Brighton Centre is a conference and exhibition centre located in Brighton, England. It is the largest of its kind in southern England,[3] and is regularly used for conferences of the British political parties and other bodies of national importance. The venue has the capacity to accommodate up to 5,000 delegates,[3] although rooms in the building can be used for weddings and banquets.[4]
It has also been used as a live music venue since it was opened by James Callaghan on 19 September 1977.[5] It was designed in a Brutalist style by architects Russell Diplock & Associates, who made extensive use of textured concrete.[6] The venue is situated in the centre of Brighton on the sea front and is within 200 metres of major hotels. In 2004, it was estimated that the centre generates £50 million in revenue for Brighton.[7]
Bing Crosby's final performance was at the Brighton Centre on 10 October 1977. He died of a heart attack four days later, while at a golf tournament in Spain.[8]
The Who performed on 10 and 11 November 1979 as part of their Who Are You Tour, and returned as part of their Face Dances Tour in 1981, and in 2006 as part of their Endless Wire Tour.[10]
In 1991 and 1992, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) came to the venue as part of their 'World' and 'European Rampage Again' Tours. The promotion would return to the venue (as WWE) numerous times in the 2010s.[14]
In March 2003, there were proposals to demolish the centre at the end of 2005, and replace it with a new exhibition and conference centre by 2008.[17] The centre was given a £1 million renovation in 2012.[18] In November 2014, demolition proposals were made again, but these were to demolish the centre to extend the Churchill Square shopping centre, and then build a new 10,000 capacity exhibition and conference centre on derelict land near the Brighton Marina.[19] In November 2019, these plans were revisited.[20]
^Mortimore, Roger; Blick, Andrew, eds. (31 August 2018). Butler's British Political Facts (1 ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 274–275. ISBN978-1137567086.
Media related to The Brighton Centre at Wikimedia Commons
