Why Brighton is no longer a liberal playground

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/22/why-brighton-is-no-longer-a-liberal-playground

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A gaggle of tourists huddle around the latest addition to the city known affectionately as “London on Sea”. At over 160 metres high, Brighton’s i360 will be the UK’s tallest structure south of Croydon. But discussing the merits of a £46.2m vertical cable car was far from these visitors’ minds.

Instead their long lenses were focused on the giant graffiti-covered hoarding masking the building yard. No doubt they had visions of an artist armed with a few spray cans sneaking up in the night and defacing the boards in some political protest. As I passed, I carried on letting them dream. Little did they know the dirty truth – that it was all a corporate PR stunt. What’s more, if the city’s council gets its way, smoking anywhere near the hoarding would be banned, with news this week of proposals to make Brighton’s beach and other outdoor spaces smoke-free.

Related: Brighton beach could go smoke-free under council plans

These are clearly signs that Brighton is a city on the move. For decades it’s been seen as a liberal “anything goes” type of place; a place to go to forget all your troubles. For years, what happened in Brighton stayed in Brighton. Want to get naked and cycle down the high street? Want to drink yourself silly and wake up in a room with Darth Vader? Want to vote Green and it actually matter? Well you could do it all, and while wearing a pair of vegetarian shoes.

But in recent years things have changed, with the kiss-me-quick attitude locked into a straitjacket, shirt and tie, as the hangovers from the all-nighters get worse. Yes, Brighton is growing up.

Which is why things that used to be fun and carefree are now frowned upon in some quarters. After all, this is the city with an MP who championed the recent anti-squatting laws, banning the practice from residential property. It is the city where the naked bike-ride protest against car use was deemed to be “indecent” and “sleazy” by a former council leader. It’s also the city that tried to stop its bin crews from eating bacon sandwiches on Mondays.

The Prince Regent – the party-loving royal son of George III who helped transform what was once a fishing village into a premier coastal attraction – would be turning in his grave (only he partied so hard he struggled to fit into his coffin by the end). But even Prinny himself had to settle down in the end and focus on his day job as George IV. Heck, you can’t even drink a beer in the shadow of the Royal Pavilion – the Prince Regent’s hedonistic holiday home – without being ticked off by a security guard.

How can you care about the rights of lighting up in the park when you need to take Tarquin to baby yoga?

The latest example of this new Brighton refers to not just the smoking of a funny-smelling plant favoured by Bob Marley, but all smoking. According to the council, the initiative is in the name of making people healthier. How very English, how very Brighton – the hedonistic seaside resort that wants you to return so much, it promises to add years on to your life. What next? A segment of grapefruit served with every pint to keep the vitamins up?

And while Brighton remains a transient place with thousands of students coming and going, there’s a core of people who settled on the south coast in the 60s, 70s and 80s who are now fed up of partying and want more from their city. They still want to appear liberal and anti-establishment, it’s just that work, kids and life are getting in the way. After all, how can you care about the rights of lighting up in the park when you need to take Tarquin to baby yoga? And when Oscar the pug has asthma, perhaps the smoking ban is right after all?

Yes, Brighton is changing. It’s still hip but if you come down here looking for a good time, make sure that when you paint the town red, you stay within the lines.