Brighton Gay Beach

About this place Brighton Gay Beach

Brighton's gay beach is not a designated or formally organised space — it is an informal gathering that has operated on the pebble beach below the Kemptown seafront for several decades, based on the simple principle that LGBTQ+ people in Brighton tend to congregate in the same place on sunny days. The stretch of beach below Marine Parade, roughly from the junction with St James's Street eastward toward the Marina, has established itself as the LGBTQ+ section of Brighton beach by community consensus. There are no facilities specifically for the gay beach — no sunlounger hire, no beach bar exclusively serving it — but the Kemptown bars and the Amsterdam and Legends hotels are a short walk up to the promenade. Brighton's beach is pebble rather than sand; bring a mat. The English summer being what it is, the beach is genuinely usable perhaps 40 days a year — but on those days, the gay beach is one of the more pleasant places in England to spend an afternoon.