History notes

In the mid-nineteenth century, Orange Row was part of a notorious slum district. Its old houses were demolished in the 1870s in Brighton’s first slum clearance scheme, and replaced by artisan houses in Tichbourne Street some of which in turn have been demolished.

In the area around Orange Row, 1000 people lived in 175 dwellings, a nest of alleyways and courtyards with appalling sanitation. According to the 1861 census, they were mostly labourers, fishermen, washer and charwomen.

Orange Row in the 1990s has no houses but a line of lock-up garages and a furniture repair workshop – along with a few stray cats and lots of black plastic bin bags!