Pride Celebrations - Brighton & Hove

28/07/08 Pride Celebrations - Brighton & Hove

Brighton & Hove will be celebrating in style on Saturday 2 August as the annual Pride Parade takes to the streets.

This year’s parade promises to the most colourful and flamboyant yet, with up to 50 different entries, representing countries and cities from across the globe.

Brighton & Hove City Council is pleased to support the event and this year has joined forces with Pride in Brighton & Hove to award £6,000 Summer Pride Day grants to local community groups taking part in the parade and celebrations afterwards at Preston Park.

Brighton & Hove City Council leader, Councillor Mary Mears, said: “I am really looking forward to my first Pride as council leader. It’s a fantastic event for the city – a real open air party which people of all ages, from all sections of the community enjoy.”

Pride attracts around 120,000 visitors to Brighton & Hove from this country and across the world and is a great showcase for the city. It is one of the biggest events in the city’s calendar, and helps to bring money into the local economy.

The parade assembles at Madeira Drive near Brighton Pier, setting off at 11am en route to Preston Park. The first floats are expected to arrive in the park at about 12.30pm, with the end of the parade reaching the park an hour later. Festivities and entertainment will continue in the park until 8.30pm.

There will be some road closures and diversions during the event and alterations to bus services. However, it will be business as usual in the city centre with shops and businesses open as normal.

For more information on the Pride event, please go to www.brightonpride.org.

Pride Day information

Parade route:
The parade will follow the following route, leaving Madeira Drive at 11am:

Madeira Drive

Aquarium Roundabout

Grand Junction Road

Kings Road

West Street

Clock Tower

North Street

Castle Square,

Old Steine (northbound)

Pavilion Parade

Marlborough Place

Gloucester Place

St George’s Place

York Place

London Road

Preston Circus

Preston Road (tering the southern end of Preston Park at Stanford Avenue)

Road closures:
During the parade the route and its side road junctions will be temporarily closed to traffic. Most roads will be re-opened to traffic as soon as the parade passes.

However, Preston Road, along the west edge of Preston Park and northbound from Preston Circus, will be closed to all traffic between 11.30am and 9pm.

Diversions will be in place, including:

A23 southbound traffic will be diverted via Carden Avenue, Preston Drove and South Road.

A23 northbound traffic will be diverted via Lewes Road (A270)

Eastbound traffic from the Old Shoreham Road will be diverted via Dyke Road and the A27.

St James’s Street, between Old Steine and New Steine, will be closed to traffic from 6pm on Saturday August 2 to 3am on Sunday August 3 and again from noon on Sunday August 3 to 8pm.

Buses:
A special Pride bus service, Metrobus 500, will run every ten minutes between the Old Steine (in front of Royal Pavilion) and Preston Park from 1.15pm to 9.15pm.

Other buses will terminate short of the city centre between 10.45am and 1.15pm to avoid them becoming caught up in traffic. From 10.45am until close of service, buses 5, 5a and 5b will be diverted via Ditchling Road and Preston Drove - and service 56 will be diverted via Ditchling Road.

For full details of changes to bus services during Pride checkout www.buses.co.uk

Trains :
An enhanced train service will operate into and out of Brighton Railway Station during the day until the last mainline service leaves Brighton at 11.37pm.

Accommodation:
The council’s VisitBrighton service can help visitors make bookings and provide information on Pride and other events in the city. Go to www.visitbrighton.com for further information.

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