Archielagos on Western Road

Alright, so these aren’t the best pictures ever to grace the internet (I only had my phone with me!) but if you are a lover of Mediterranean cuisine-specifically of the Grecian variety-than you must check out Archipelagos on Western Road in Hove. It’s amazing!

Boasting superb service courtesy of the owner and a lovely, intimate ambiance, this is a great place for a date or, as was our case, a nice dinner for a small group. We tried both house wines-actual Greek red and white varietals, and both were pleasant-although I preferred the white, hands down. And after deciding to go splitsies on a few different versions of the meze on offer-seafood, lamb shoulder, and moussaka all featured, respectively-we were bowled over by the seemingly endless amounts of food that came out.  Calamari, hummus, tzatziki, pita, halloumi, giant bowls of delicious Greek salad, and a few other bits and pieces. I had to roll myself out….no big deal.

This place gets all the thumbs up, and if you love Greek food, I highly recommend you check it out! We’ll most definitely be heading back again to get through this dreary winter (and with outdoor seating in the front, a trip in the spring/summer is in the works as well)!

The new North Laine Pub and Ten Green Bottles

One of us had a birthday recently (it was me! Ashley!) and while it wasn’t too wild it was altogether pleasant. Turns out becoming 28 isn’t all that crazy, who knew? We began the birthday festivities on a gorgeous autumnal October evening at  Ten Green Bottles, a hybrid wine shop/bar on Jubilee street, across from the library. What a cute place! You can sip wine by the glass from a small menu, order nibbles, buy bottles to drink inside or buy a bottle or two to take home for your own means. I loved it. The vibe was great and the service was impeccable-our waitress was friendly and helpful and super chill. We will most definitely be going back-perhaps for their Loire Valley wine tasting in November?

After an hour or two of fancy wine drinking, we moved our little party over to the brand spankin’ new North Laine Pub & Brewery, located at the home of the former Gloucester. It’s big and shiny and has plenty of space, with brewing stills behind the bar, wood floors and the highest ceilings around. Our crew staked out a corner booth and got our drink on for a good few hours. I partook of the cherry stout and, while I’m usually not a stout-drinker, it was delicious. We even managed to make a fabulous work of art courtesy of the provided children’s busywork that we’d co-opted from the family that had been sitting in our spot prior to our arrival. A great way to pass the time, no matter your age!

Overall it was another great night out in Brighton, and it was nice to hit up some new places to put into the repertoire, a little out of our zone of usual bars/pubs.  A solid birthday in Brighton for this Ohio girl!

Apparently Brighton & Hove Council have a microwave-shitter

Well, I bet no-one in their office saw this coming.

My mate works for Brighton council. Someone did a shit in the canteen microwave. This is the official response. twitter.com/edmundharris/s…

— Ed Harris OBE (@edmundharris) July 20, 2012

 

The sun returns to Brighton….

And with it returns our blog! The past few days have been the best kind of summer beauty. We’ve spent these past few weeks hiding from the dreary, rainy cold-sorry about the absence. It wasn’t too inspiring, and we made good use of our Netflix account and the 2 for 10 meals at M&S, believe you me.

Anyway, it’s been decided. Brighton is without a doubt the best place to be when the sun is shining. On Saturday we checked out a  few Brighton institutions (okay…I don’t know if they can really be called “institutions”, but they should be!). These included Lick for frozen yogurt (topped with kiwi, raspberries, and dark chocolate chips), Brighton Pier for some good ol’ fashioned beach sitting/people watching, perusing the wares at the Saturday street market in the North Laines on Upper Gardner Street, and a pint at Craft Beer Co right around dinner time, which we will most certainly be frequenting again. Check it out if you haven’t-it’s where The Florist used to be on Upper North Street.

What have you been doing now that the sun’s come out?

Naked Bike Ride cycles through Brighton

Oh Brighton…..you never disappoint us in the “surprising thing of the day” category.  Today? World “naked bike ride” participants cycling past our house. They braved the cold, rainy conditions with style and grace. Good jobs guys and ladies!

More fun pictures from participants around the world can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2012/jun/10/world-naked-bike-ride-pictures?newsfeed=true

These people are much braver than I! Maybe if we lived in warmer climes….there’s always next year:)

Is this summer?

Man you guys-I don’t know about you, but we have been enjoying this amazing weather immensely! Lounging at the beach, chilling at the Royal Pavilion Gardens, long walks along the seaside and sitting in pub gardens for a few pints…it really doesn’t get better than this-and it’s not even June yet! Let’s hope the sun and heat sticks around for the whole summer, shall we?

Some pictures we’ve taken lately, whilst out enjoying ourselves: sunset from our spot on the beach, Brighton beach 2x, the dilapidated West Pier (which I love to take pictures of, haha), the Royal Pavilion,  the Royal Pavilion Gardens, watching some ambitious fisherman at high tide, and a very crowded beach on a recent hot day! 

What places have you been enjoying now around beautiful Brighton now that the sun’s come out and the rains have disappeared (for the time being)? We’d love to know!

A suitable tagline for Brighton

I caught wind of an interesting conversation on Twitter today. Brighton digerati Andy Budd had kicked up a mild stink by suggesting that Wired Sussex’s proposal to give Brighton a new “tagline” was “probably a waste of money”.

Looks like I’ve been causing trouble again – twitter.com/andybudd/statu…

— Andy Budd (@andybudd) May 22, 2012

This was quickly turned into a mini-meme as people suggested alternative taglines for our fine city. The current tagline, for those wondering, is “The location that makes business sense”. I should point out that this is a tagline specifically for attracting business – it’s not designed for tourists or prospective residents – that would be stupid (almost as stupid as a city hiring a consultant specifically to come up with a new tagline to attract new businesses).

@andybudd how about “Brighton. We’re by the fucking sea, for christs sake. What more do you want?”

— Matt Locke (@matlock) May 22, 2012

@andybudd Or ‘Live in Brighton, work in London though cos the opportunities and salaries are better’… — Steve Evans (@steve_e) May 22, 2012

How about “Brighton, the place where business’s connect” followed by a spinning beach ball logo — Andy Budd (@andybudd) May 22, 2012

 

@andybudd “Brighton… The San Francisco of the UK, what it lacks in size, it makes up for in tweed.”

— James Seymour-Lock (@JamesSLock) May 22, 2012

@andybudd. Brighton – Pelican Valley

— Mat Venn (@matvenn) May 22, 2012

 

@andybudd What about… “Brighton: Time To Get Businessing!”

— Jason Garber (@jgarber) May 22, 2012

I’m not sure which is my favourite, although the last one certainly has a ring to it.

As for the proposal itself, I think to attract digital businesses (speaking as someone who works for one of the largest in town and is reasonably well involved in the “scene”) Brighton needs a better availability of high-quality office space to be taken advantage of by well-funded startups, as well as a significant infrastructure overhaul to make internet speeds in the centre of town at least reasonable.

We could also do with some kind of “showcase” annual event. There are plenty of great conferences – SEO Brighton, UX Brighton, Brighton Digital Festival, Develop, dConstruct – but no real show-stoppers. This might be due to a problem Mr Budd himself points out – that there aren’t any international-standard conference facilities to be had in town. What we need is a South By South-East – something that will attract people from around the world.