Short Story

Real Brighton

By Mark Oi

Brighton portrays an image of the place to be by the sea, having finally shaken the image of a dirty weekend away. Brighton gave itself a makeover, re-inventing itself. Shops turned into boutiques, cafes and restaurants went alfresco and coffee houses popped up all over the place. It became cosmopolitan. 'The city that lives to serve'. That's fine for visitors, but what about it's residents? Most jobs here are in the service sector and pay little over the minimum wage. Combined with high rents and high council tax so, if you do have a job, at the end of the week how better off are you?

Brighton is overcrowded, bursting at its seams. Forcing people to live like sardines. Behind a grand front door there may be a dozen bedsits with hollow walls and no soundproofing. The few who can move to a flat with more space, have to compromise by sharing it with a friend. A city where the poorest have to live at the city limits. The faces that the cities not keen for its visitors to see. It can't however, hide its homeless, yet it does very little to help those who need it most. Brighton 's policy of ignoring the problem shoots itself in the foot. The displaced have nowhere so they are everywhere, on every street, at anytime of the day or night.

Brighton's façade of being an affluent new city is just that, a façade. Beneath its thin veneer that it displays proudly, lie people for whom every day is a struggle.