Brighton could get the city’s first ever major art gallery

From the Turner Contemporary in Margate to the Tate St Ives, we’re lucky to have some amazing seaside art galleries in the UK. And there could be more set to join the ranks, with a rallying cry for Brighton and Hove to open its own world-class gallery. 

Comparing Brighton with northern Spanish city Bilbao, Brighton & Hove City Council’s deputy leader Tim Rowkins noted the rejuvenating effect that arts investment has had on the Spanish city since the late 1990s – and said that the same could happen to Brighton. 

Brighton and Hove Council has revealed plans for an overhaul of the city seafront. According to a prospectus, which was drawn up by the seafront development board, the Black Rock area of the seafront could host pop-up venues before featuring a major cultural destination. This could be a gallery, with the council reportedly in talks with a major London art institution. 

As part of a wider redevelopment scheme, an extra floor may also be added to the Brighton Centre, which would be connected to the beach via a bridge. Brighton Marina could be the site of 1,000 new homes, as well as a leisure and retail centre. A disused bus station in Pool Valley could become a new public space, while the King’s Road paddling pool is being eyed up for an overhaul alongside existing redevelopment of the King Alfred Leisure Centre. 

All of this would potentially be financially achieved through a combination of philanthropy, government funding and a future gallery operator. 

Rowkins said: ‘Brighton and Hove is of course not the same as Bilbao in the ’90s. We already welcome around 11m visitors each year, and there are plenty of reasons to visit. But we are, by almost any measure, one of the most creative cities in Britain. We host more than sixty festivals a year, including the largest annual arts festival in England. We have far more artists and creative businesses than the national average, world-class creative universities, and a reputation for imagination that stretches back generations.

‘And yet, for all of that, we do not have a single major gallery to call our own.’

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