The Lanes guide
Cobbles, basements and late floors: how to eat and drink your way through the oldest streets in Brighton without ending up in a chain.
The brief
The Lanes are two things pretending to be one. The North Lanes tourists mean is actually North Laine, up the hill. The Lanes proper are the tight cobbled tangle between the seafront and the Pavilion, and they hide the best late-night rooms in the city behind doors that look shut.
Where to eat
Embers for live fire on a weeknight. The Coal Shed when someone else is paying and steak is the answer. A shellfish counter off Boyce's Street for the forty-minute dinner that beats most two-hour ones.
Where to drink
Bohemia for cocktails that take themselves seriously in a room that doesn't. Artist Residence Clubhouse for the hotel-bar feeling without the hotel-bar prices. Then whichever South Lanes basement still has the light on.
The late map
Ship Street, Middle Street, Boyce's Street, in that order. If the queue is outside, walk one street back — there is always a better door.