from it. To me, it’s these little-known, out-of-the-way discoveries that get to the heart of a place.

(Side point: I can’t tell you how many new websites claiming to specialise in Brighton have copied my suggestions without credit, in some cases word for word. But I won’t let the copy cats stop me.) So, without further ado, let’s discover the best secret places in Brighton.

This post was originally written in April 2018 but has been since revamped to keep it fresh and will be continuously updated as we discover more secret Brighton places to add.  

1 Seven Dials, the ‘Notting Hill of Brighton’

The chic, residential area of Seven Dials is overlooked by most visitors to Brighton, yet you could easily spend a slow day in this area alone. It’s home to some of the most beautiful houses in the city, and within walking distance of central Brighton and Brighton seafront for evening strolls.

If I was planning a weekend in Brighton, I’d make Seven Dials my base. It’s a leafy, compact neighbourhood that feels like a village with peaceful shady streets lined with historic townhouses, and lots of great neighbourhood cafes, pubs and independent shops. There are even a couple of places for a culture fix.

A good way to discover Seven Dials is by following my self-guided hidden walk around Seven Dials. It’s part of my hidden Brighton walks series that went viral during the first lockdown. If you’d like to do my hidden Brighton walk around Seven Dials, you can find directions and a map including addresses of note, here.

Alternatively, if you want to plan your own time, I offer insider local tips on where to eat, drink, stay and things to do in the leafy neighbourhood, in my insider guide to Seven Dials, part of my popular Brighton neighbourhood guides series.

2 Anna’s Museum, a collection of curiosities in a victorian shop window

I stumbled on Anna’s Museum quite by chance one Saturday, during a detour away from the shopping crowds in the centre of town near Churchill Square. It’s not a museum in a traditional sense; rather ‘a secret shop window of curiosities’ as I like to call it, that you stop to look at on a wander past.

It belongs to young Brighton resident and natural history collector Anna Rubinstein, known around town as the city’s youngest taxidermist. She started collecting things around age four, with her interest in taxidermy and natural history following a few years later.

Anna’s fascinating collection grows and changes over time and includes things that animals leave behind, like antlers and teeth, wasps’ nests and shed skin. She has so many fans who often leave her donations for her display which she adds along with their letters.

Find Anna’s Museum at 44 Upper North Street, Brighton BN1 3FH, visit it virtually here and read more about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook. 

 

3 Brighton’s only waterfall, hidden in the Preston Park Rock Garden

You won’t find it on the tourist board website, any official maps, or spot any signposts around town to show you the way. Thousands of visitors come to enjoy Preston Park every year, but very few know that hidden away in the historic Preston Park Rock Garden opposite – one of the city’s best-kept secrets in itself – is this small waterfall, known locally as The Cascade.

The garden was built in the 1930s on an old railway bank and landscaped with granite from a quarry in the West Country. At its centre is the waterfall, which gushes 20ft down into a pond below which you can walk over on giant stepping stones.

There are lots of shady, narrow winding pathways to follow into the garden’s different sections. There’s a wildflower bank that bursts with colour come spring, an arboretum, a winter garden and even a bird hide. Head to the top for great view across to Preston Park.

Find Brighton’s only waterfall in Preston Park Rock Garden at 216 Preston Road, Brighton BN1 6HN, take a virtual visit here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook. 

 

44 33 Palmeira Mansions, a wealthy Victorian dandy’s Moorish-style home

At the north end of Palmeira Square near Brunswick Town in Hove are two impressive terraces of Victorian properties, one of which stands out from the crowd for two reasons. No 33 Palmeira Mansions is not only unusual in that it’s still a single building, but it also hides a perfectly preserved spectacular Grade II-listed interior that’s a feast for the eyes.

It was created by a wealthy businessman and widower, Mr Arthur William Mason, who moved here in 1889 with his young daughter, Christina. With money no object, Mason spent the first few years refurbishing the interior – without the help of a designer, instead choosing what he loved, mixing the best fixtures that money could buy. As you can see, he had opulent taste.

Features include elaborate fireplaces, carved mahogany doors, exquisite stained-glass windows, a decorative Moorish-style ceiling, marble staircases, floors and dado rails. Today it’s a language school, so unless you happen to be studying here, the only way to see inside it is on a guided tour.

Find 33 Palmeria Mansions at 15 Church Lane, Hove BN3 2FA, read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook, or book a tour here.

 

5 Audrey’s Chocolates, a nostalgic sweet shop in Hove with London connections

Audrey’s Chocolates is one of my favourite secret Brighton discoveries, a treasured shop with a fascinating backstory that opened in the 1960s. You’ll find it a short walk from the seafront along a Hove side street inside an unassuming four-story Georgian townhouse. It’s the perfect place to stock up on luxurious souvenirs and gifts.

The business has its roots in the 1920s and looks pretty much as it did when the shop opened in 1961 by Mr William Pain all panelled in oak, carpeted in red, with old mahogany and glass cabinets full of chocolates. Signature sweets include the rose and violet creams and cherries soaked in brandy which come packed in a powder pink box and fly off the shelves at Christmas.

Unbeknown to most is that Audrey’s Chocolates in Hove supplies the London food emporium, Fortum & Mason with no fewer than 5,000 boxes of chocolates a week! What’s more, every chocolate they ship to London is made in a secret chocolate factory above the shop.

Find Audrey’s Chocolates at 28 Holland Road, Hove BN3 1JJ, take a virtual visit to the shop here and the hidden chocolate factory above, here. 

 

6 Beach Box Sauna Spa, a Scandi-style wellness retreat in Brighton

The Beach Box Sauna Spa is a unique outdoor hideaway that replicates the traditional Scandinavian-style sauna experience across several wood-fired saunas inside converted horse boxes. It’s the kind of place you’ll find hardy locals and visitors in the know hanging out.

Open all year round, this little hidden gem is guaranteed to invigorate and refresh you in sunny months or warm the chilly cockles in winter. Sessions last two hours and involve alternating between cold showers or dips in the plunge pool or sea, and time spent in the sauna. Repeat as many times as you can fit into your session.

I highly recommend trying the homemade body treatments, the sauna master delivers to you on your second round. The clay face mask and salt body scrub make a divine combination – served in coconut shell bowls on a wooden platter. Taking a sauna session here really is one of the best ways to spend a couple of hours in Brighton.

Find the Beach Box Sauna Spa behind the Volks Railway Workshop at Banjo Groyne, 285 Madeira Drive, Brighton BN2 1EN, take a virtual visit here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook. 

 

7 Brighton Pavilion’s hidden tunnels

Brighton Pavilion is hardly a secret; built as the seaside party palace for King George IV, and known for its exotic design, both inside and out. However, the basement corridors and underground passageways beneath it have remained relatively unknown to the public until recently, only opening for tours in 2016.

This system ran the length of the building and allows us to glimpse into the past – from how the staff worked to how the building was powered.

What I loved learning most about it is that it was designed to ensure that work appeared seamless, allowing servants to manoeuvre easily from one room to another without being seen, emerging as if by magic into various rooms up tiny secret stone staircases, before disappearing down them again.

Find the Royal Pavilion at 4/5 Pavilion Buildings, Brighton BN1 1EE,  book a tour of the basement and tunnels here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook. 

 

8 Duke of York’s Picturehouse, a vintage cinema with sofa seats

A visit to the Duke’s, as it’s known locally, brings you to the unsung neighbourhood of London Road. With its ornate Edwardian baroque-style façade and giant pair of striped stockinged Can Can legs on its roof, you can’t miss it. It opened in 1910 and is thought to be the oldest surviving purpose-built cinema in the UK, having operated for over 100 years continuously.

Today, it seats 278 people, but in its heyday, packed in over 800 people and looked much different. I love knowing there were once two shops to each side of the main doors; one selling French pastries delivered daily by ferry from Dieppe to Brighton’s West Pier; the other well stocked with cigarettes, cigars and confectionery.

Today it’s a luxurious independent cinema. The best seats in the house are the slouchy sofas up on the balcony, each with a little table and blankets. There’s also a little bar up there with an even tinier outside space for views over Preston Circus.

Find the Duke of York’s Picturehouse at Preston Road, Brighton BN1 4NA, check the listings here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

9 Blackout Shop, a kitsch boutique in the North Laine

A riot of colour, the ironically named Blackout Shop is the perfect place if you’re looking for a souvenir gift for that special, eccentric friend or family member. It started life in the 1990s and is a carefully curated collection of kitsch from around the world.

Its yellow and blue façade and window display is a taste of what’s to come inside. It feels a bit like you’ve stepped inside a fortune teller’s gypsy caravan bursting with shiny trinkets or a giant treasure chest dripping with sparkly jewels.

Think: enamel plates, mugs, cups and bowls, vintage tins from India, Mexican loteria cards, glittery decorated boxes of matches, pom poms, lanterns, light-up rabbits, colourful candles, vibrantly scented soaps, key rings, notebooks, jewellery, not to mention cushions, bags, trays, clothes, socks…

Find Blackout Shop at 53 Kensington Place, Brighton BN1 4EJ or take a virtual tour here.

 

10 Bodhisattva Kadampa Meditation Centre, A Buddhist village in Hove

There’s a mansion on Lansdowne Road in Hove most people walking past may not know is home to a thriving Buddhist community. Walk up the drive and enter the lush gardens and you find yourself in a peaceful haven, away from the bustle of Western Road.

There’s a café, a bookshop, some meditation rooms, a shrine and the largest statue of Buddha in East Sussex. For me, its nicest feature is its little Peace Garden, open to everyone  from 9am until dusk. A wander through this tranquil space reveals lots of little flower-filled nooks, a fountain, a rose pergola, a circle of plum trees, a pond, and secluded areas with seats for quiet reflection.

Find Bodhisattva Kadampa Meditation Centre at 3 Lansdowne Road, Hove BN3 1DN and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

11 Preston Manor walled garden, a hidden city sanctuary

Hidden behind Preston Manor – a little-known manor house on the way into Brighton – is this historic walled garden I only discovered it after 15 years of living in Brighton. It was once a kitchen garden for the manor house and is open all the time for wandering.

What I love about it most is that it’s home to another curiosity. In the south-west corner of the garden, you’ll spot a row of miniature headstones lining the back walls. This hidden gem is known as the Preston Manor pet cemetery.

In the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, pets were considered important family members in wealthy homes. When they died, they were buried in private cemeteries complete with headstones. The gravestone that people find most intriguing is inscribed ‘George the Pavilion Cat’, a shorthaired black and white cat who lived at the Royal Pavilion from 1965 to 1980.

Find the Preston Manor walled garden behind Preston Manor, Preston Road, Brighton BN1 6SD, take a virtual tour here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

12 camden terrace, Brighton’s most beautiful secret street

Brighton is filled with little secret alleyways sandwiched between other streets and known locally as ‘twittens’. Some are well known, others less so. The most beautiful – and surprisingly, one of the least trodden – is Camden Terrace in West Hill close to Brighton station.

With its rows of Mediterranean-style whitewashed cottages built in the 1840s, other larger homes and lush greenery, a stroll along it transports you to a different world. It also makes a great alternative route to the tourist-laden Queen’s Road that runs to and from the station.

Besides Camden Terrace, there are others that are less known and are worth hunting out, such as Vine Place and Lewis’s Buildings. Some are embarrassingly dingy and dank, while everyone has their favourite.

Find Camden Terrace in the West Hill area of Brighton, read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook and other hidden Brighton streets here.

 

13 Dog and bone gallery, art in a phonebox

When I researched these tiny listed buildings for the first Secret Brighton guidebook they were dirty, derelict and covered in graffiti. They’ve since been newly painted the traditional bright tomato-red colour and turned into the Dog and Bone Gallery.

It was set up by local artist, Sam Toft who says she found a guy who owns lots of these telephone boxes around the city and rents them out – so got in touch and the rest is history. She spruced them up, and Dog and Bone Gallery was born, which hosts a schedule of curated exhibitions that changes every month.

Find out more about hiring it, here, and follow the Dog and Bone gallery on Instagram, here.

Find the Dog and Bone Gallery at Powis Square, Brighton BN1 3HG, have a virtual browse here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

14 Tun Tuns Café, incredible Bangladeshi street food near Hanover

Rich, flavourful homemade curries made with love – the best in Brighton many say – are what you come to this no-frills high-street spot on the fringes of Hanover for. This heartwarming family-run Bangladeshi spot is just one in an eclectic patchwork of local independent shops, businesses and coffee shops on Lewes Road.

The dining room is brightly coloured and homely; the kind of place where the quality of the food matters more than having the latest décor, tableware and impeccably presented dishes, displayed on a pristine social media feed. For a little bit of everything, the thalis come up top. A round silver tray comes filled with several little silver bowls of rice, dahl, a curry of your choice, a samosa, bhaji and bread, served with a smile, and all for only £15.

There are vegan and gluten-free options, too, and mega thalis to share with friends from £50. Before you dive in, make sure to order one of the snacks to start, like bhelpuri, a Bangladeshi street food of crispy puffed rice tossed with sweet tamarind chutney, spicy green chutney and hot garlic.

Find Tun Tuns Cafe at 150 Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 3LG or read about it and other ‘secret Brighton’ restaurants here.

 

15  Booth Museum of Natural History, a hidden cabinet of curiosities in Brighton

If you’re a fan of unusual museums, you’ll love a trip to the Booth Museum of Natural History. Set on the fringes of Seven Dials, it was created by its namesake, Edward Thomas Booth, a typical affluent Victorian, who learned shooting, taxidermy and about the natural world at an early age with an ambition to collect every species of British bird.

Goal achieved, Booth started collecting species from all around the world, from birds of paradise to parrots – even returning with the skeleton of a Dodo. Not to mention 525,000 insects, 50,000 minerals and rocks, 30,000 plants and 5,000 microscope slides, old specimens such as shells from the bottom of a 55-million-year-old Mediterranean lagoon and dinosaur bones.

Find the Booth Museum of Natural History at t 194 Dyke Road, Brighton BN1 5AA, take a virtual visit  here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

16 Old Ship Dining Rooms, a private bar in a smugglers’ tunnel

Deep underneath the Old Ship Hotel in a vast complex of old smugglers’ tunnels is this private dining room and bar. The rooms are mainly open for private dining events, but occasionally open to the public for cocktail parties.

Find the Old Ship Dining Rooms underneath the Old Ship Hotel, 32-38 Kings Road, Brighton BN1 1NR, take a virtual visit here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

17 The mysterious London Road Stone Circle

London Road in Brighton is home to the starting point – or end depending on which way you approach it – of an art installation hidden in plain sight you may have walked over countless times without realising.  Next time you’re in the vicinity, take a moment to look down and you might just spot one of 50 numbered stone paving slabs, set in a circle around the area as wide as the road is long.

It’s referred to as the first urban stone circle in England and it’s created out of paving slabs that were being removed for a cycle route near St Peter’s Church by Valley Gardens in the city centre, the new central greenspace that runs to the sea. Each one has been dug up, hand carved with a number, and re-laid in a circle which cuts through private and public spaces, including parks and car parks, even private gardens.

Read the full story here and more in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

18 Tomb Trail, A little-known walk around a Victorian burial ground

Not far from Hanover, Brighton’s hilliest and most colourful neighbourhood is the Woodvale Cemetery, set on 15 acres in the middle of Brighton that seems to fly under the radar. What’s incredible is that despite how big this place is, it’s unlikely you’ll encounter another soul on a wander around, except perhaps the odd person using it as a shortcut into town.

It’s also home to an atmospheric Victorian burial ground established in 1850 you can explore on the ‘Tomb Trail’ which takes you along steep winding paths lined with ivy-covered gravestones, through wildflower meadows.

Find the Tomb Trail inside the Extra Mural Cemetery, 249 Bear Road, Brighton BN2 3QH, discover more here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

19 Racehill community Orchard, AN overlooked INNER CITY fruit farm with epic sea views

Hidden from plain sight in the middle of a housing estate is this little-known orchard on Whitehawk Hill. It’s set in three acres of wild landscape overlooking Brighton, and has 200 fruit trees, which could reap around three to four tonnes of fruit a year!

Apparently fruit trees have grown here for up to 5,500 years. Today, there are apples, pears, plums, a few cherries and some more unusual trees like figs.

Find the Race Hill Community Orchard at Swanborough Drive, Brighton BN2 5QB, take a virtual visit here and read about it in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

20 Flint grotto, Brighton’s last fisherman and his sculpture garden

Art galleries are ten a penny in Brighton, but there’s one with a twist to discover on Brighton seafront. It’s known as the Flint Grotto and it’s home to eight larger-than-life sculptures.

Some have a link to ancient mythology while others are inspired by Bronze and Iron Age art. One of the most recent additions is a sculpture inspired by the Venus of Willendorf – a 25,000-year-old piece of artwork considered to be one of the oldest and most famous surviving works of art in the world.

It was created almost by accident by a local man and self-taught artist – although he doesn’t see himself as an artist – Rory McCormack. He’s also often referred to as the ‘last fisherman’, not because he was a professional fisherman. In Brighton, there was a time when local people could have a little plot on the beach to store fishing gear in

Find Brighton’s last fisherman and his sculpture garden at Marine Parade, Brighton BN2 1AJ, read the full story, here or in my Secret Brighton guidebook.

 

21 Pearly Cow, a funky underground restaurant underneath a Regency hotel

Underneath the city’s latest hotel, Guesthouse Brighton, lies this stylish and buzzy new addition to Brighton’s restaurant scene. Its entrance can be found at the bottom of a set of funky pink-checkerboard steps to the right of the hotel entrance.

It’s a fun Brighton restaurant, the kind of place you want to get settled into for the night. It’s great for all occasions: girly get-togethers, date nights, festive work drinks, or birthday celebrations, you name. it.

Food-wise, it’s mostly all about steak and seafood, alongside a few veggie options like beetroot carpaccio. You can order a few small plates to share or go traditional with a starter and main course.

 Find Pearly Cow at 123 Kings Road, Brighton BN1 2FY and read about it and other secret Brighton restaurants, here.

 

22 Brighton’s vintage shop entrance mosaics

Other than old shopfronts and faded ghost signs, I’ve become particularly sentimental about vintage shopfront entrance mosaics. Like this one I found recently. They were the height of fashion and sophistication in the 19th and 20th centuries and most shops and apartment buildings had one.

To me, they’re not just pieces of social history, they’re works of art a lot of skill and patience has gone into creating. I think they should all be preserved. Since my first spot, I’ve been faithfully keeping an eye out for others, snapping them whenever I see one, which I’ve gathered together into this post which includes a map so you can plan a treasure hunt around Brighton to find them.

 

23 Discover BRIGHTON’S ‘SECRET’ SHOPS

By secret shops, I mean local independents that don’t get enough attention either because they’re not located on a main shopping street or are set off the beaten path in a residential neighbourhood.

These are gems only people in the know realise are there. In any case, you’ll have to make an effort to seek them out, but if you follow along with my blog, I have a hunch this is the kind of activity you enjoy anyway.

Read the full round-up of secret Brighton shops here. 

Want all of my Brighton secrets?

My collection of local secrets, insider advice and little-known urban anecdotes. It’s the ultimate guide to Brighton unknown. For my 15 or so years in Brighton, everything has been personally vetted, visited and experienced by me! Available for your bookshelf from the Ellie & Co Shop, here.

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