A Brilliant Brighton Xmas

On Thursday, November 15, we all enjoyed a fantastic event to celebrate the switching-on of the Brighton city centre Christmas lighting display.

More than 1,000 people piled in to East Street to enjoy the show and we were over the moon to welcome Jake Heal on stage to do the honours and press the plunger.

Jake is a local Hove lad who suffers from Prader-Willi syndrome, but this hasn’t stopped him from tirelessly fundraising for local charity, Rockinghorse; raising over £4,000 in a year and even abseiling down the i360.

He was joined on stage by Rocking horse Patron and CBeebies star, Sid Slone, our Sponsors Legal and General and Mayor of Brighton and Hove Cllr Dee Simpson.

Who pays for these lights anyway?

We are often asked who pays for the lights, and why they aren’t changed every year like they are in London – the answer is simple, it’s an expensive business!

The lights are paid for by the 517 businesses that make up the Brilliant Brighton area.

In total, the lighting scheme costs a staggering £375,000; and Brilliant Brighton businesses pay for them over five years.

That’s £75k a year to light the lights that bring in the Christmas season and put a smile on so many faces as the nights draw in.

Brilliant Brighton is so much more than Christmas Lights

It’s great to have made it through another year, and for the promise of Christmas to be twinkling just around the corner, but the team at Brilliant Brighton work all year round to help support the city centre businesses and make Brighton a better place for everyone.

Our City Centre Ambassadors work with our businesses to support them if they are experiencing antisocial behaviour and in the last year they have returned over £100,000 worth of stolen goods to businesses, helping Brighton to stay independent and keep that unique vibe going.

We also spend a lot of time supporting and making welfare checks with the street community.

At this time of year, it’s more important than any other to ensure that people have the right contacts and can access appropriate support.

The drug Spice is becoming a huge problem, and in the last 6 months, our Ambassadors have saved three lives of individuals from the street community who have overdosed.

We work closely with a wide range of support agencies as well as the police and Business Crime reduction partnership and also support the Make Change Count Campaign.

For more information about Brilliant Brighton or to check out some great offers, deals and news, go to www.brilliantbrighton.com

Gavin Stewart. is the CEO of Brilliant Brighton