Seagull Recommends 22/09

Hello and welcome back to Seagull Recommends! Bit windy, innit? Our editor has a friend from school visiting this weekend, so she's really been racking her brains as to the absolute best things to do in the next week. The crème de la crème. THE places to be. Let us know: where would be your top picks to take someone if you were showing them around?

This week we've got An Evening With Lauren Aquilina, comedy, dog swims, winter season at Saltdean Lido, the winter closure of the Volk's Electric Railway, and much more. Enjoy, and good luck to all the freshers moving to Brighton this weekend!

If you come across anything coming up in the city that you think we should know about, let us know.

🎶Gigs: Fuzz pop Brighton-based band Beach Riot are at The Prince Albert tomorrow: expect fun, hook-filled songs that will be stuck in your head, possibly forever (Beach Riot tickets here); long-time favourite of The Seagull, pop sensation Lauren Aquilina, will be at Komedia on Wednesday—she most recently co-wrote 'Kiss Ur Face Forever' with Orla Gartland, having also written for Rebecca Black, Little Mix, Demi Lovato and more. She's also an excellent singer, and this is a rare golden opportunity to see her perform an intimate piano show (An Evening with Lauren Aquilina tickets here).

🤣Comedy: Favourites of The Seagull, Forge Comedy Club, are at Ironworks Studios tonight like they are every Friday: expect excellent comedy from Colin Hoult, Arielle Souma, Sheraz Yousaf and more (tickets for Forge Comedy Club here); Kae Kurd is making his debut at The Old Market tomorrow with his show Kurd Immunity, in which Kae explores what it means to be a better version of himself (Kae Kurd tickets here).

Running: You can now enter the Brighton Half Marathon, which returns on Sunday 25th February. We've been assured that the course is fast, flat, and takes in many of Brighton's iconic sights: perfect for experienced runners, charity runners and anyone keen to run their first half marathon! To find out more about the half marathon and to enter, click here.

🐕Dog swim: Do you have a dog? Does that dog love to swim? Well, you're in luck: between the summer and winter seasons, Saltdean Lido are holding their annual dog swims! Tickets for the swim are still available for this weekend and next weekend here.

🏊Swimming: Speaking of Saltdean Lido, they're starting a winter season from this year, and tickets are now on sale! The season will start from Saturday October 21st 2023 and run every weekend until 28th April next year—adult tickets cost £95 for the season, and pay as you go tickets are also available. The pool will be heated to 19 degrees, and open from 8am to midday. Buy tickets for the Winter Season here!

🚋Train: The Volk's Electric Railway closes for the season next Sunday—you've got just under a week left to ride the world's oldest operating electric railway until it reopens next year. This coincides with the first of the Volk's Electric Railway winter talks, which will be at Patcham Community Centre on Wednesday from 7pm, with a talk on the history of Brighton Locomotive Works from 1841 until its closure in 1962.

Pier: Recent footage from the West Pier is set to be shown to the public next week at the West Pier Trust Centre. Specialist drone footage, taken on one of the lowest tides of the year, has enabled the ruin to be studied in detail, and its future assessed. The results have shown that, despite the constant battering by nature, the pier is in better condition than experts hoped, and it is the fires, not storms, that have caused the worst damage. The footage, which shows decorative sections, concrete sleeves, staircases and promenade walkways still intact, as well as the wealth of seabirds and marine life which have turned the pier into a living iron reef, will be previewed at the West Pier Trust Centre at 11am on Wednesday. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peek, and we can't wait to see more!

🍱Food: We love The Green Kitchen: our editor spends a lot of time wanting to go there, and our political editor gets stressed every time he goes because he wants to try everything on the menu and forgets that there will be other times, he doesn't need to worry. A bit out of the way but absolutely ace vegan cafe—they make a load of the bacon etc themselves (also available in Brighton crunchiest food shops) and it's run by a very friendly lesbian couple who do morris-dancing.

🍻Drink: Bottom's Rest Pub has recently been taken over by the team behind Brighton Gin—as if they weren't busy enough already! Tucked just behind The Old Market, they serve Brighton Gin (obviously), along with all the regular pints and wines and such. They're also planning to run a bottle shop and refill station, so you're never without Brighton Gin! Our editor played Bottom in a French adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, so she's very excited by the Shakespeare reference because it lets her tell that story. Visit for a roast, now that the weather is getting colder, darker and rainier.