James Gray: On this corner (Bartholomews/Market Street) formerly stood a tavern, The Fishmongers Hall, which is seen on other pages. This was demolished in 1934. Later these temporary buildings were erected on the cleared site. Photographed in September 1969 they were removed during the building of the Ramada Hotel and Bartholomew Square in 1987. jgc_08_066
2019: Originally Market Street ran all the way from the junction with East Street in the north down to the seafront. During the period 1984-87, the four-storey Bartholomew House and Priory House were erected as municipal offices around Bartholomew Square, with a new hotel complex cutting off direct access to the seafront at the southern end.
James Gray: A most interesting photograph as it shows the ‘old and the new’. The bulk of the 1834 market building is still standing while, to the left, the new Floral Hall, which replaced it, is just being built. This was designed by Francis May, the Borough Surveyor. Year of the photograph probably 1900 or 1901. Additional Information: One of five on page. jgc_08_080
James Gray: Two views [jgc_08_081 and 082] of the empty and derelict Floral Hall, period about 1950. jgc_08_081
2020: The market buildings have all been demolished and replaced by the redevelopment of Bartholomew Square. (Photographer: Jayne Paulin)
James Gray: [See caption for jgc_08_081 above.] Additional Information: The coat of arms for the then Borough of Brighton ‘In Deo Fidemus – In God we trust’ shows the dolphins which can be seen all over the town, even on the seafront railings. jgc_08_082
2020: See caption for jgc_08_081 above. (Photographer: Jayne Paulin)
James Gray: View of 38 Market Street, then occupied by Rolls, the wholesale fruit and potato merchant, with Roach’s kite factory on the upper floors. To the right can be seen the entrance to the narrow passage leading to the Thatched House Inn, referred to on another page. The buildings seen were removed in 1939. Date of this photograph – 15 March 1928. jgc_08_096
2019: Originally Market Street ran all the way from the junction with East Street in the north down to the seafront. Checking the position of the original street numbers, this is approximately the same area – now the corner of Bartholomew House facing the Town Hall. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: Showing the old Market built in 1834. The shop on the corner of Prince Albert Street, now Hadlow’s, was then occupied by J Dobie, Fruiterer. Beyond can be seen the ancient houses at the corner of Nile Street. Additional Information: The building on the extreme left was part of the then Borough Engineer’s offices. jgc_08_097
2020: View looking north along the line of the former southern part of Market Street. (Photographer: Jayne Paulin)
James Gray: The same area as the previous photograph [jgc_08_097] 100 years later. The corner buildings are little changed although the roadway has been widened opposite the Market, now used as a car park. jgc_08_098
2020: See caption for jgc_08_097 above. (Photographer: Jayne Paulin)
James Gray: Three photographs of not so long ago [jgc_08_099 and, on the Black Lion Street, 08_100 and 101] , but the present scene is a complete transformation. Most of the buildings seen have gone. Market Street. What was left of the Market building, seemingly in a reasonably fair condition and part of it occupied by the Rate Office. Additional Information: Note the three-wheeler motorcycle very popular at that time. jgc_08_099
James Gray: Three photographs [jgc_08_099, 100 and 101] of not so long ago, but the present scene is a complete transformation. Most of the buildings seen have gone. Market Street, looking west to the Ship Hotel garage in Black Lion Street. The passageway (right) is that which led to the rear entrance of the Thatched House Inn and is seen in its 1937 condition on a later page. jgc_08_101
James Gray: The south end of Market Street in 1938. The building lying back and partly screened from view was the Jolly Fisherman Public House, which was built early in the 19th century at the time when this area was known as Little Castle Square. jgc_08_109
2020: Again you need a stretch of the imagination to envisage the original scene in the modern photograph. (Photographer: Jayne Paulin)
James Gray: The rear entrance of the Thatched House Inn as seen from Market Street. The front of this old inn is shown on a previous page [jgc_08_112 on the Black Lion Street]. The fishermen’s ancient right of way ran through the Inn. The passageway was known as Market Lane and fishermen originally occupied the cottages. Strangely enough these cottages were never listed in any Brighton Directory. They had been empty for some time prior to their demolition in 1937. jgc_08_113
2019: The rear of the Thatched House Inn at 22 Black Lion Street would have been accessed from somewhere in what is now Bartholomew House. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: The front of the Market building in the late 1880s. Additional Information: © Phillipe Garner. jgc_09_009
2019: This area is unrecognisable when compared to the 1880s image. The construction of the hotel was controversial as the building blocks direct access to the sea and sea views, both of which had existed previously via Market Street. The Japanese and sushi restaurant Moshimo is located in The Opticon, a modernist building designed by dRMM in 2000. (Photographer: Simon Cooper)
James Gray: The Inn was closed on 8 February 1939, and with the neighbouring buildings was demolished later the same year. Date of photographs unknown – probably 1938. Additional Information: Sign on door reads: Air raid precautions. Gas protected room. jgc_09_012
2019: The Jolly Fisherman public house lay in a recess behind the potato merchant’s store at 36 Market Street. The whole area in the 1930s image now lies beneath the hotel building seen in the distance.
James Gray: The extreme end of the north side of this street [Market Street] photographed during 1958. After the removal of the old buildings, Nos 32 -38, seen on another page [jgc_09_012 above] in 1939, the site lay empty for the war years, and for some time after. This squat building was then erected, used first by Brighton C.I.D. and then by Brighton Corporation. Together with the King’s Road buildings beyond, and the remains of the old Floral Hall, it was demolished and is now the site of the Ramada Hotel. jgc_09_013
James Gray: Officers and men of the mounted Special Constabulary outside Brighton Town Hall. It was the time of the General Strike and they were involved with strikers, particularly near the Tram Depot in the Lewes Road. jgc_09_032
2021: On the right and in the distance, the Town Hall and other buildings in the image are still recognisable today. Where the market building had been on the left is now the desolate Bartholomew Square. (Photographer: Simon Cooper)
James Gray: This photograph of 1931, shows the three buildings, Nos 11-13, two of which were public houses, the Ocean Wave and the Fishmongers’ Hall. They were removed in 1934. The others [jgc_09_048 onwards] are of the Town Hall and Vegetable Market, about 1907. jgc_09_047
2019: A scene impossible to recreate due to the demolition of the buildings in the 1930s. The map dated from before the First World War shows the position of Nos 11-13 while the photograph shows the view looking south across Bartholomew Square towards the hotel on the site today. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: Looking north along Market Street, with the Town Hall on the right. Old houses in Little East Street had recently been removed and the cleared space used as a car park. No 10 Bartholomews was used as the Town Hall Annexe, which was connected with the main building by a bridge crossing the street. jgc_09_053
2019: Bartholomew Square stands on the site of Market Street today, facing the western portico of the Town Hall. Gray’s image shows the southern wing of the building in the foreground, which was never fully completed. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: South side of Bartholomews looking west to Market Street. These old houses Nos 11-13 were demolished soon afterwards. Two were occupied as Public Houses, the Ocean Wave and the Fishmongers Hall, the side wall of which can be seen in [jgc_09_053] the previous photograph. jgc_09_054
2019: The south side of Bartholomew Square looking west towards where Market Street was once located. The whole area has been demolished and replaced by what is now the Jurys Inn Waterfront hotel. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: This photograph, probably of the 1880s, gives an all-round view of this small, but popular hotel, in the heart of the old town. It stood at the corner of Market Street (left) and Little East Street (right). I do not know when the building was erected, but by the 1850s it was the Marine Tavern. It remained as an hotel until the First World War, and then used for other business purposes. Demolished in 1934, its site has since been used as a car park. Note the elegant black mathematical tiled façade of the Little East Street frontage. jgc_09_058
James Gray: Three photographs [jgc_09_061 to jgc_09_063] taken in June 1930. These and several others of the same size in my collection were exhibited in the window of Savage & Co’s Chemist shop at 109 St James’s Street and shoppers were invited to say where the scenes were to be found in Brighton, three cameras being offered as prizes. This photograph is of Market Lane leading from Market Street to the Thatched House Inn. jgc_09_061
2021: Market Lane and the surrounding buildings were torn down at intervals between 1934 and 1939. Nothing of the original area remains. The site of the lane lay approximately on the line of the pedestrian entrance to Bartholomew Square from Black Lion Street. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)