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General
'Opened' in 1980, this is probably the best known, most accessible, most
public naturist beach in the UK - with all the 'downsides' that this
implies. Not, perhaps, the best environment in which to try naturism for
the first time. See the trip reports below.
Access & Parking
Brighton may be reached with ease by all main means of transport. On
reaching the seafront, go to the main pier, west of the marina, then walk
east to Peter Pan's playground and cross the Volk's Railway on to the
beach. See Below for more advice.
Description
The beach is of shingle and pebbles, with consequent discomfort. If you
choose to strip off, you are likely to find yourself playing to an
unrestricted audience of binocular-wielding voyeurs - both on the beach
and, often, in boats offshore. This might be heaven for some, but it
sounds like hell to me.
Facilities
Every facility you could possibly want - and more -can be found in
Brighton. None are accessible, of course, without dressing
Water Quality
Typical English Channel
Trip Report - August 2005
"I visited Brighton this Summer with my wife. We had a brilliant time. The weather was lovely and beach clean and friendly as ever. There were lots of voyeuristic males. This does not really bother me. However my wife would like to say thanks to the guy who actually stripped off in front of her and stared at her naked body for 2 hours! Funnily enough, we went over the course of five days and by day two the guys stopped looking at me. My poor wife still got all the pervs. What a pity. We'll still go next year though"
Trip Report - August 2005
"I felt I should write a short note about my visit this weekend to the beach.
I read with interest the other contributions, but still decided to go along and try it out. Firstly, this weekend was the Brighton and Hove Gay and Lesbian Pride, so the nudist beach was fuller than I would expect, but there were straight couples. I am gay but saw no indiscretions, expect for the usual male watchers. The weather was lovely and everyone on the beach was friendly and quite happy to just get on with sunbathing. I would still encourage anyone to try this beach out before making an opinion on it.
I feel the directions to the beach as a little unclear and need to be made more simple. It took me ages to work out the directions. As you face Brighton pier, turn left and walk along the beach or road, until you come to bushes/park on your left. Directly on the right is the beach and the nudist boundary. If you walk along the road, you will have to cross over the railway line at some point (the Volk's Railway). This might make it easier to find."
Trip Report - May 2005
"As I live in Brighton, I occasionally go along to Black Rock beach. I hear it was a very good place to go in the 80's, early 90's which is a shame as I only discovered it in the late 1990's. Even though this beach is very local and convenient for me, I refuse to go onto it, as it is a complete meat market, and I wouldn't say that it is TRUE naturists that you find there.
"On the occasions that I have been there, I have been gawped at, and sometimes (when wanting a little privacy ) you find unwanted men moving themselves towards you. I tend to ignore people who generally only look, but here I feel watched, intimidated. Unfortunately directly behind the beach, across the small road is Dukes Mound, and this is a very well known cruising ground for gay men, although alot of "curious" straight men have hung about, hence the clothed men watching you from the sidelines. I am a gay man, 32 years old and even this ANNOYS ME SO MUCH!! Not only does it ruin my afternoon, but it shames us genuine gay male naturists, and gay men generally. Sometimes the beach (in the height of summer!) is crowded with a huge variation of people, men, women, old and young not to mention a fair amount of dogs, and only then is it a nice feeling where you are not stared at, and people don't often notice you trying to walk gracefully out of the sea. Those pebbles will kill you unless you take some good footwear and a branding iron for those "perverts"!!"
Comment - September 2005
"Brighton naturist beach was my very first experience of naturism. I think it was in 1980, just after it opened. I was only 10 years old and went there with my Dad. I remember it being quite busy, and at that age, I was completely relaxed about being naked in public as everyone else was.
Sadly, how times have changed. The atmosphere on the beach now is awful. As soon as you set foot on the beach you feel a hundred pairs of eyes watching your every move. Men masturbate openly, while on the edge of the beach a group of males scan the beach with binoculars and video cameras. I once saw a man performing oral sex on his partner in front of children. There should be beach patrols by seafront officers or lifeguards to discourage these offences from taking place. Perhaps even the police should make their presence felt so genuine naturists can reclaim this beach from the perverts and voyeurs.
This may sound like a strong comment, but many men are using the guise of naturism as an excuse to commit sex offences. I now mainly confine naturism to France, where behaviour such as this would simply not be tolerated. I would also encourage people to challenge the perverts and threaten them with calling the police - it is usually enough to see them off, and hopefully they may stay away forever."
Comment - June 2004
"I went to this beach yesterday and wished I'd seen this site beforehand.... I finally quit when another male began to openly masturbate in front of all his peers who were intently scrutinising his every move."
Comment - January 2004
"I just have read the several trips reports, I honestly think I can talk with as much authority than anybody as I have been using the Brighton beach since the very beggining, Spring & Summer 1980. In the 1980's and, maybe, early 90's the whole atmosphere was very good, a fantastic example of what a naturist beach should be, with hundreds, sometimes not short of the odd one thousand people, both sexes, swimming and sunbathing in the nude...
...the voyeurs, passers by, etc [we] did not mind so much then as we all felt so comfortable being so many of us, whole familes used to go there... Unfortunely from the middle 90's the whole thing started to get worse, the families started to desert the beach, [also] the couples and females, ...in the last two or three years the beach has been practically [taken over] by single males...
Yes, I am sorry to say that I have to agree with the people who say that Brighton beach, as it is now, is the worst place for practising naturism, I would never recomend it to anybody to try for the first time never mind couples of females. Unfortunely it seems that the trend is going to continue like that, myself I have almost given up and I am quite happy to practise naturism in my traveles abroad, Canary Islands, Ibiza and South of France, where naturists are left alone without having to put up with all the incoveniences that the users, naturist, of the Brighton [beach] have to.
"Having only visited this beach due to the inaccessibility of
Fairlight Glen... I am rather upset to say that we have never felt so
uncomfortable on a naturist beach. Having been on two separate occasions,
once at the weekend and once on a weekday, it has the feeling of a meat
market with everyone watching every one and plenty of fully clothed
voyeurs.
The gay gents are no problem whatsoever as in our experience most naturist beaches are populated by many, it was in our opinion the single heterosexual men that were openly (and discretely without much success) staring at the few women on the beach, we even had to point out to one gentleman that he was looking in the wrong place to be reading his book. Another man was masturbating over a couple rubbing in sun cream without any sexual overtness. For heterosexual couples I would not recommend this beach... which is a great shame because it is clean and the water is great and fairly clear."
Trip Report - August 2003
" I have been a nudist for 10 years, but Brighton is the worst nude
beach ever. How can it be official nude beach? It's a pervert beach not
nudist.
Trip Report - June 2002
" Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed my first visit to
Brighton's naturist beach. This was my first experience of a naturist
beach and having read some of the reports on your website I was naturally
a little apprehensive. Initially, this resulted in me being a little
reluctant to remove all my clothing and so I chose to continue wearing a
small bathing thong. However, after a short while a couple arrived next to
me and we started chatting. They immediately removed all their clothing
and I began to feel somewhat over-dressed. Sarah asked if I fancied a swim
and we walked down to the waters edge. I seized the opportunity and
removed my thong, leaving it with my sandals at the waters edge. Having
had an exhilarating swim we returned to our spot on the beach - needless
to say with me carrying my thong back. A great day out and a perfect venue
for first-time naturism! I commend it to all."
Trip Report - 2002
"I don't think there are many gawkers now, though a few people still
get 'lost' walking their dogs etc. along the beach! Best ignore them, and
they soon lose interest...
A note about the groynes (waverbreaks) - best steer clear of the one
nearest the marina, as some sharp rocks close by the water's edge. The
upper ledge we find tends to be populated by gay couples / show-offs- no
regard to the public on other side... "
Trip Report - 2002
"Located in Brighton with a strong gay community this beach clearly
attracts its share of the homosexual population. However, as a
heterosexual male naturist this has never been the slightest problem for
me and of all the naturist beaches I have visited it is certainly the most
accessible. I spent my summer holidays here in the immediate post-war
years and the pebbles on the beach are no more forgiving now than they
were then, so unless you have ironshod feet bring some flip-flops."
Trip Report - 2002
"I have visited the nudist beach at Brighton on three occasions. On
each occasion the beach had no more than one female, and the other bathers
were male homosexuals, with one or more of them openly masturbating. I
think that previous reviewers of this beach should have mentioned this."
Trip Report - Summer 2001 "I visited in the afternoon of Tuesday 28/08/01. Not releasing where it was I parked near the West Pier and ended up taking the Volks Railway to the Marina. It was then only a short walk back to the 'Free' part of the beach which is protected from the view of those on the railway or promenade by a large bank of shingle about 100 metres long. It was a beautiful afternoon, warm and sunny and there were about 100 'bods' mainly single men (some in groups of 6 or 8) and a few couples. Beach/swimming shoes are essential as it is a very stony beach (I found a good pair for £5 in one of the beach kiosks near the pier). It shelves very quickly so is ideal for swimming as you only needed to go in a couple of metres to be in 6 feet of water! The people I sat near were friendly and readily agreed to take my photo with my dog, Bruce. I had an enjoyable experience and the access was the easiest of the 4 beaches I tried over the Bank Holiday weekend."
Trip Report - Summer 2001 "I was fortunate to go on a very warm day and the naturist beach was quite busy. I hadn't expected there to be so many clothed/covered people on the beach including quite a few obvious voyeurs. I stripped off straight away in case my bottle went and found a place to lie. The pebbles are an immediate nuisance, especially when you go in the sea. Indeed the only embarrassing part of the experience was the sight of my white bottom popping up and down from the sea as I tried to keep my balance! The experience was exhilarating and I was buzzing for the rest of the day."
Trip Report - 16/7/99 "I visited Brighton nudist Beach for the first time on Friday and was at a bit of a loss as to where it was and if I could park close by. I think the following might be of use to other first time visitors. Drive towards the sea front and look out for 'To the marina' signs. Follow signs for the Marina or drive East (Left as you face the sea) through the centre of Brighton along the sea front keeping in to the right hand traffic lane. You will see signs for the Marina Village. Take this lane and then keep to the left lane as you do. Drive into the marina area and you are faced with a 9 level multi storey FREE car park. You arrive on the 9th storey and can wind your way down, viewing the next level to see if there are parking bays available. There is an ASDA store opposite this car park handy for various items from clothing to food and drink. [When coming out of the car park, head out towards Asda and climb the stairs by the car wash. The beach is then in front of you.] With the marina at your back walk West to the beach. The nudist beach is a few hundred yards from there and at the first stop of the little railway. I hope that this manages to help those who might contemplate this beach but are a bit mystified as I was."
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