How to Smash a Night Out in Brighton

Features

Rhys Baker

24 Sept 2018

Dirty weekends and all-night seaside partying - the holy guide to Brighton's nightlife

Prepare yourself, freshers. You're about to begin three-to-four of the most intense years of life. In a few weeks, you would have already crashed through the doors of your new overpriced student accommodation, careered yourself into RFC Chicken in search of late-night munch, and found yourself queuing outside of Old Steine desperately trying to catch a night bus back to campus.

Brighton is a seaside Shangri-La, a party-town resort, situated for-better-and-worse in the shadow of London. The electronic music capital of the UK, Brighton (and I should mention Hove) is a creative and thriving metropolis – filled with enough bars, pubs, clubs, and music venues for each and every day of the year.

From warehouse parties in Moulsecoomb, to raving 'til sunrise on the seafront, to house parties everywhere from campus to Woodingdean, this is how to smash a night out in Brighton:

 

Choosing an Event

Your nightlife calendar can be as buzzy as you want it to be while you're here. As with anything, it's about how much you decide to seek out. From thumping techno nights all the way to live reggae, Brighton has every genre covered. Luckily for you, our handy events guide provides you with a comprehensive and straightforward listing of all the events happening in Brighton. A tool I desperately wish I had at my disposal in my first week of uni. So whether you find yourself tucked in the sweaty basement of Patterns, or decide to day-drink the afternoon away in one of Brighton's bohemian speakeasies like The Hope and Ruin or Dead Wax Social - make sure you use native to get a feel for the city.


Pre-drinks

The sacred art of pre-drinking, get it right and your night can be easy on the wallet, as well as putting you on fine form. Get it wrong and the consequences can be disastrous. Sussex students, sadly you're only cheap(ish) pre-boozer is the infamous Campus Co-op. If you fancy a bit of a trek and are remotely organised, you could head down to SU shop to get cheaper drink. Best bet for your first few nights is to bring some spirit bottles from home with you and buy mixer on campus.

Brighton students, you have the luxury of not being confined to a redbrick campus. Depending on where you are based, Aldi, located on London Road, is going to be your best bet for cheap booze. Word of warning, it closes at 10 so plan well in advance. If anyone gets caught out late or en route to a club dry on alcohol - Easy Hours is open 24/7 - all year round and has a pretty decent selection of beer, wines and spirits for your perusal.

After pre-drinking at home evolves, and you finally manage to get everyone out – head to either Hobgoblin or Pav Tav to get dirt cheap drinks before heading to a club. Other cheap and cheerful spots with happy hour every day are, Shuffle Bar and Twisted Lemon for cocktails, or, for a rough and ready sports bar vibe (and dark fruit on tap!), head to The Font and Walkabout.

Getting Around

You'll soon learn that despite the vast amount of options for nightlife, Brighton is actually pretty small and condensed, meaning you can walk everywhere once in town. Sussex students, when coming from campus, make sure to get the 25X, not the 25 or 23 bus, otherwise, you will be condemned to the longest possible route into town, which can be damaging to both your bladder and sanity.

At the time of writing, Uber is still operating in Brighton and Hove (but sadly it is due to have its licence revoked soon) so enjoy it and use it while you can. Student cabs from campus can also be pretty cheap - they do good deals for around the same price as the bus collectively. They don't have quite the same VIP vibe as an Uber though.

One thing to note: if planning on having a very late one/very early one (6am onwards) or you just happen to get lucky and want to duck out as soon as you wake up – your bus return ticket from the night before will have expired. The best plan of action is to get to the nearest train station and catch a 7 min flat train back to campus. You'll be in bed in no time.

Clubs

Your enlightenment guide to all the weekly club nights. To kick off proceedings start your Monday night at either Brighton's longest-standing midweek night; TRASH at Coalition for hip-hop, house, RnB, bassline etc. Or on the other end of the spectrum head to The Haunt for Fat Poppadaddy's, for a 2000's indie throwback.

On Tuesday, you're spoilt for choice. Donuts at Patterns and CU Next Tuesday at the Arch are two of Brighton's best student nights - choose between Hip-Hop, Soul, Disco, Funk, and RnB or the latest in House, Grime and stone-cold bangers. Either way, Tuesday night is sorted.

Getting you over that mid-week hump, let us introduce you to Casablancas - a rammed jazz club, that doesn't really play jazz. Cheap drinks and tongue-in-cheek cover band = good vibes. However, if you are a sportsperson or cover bands ain't your thing (I feel ya), you'll likely end up at West Street's Temple of Sin, Pryzm - I'm sure you're familiar.

On Thursday is a tricky one. Compared to most other student cities, Brighton's best and busiest events are kept for the weekend. FOMO at Club Revenge is ridiculous, and a great way to introduce you to Brighton life, other than that Azuri at Shoosh is on the table for a more VIP experience.

Come the weekend, you've got a few options for big nights. For the leftfield spectrum of electronic dance music head to Patterns, for something a bit more centre-right, head to The Arch for bassline and tech house, while for the junglist and 160 bpm feelers, Concorde 2 is your best bet. Keep an eye out for The Green Door Store, Sticky Mike'sKomedia Studios and The Rialto Theatre, which all attract innovative and exciting promoters, but not as regularly.

Of course, there are hundreds of events, club nights, and student nights, for every taste and vibe in just one week. Make sure to keep up to date and in the know with our guide.

 

3 a.m. Food Stop

You'll reach a point during your night where your hunger levels will start to pang and you'll crawl out of the club and throw yourself around town looking for late-night munch. There are more options than this, but these are the most reliable (i.e 24hr) spots:

Buddies: a 24-hour cafe, located right on the seafront. Fancy a breakfast fish n' chips at 5 a.m.? No problem. They also have a bar. 

RFC: So bad its good, never (ever) eat sober, but my God when drunk this fried chicken is more finger licking good than the Colonel's sweet recipe itself.

Market Diner: An all-night cafe, favourite among clubbers and the odd lorry driver. Dare to try the Gut Buster, or just relish in the fact that you're all sat in an old-school diner at 6 a.m. after a massive night out.

Getting Home Safely

Although Brighton is relatively safe, being vigilant and aware always pays off. Always stick with your friends and in groups. If you happen to lose everyone – before heading out, allocate a drunk buddy that you can call. The N25 is undoubtedly the safest way home, a student-heavy bus heading through town and back to Sussex/ main Brighton campus. Catch it from Old Steine, but be prepared for a hefty wait.

Taxis and Ubers are options, a bit pricey at that time of night, but sometimes worth the luxury of convenience and time. Be aware the last train back to campus from Brighton is around midnight, then there isn't a train until 5am-ish.

Stay out late it feels great (but also stay safe)!