Bec and John in the UK: Brighton - Ticking all the boxes

Brighton, on England's south coast, could well be said to be "London's beach getaway town" - in just 50 minutes by fast train, you can swap pigeons and pie-and-mash for seagulls and scampi-and-chips. Way back in June we decided to pounce on a particularly nicely-forecasted Saturday and see what Brighton had to offer.

In order to truly understand the appeal of Brighton, you must first grasp the fundamentals of the English seaside:

The weather will most likely make actually going in the water extremely unappealing
Thus, there must be plenty of amusements on hand
The more (knowingly or not) outdated and/or tackier the amusements, the better
There must be deckchairs
There should be a seafront promenade, which all visitors must tour up and down
There must be {fish/scampi/burger}-and-chip outlets all along the sea front
No matter what the weather, thou shalt have an ice-cream
If thou art a small child, thou shalt drop thy ice-cream and cry

In this regard, Brighton delivers on all fronts. But it goes even further, adding to the mix:

A genuinely unique maze of lovely, quirky shop-filled lanes just behind the sea front
A completely bonkers Royal Pavilion built by the Prince Regent in the early 1800s
A whopping-great pier with an amusement-park on the end (not just a few dodgem cars either)
A thriving local culture embracing two universities, a gay scene and live music

We were perhaps fortunate to visit Brighton on a sparkling summer day, but it was an absolute delight. After wandering though the eclectic and interesting independent shops of The Lanes, we arrived at the seafront promenade to this vista:

As per English Seaside requirements, we promenaded in both westerly and easterly directions, before stopping for refreshments, and plenty of 'em. It was seriously warm!