My Guide to Brighton’s North Laine: The Shops, Food and Places I Love
Brighton has long been my favourite city in the country and, this year, I will have lived here for 22 years, longer than I’ve lived anywhere else.
It’s vibrant, colourful, creative, slightly shabby around the edges and absolutely full of energy. Most of all, there is a freedom to be completely yourself here that I don’t think exists in quite the same way anywhere else.
And for me, Brighton begins in North Laine.
I genuinely think it might be the greatest independent shopping area in the UK, possibly the world. Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco back in the day might have come close, but there is something completely unique about North Laine. If you come to Brighton and don’t wander through it, you’re missing a huge part of what the city represents.
So, when you come out of Brighton Station, DON’T automatically follow the masses straight down Queen’s Road towards the sea. Queen’s Road ( also affectionately known in our house as the Golden Mile, thanks to the number of people you might encounter having a wee there on a Saturday night), will take you towards the seafront, cheap cocktails, karaoke and hen parties.
Instead, turn right.
Opposite the Grand Central pub, head down through the tunnel onto Trafalgar Street and towards the real Brighton.
Trafalgar Street: the start of the adventure
As you walk down Trafalgar Street, look out for the Banksy on your right and The Prince Albert, a brilliant pub for live music and something of a Brighton institution.
Keep heading down towards Sydney Street.
There are already some lovely independent shops on the way, but one I always have to mention is Bluebelle. It’s an emporium of vintage colour and faded grandeur and I am secretly obsessed with their quilts. I would happily own one in every colour if I could.
The patterns change regularly, and they also have the loveliest white cotton, lacey, vintage-style nighties and absolutely gorgeous children’s clothes. Definitely worth a nose on your way down.
Then you hit Sydney Street, and this is where our North Laine tour really begins.
Sydney Street — and a visit to Posh Totty Designs
Sydney Street is such a fun little street. I love the sheer independence and variety of it and it is one of the best places in Brighton for people watching.
Pop into Papersmiths for beautiful stationery, pens and perhaps a new journal, grab some gorgeous flowers from Gunns, and then you’ll find Posh Totty Designs just across the road.
We run jewellery-making classes in our Brighton store, so you can book in to make your own ring or pendant in recycled sterling silver, or simply come in and look through an edit of some of our bestselling jewellery.
Nearly everything we do can be personalised. Names, messages, dates, handwriting, birthstones, initials or you can build your own charm necklace or bracelet and create something completely unique to you.
And if you fall in love with something and want it handmade and personalised we offer free delivery so you can have it sent home a few days later.
Once you’ve finished with us, you’ll probably be ready to sit down, so head to Trading Post Coffee Roasters. They have loads of different coffees and it’s the perfect spot for people watching.
Sydney Street is also vintage heaven. There are vintage shops everywhere, some of which seem to have been here since the 1970s — back when their clothes weren’t even vintage.
A little detour for two magical Brighton shops
Walk to the bottom of Sydney Street, turn right at the seagull mosaic and head past Fatto a Mano, which does some of my favourite pizza in Brighton.
The obvious North Laine route would take you left towards busy, pedestrianised Kensington Gardens.
But I’m going to make you take a detour first because there are two shops you absolutely shouldn’t miss.
Keep walking uphill and, opposite Tidy Street, you’ll find the glorious Soliflore.
Soliflore is a beautiful independent perfumery owned by Sarah, who I would describe as one of the best noses in the South — if not the North as well.
She only opened a few years ago but has very quickly created something special. Sarah has an incredible passion and knowledge for fragrance and stocks the sort of unusual independent perfume houses you might otherwise have to go to Liberty to discover.
Between that knowledge, her beautiful shop and her daily Instagram snippets of shop life, she has developed a huge following. People genuinely travel to Brighton to visit her.
I bought Queer Magic from her and it is one of the best scents I have ever smelt.
There is no hard sell. Going into Soliflore feels like an experience — the sort of personal, knowledgeable shopping experience that is becoming increasingly difficult to find.
From there, keep heading up the hill and take the next right above Tidy Street. Around the corner, beside the rug shop, you’ll find one of Brighton’s best-kept secrets: Blackout.
It has been there for more than 20 years and is an absolute treasure trove of kitsch, colour and glorious things you never knew you needed.
It’s brilliant with children because there are lots of inexpensive little things to discover alongside more grown-up interiors and homewares. There is honestly nowhere quite like it. Walking through the door immediately transports me back to Mexico.
And despite telling myself I am “just looking”, I nearly always come out with something I suddenly desperately need. Or want.
Where to eat around North Laine
If all this shopping has made you hungry, you have some very good options around here.
At the top of the hill there’s The Pond, where you can have brilliant bao buns and a pint. There’s La Choza for Mexican street food and The Blue Man for Lebanese food.
All three are fantastic for a quick, relaxed lunch before carrying on.
Because worry not — we are nowhere near finished yet.
Kensington Gardens: glorious North Laine madness
Now head back down towards Kensington Gardens, which is essentially a mecca of North Laine madness.
There are market stalls, vintage shops, independent fashion brands, cafés and the fabulous Snoopers Paradise, where you could quite easily disappear for several hours rummaging through vintage treasures.
There is also Resident, Brighton’s brilliant independent record shop. It’s exactly the sort of business that makes North Laine what it is and it recently had Nick Cave doing a free gig on the roof.
There is so much colour and noise along Kensington Gardens, but if you need a little visual calm, go into Abode.
It couldn’t feel more different from the bustle outside. Think beautiful interiors, lifestyle pieces, muted colours and a much calmer, more sophisticated palette.
Also keep your eyes open for the plaque marking the site of the very first Body Shop, opened by Dame Anita Roddick at 22 Kensington Gardens in 1976. I love that such a globally recognised brand began right here in this slightly bonkers little corner of Brighton.
And if you’re visiting on a Saturday morning, there is even more vintage to discover on the street above - Upper Gardner Street, although by this point you may already have had your full dose after Snoopers.
Infinity Foods and Gardner Street
At the end of Kensington Gardens you’ll find yourself looking towards Infinity Foods.
Infinity is another Brighton institution and one of the original health-food pioneers. It is packed with organic food, independent products, natural beauty and all sorts of things you didn’t know you needed until you walked through the door.
Now you’re on Gardner Street, where there is yet more to see.
Look out for the giant pink snail on the wall and the fabulous stripy legs above Komedia, Brighton’s cinema, comedy and events venue.
Before you get there, have a look inside Dowse.
It’s a brilliant little design-led shop filled with graphic tableware, colourful homewares, art, quirky cookbooks and playful pieces. Everything feels contemporary, bold and fun.
They also have Dinner by Dowse over in The Lanes — which, confusingly for visitors, is a completely different area from North Laine.
The Lanes are the narrow, winding passages closer to the sea, packed with antique jewellery shops and tiny alleyways that feel somewhere between Charles Dickens and Diagon Alley.
But we’ll save that guide for another day.
The Dorset — the pub responsible for me living in Brighton
Before leaving Gardner Street, stop for a drink at The Dorset.
This pub is almost single-handedly responsible for the fact that I live in Brighton.
Twenty-two years ago we came down from London to stay with a friend in North Laine. One morning we went to The Dorset for breakfast.
The sun was shining, someone was playing chilled live jazz with a full double bass in the corner, and the North Laine - which I had previously only really experienced at night -was suddenly alive with colour, people, noise and optimism.
I remember thinking:
I need to live here.
Within weeks, we had given up our life in London and moved to Brighton.
We never looked back.
Which rather neatly brings me to Bond Street, because that is where my own Brighton story really began.
Bond Street and where Posh Totty Designs began
I started Posh Totty Designs in 2004 and opened my first shop on Bond Street in 2006.
It was a tiny, tiny shop tucked down an alley opposite Costa Coffee because it was all I could afford.
But it was mine.
It was where I learnt my craft, where I handmade every piece of jewellery in store and where Posh Totty Designs really started becoming the brand it is today.
But this isn’t supposed to be about me. It’s about the brilliant independent businesses that make North Laine so special, and there are three on Bond Street that have been there as long, of not longer than I have and are still doing what they do with real personality and passion.
First is Gresham Blake, tailor to the stars and one of Brighton’s great characters.
His original shop is still on the corner of Bond Street and is full of brilliantly cut suits, colourful shirts, ties and pieces that somehow manage to be both classic and completely individual.
Gresham recently joined us on our podcast, Show Us Your Bits, and talked about how much he still loves having a physical shop, meeting customers face-to-face and hearing their stories.
And that, really, is the magic of North Laine.
Then there is Lavender Room, for all things beautiful and feminine, silk, velvet, lace and the sort of gorgeous pieces you immediately start imagining your life in.
And finally Tribeca.
It’s tiny and lovely and filled with a beautifully edited selection of higher-end designer brands. Laura is still in store some days and has such a good eye for discovering smaller, interesting designers and putting together the kind of easy, unfussy clothes you actually want to wear for a Saturday morning mooch around Brighton.
The real Brighton
There are so many brilliant North Laine shops, cafés, pubs and independent businesses I haven’t mentioned. That’s part of the joy of it. Things appear, disappear and change, and there is always another little doorway, alley or shop window that catches your eye.
And perhaps that is what I love most about Brighton. It’s a proper city sitting right on the beach, so you get all the glorious seaside nonsense — Kiss Me Quick hats and everything that comes with them — alongside a huge passion for sport, yoga, sea swimming, saunas, wellbeing and looking after yourself.
But above all else, Brighton is creative.
In the North Laine, behind almost every door, there is somebody doing it their way. Making something, designing something, sewing something, painting something, playing something or simply creating a business that could only really exist here.
At Posh Totty Designs, tucked behind our Sydney Street shop, we have our large jewellery workshop where our team handmake our pieces. Around us are artists, jewellers, tailors, designers, musicians, makers and people who have simply decided they want to create something beautiful and put it out into the world.
And if you really want to see that creative spirit in full force, come to Brighton in May during the Brighton Festival and Artists Open Houses. Suddenly the creativity that normally happens behind those doors spills out across the whole city. Homes become galleries, artists open their studios, music appears in unexpected places and you get to see just how much is being made here all the time.
That, to me, is Brighton.
So don’t treat this as a definitive guide.
Get lost.
Wander.
Look up.
Go into the weird little shop you’ve never heard of. Buy something completely unnecessary. Have a coffee. Sit outside a pub. People watch. Talk to the shopkeeper. Try something on. Find something made by someone who lives five minutes away.
That is North Laine.
And when you eventually reach the end of Bond Street, you’ll find yourself on North Street. Keep walking straight across, head up Meeting House Lane beside Oliver Bonas and you’ll get a little taste of The Lanes before eventually reaching the sea.
And if you’ve still got room for one more drink, find The Cricketers, one of Brighton’s oldest and famously haunted pubs.
It would be rude not to.
What are your favourite shops, cafés and hidden gems in Brighton’s North Laine? Let us know — because there are always more to discover.
Alice x
