1950s Bank Holiday

These are photos my father took on a Bank Holiday in the 1950s. He was trying to find scenes relating to music, possibly for a local paper article.

The woman dancing is, I think on the Hove lawns, near the bottom of Waterloo street (or somewhere near that.) The singers and the woman playing the accordian are in the gardens on the seafront in West Hove, near what is now the Babylon Lounge (previously the West End Restaurant.) It would be really interesting to hear from anyone who remembers these concerts, or possibly who knows the dancing woman.

The last two photos were taken in local pubs – does anyone recognise the people or the pubs?

Comments about this page

  • This bandstand was (is?) part of the western lawns and is opposite the Salisbury Hotel. I used to cycle along there in the late 30’s and listen to the music. At that time there were a lot of young refugees from the Spanish Civil War listening as well

    By TonyV (25/03/2008)
  • I believe this photo is of either ‘The Belvedere’ or ‘The Fortune of War’, both sited in ‘The Arches’ under the Brighton Promenade. Where the piano is, there was a drummer etc. in my time.

    By Jeremy (26/07/2008)
  • I’d say that it was more likely to be Eastbourne myself. Looking behind the bandstand I don’t recognise that shelter to be in Brighton. But then I could be wrong!

    By Carol Homewood (29/07/2008)
  • I would say it was the old Hove band stand. The background is still there even though the band stand has gone. I whirled around it a few times in my teenage days. The Babylon night club is there now.

    By David Smart (28/03/2009)
  • This looks like a pub on the lower promenade at Brighton - a few doors from the Fortune of War and situated slightly up the slope.

    By Peter Green (07/06/2011)
  • This is the Belvedere circa 1950-1960 – it didn’t change much over the years. The entrance door is beside the standing man. The bar runs alone two-thirds of the opposite wall. The other photo in this set shows the end of the bar in the Belvedere.

    By Den Gaynor (12/06/2011)
  • I would say that the first two pics are of the Bandstand on Hove Sea Front.

    By John Snelling (08/07/2013)
  • The church steeple in the distance looks like St Johns at the top of St Johns Road, though I don’t know from which angle, if it is. And is the chap in the flat hat one of the street musicians I remember from Brighton many years ago?

    By Peter Barnard (10/07/2013)
  • I am sure this is the old beautiful bandstand at Hove Lawns.

    By Barbara Goble (18/01/2014)
  • This is indeed the bandstand that was located opposite the bottom of Walsingham Road in Hove. If you go to the website of satiche.org.uk, they have a number of postcards depicting the Western Lawns bandstand (as well as other vintage bandstands).

     

    By Janet Beal (19/01/2014)
  • Definitely the old Hove Bandstand. I vividly remember sitting in the seafront shelter with my mum and six brothers and sisters eating our picnic lunch during a huge thunderstorm. I was about eight years old at the time it would have been approximately 1952. We had walked all the way from Hangleton and the storm started and we never did get on to the beach.

    By Doreen nee Brown (21/09/2021)
  • Does anyone know where I can find out information and history on The Belvedere
    Mansion? It was a beach bar… I’m hitting a brick wall with my search. My nan who is now 92 remembers it fondly and I’d love to give her a little more information about it now. Thank you.

    By Laura (16/06/2023)

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