Pool Passage

A different time period

This is about as close as you can get to the centre of Brighton being a very dingy and dirty alleyway or ‘twitten’ leading off the coach station at Pool Valley. However it is so far removed from the glitzy side of central Brighton as to be on another planet…or at least in a different time period, which is why I have chosen it.

Back in the 18th century

As a leader of historic walks it is often difficult to capture earlier incarnations of the city. In Pool Passage you are back in the 18th century when East Street and the west side of the Steine were the ‘East End’ of the town, poor and low lying, flooded on one side by the sea and the other by the Wellsbourne Stream that ran through the Steine.

Ghosts of 18th century footpads?

Pool Passage is graffiti plastered and full of wheelie bins for the premises in East Street but has the air and feel of a much earlier time. You do not need much imagination to see Brighton Rock bit-player hoodlums lurking with open razors or to see the ghosts of 18th century footpads preying on the ‘swells’ on the Steine.