Nightlife

Brighton offers lots of entertainment options. You can find out what's happening by picking up the local entertainment monthly, the Punter, and by looking for What's On, a single sheet of weekly events posted throughout the town.

Two theaters offer drama throughout the year: the Theatre Royal, New Road (tel. 01273/328488), with pre-London shows; and the Gardner Arts Centre (tel. 01273/685861; www.gardnerarts.co.uk), a modern theater-in-the-round, located on the campus of Sussex University, northeast of town in Falmer and 6.4km (4 miles) from the center of Brighton. Bigger concerts are held at Brighton Centre, Kings Road (tel. 0870/900-9100; www.brightoncentre.co.uk), a 5,000-seat facility featuring mainly pop-music shows.

Nightclubs also abound. Cover charges range from free admission (most often on early or midweek nights) to £10 ($19), so call the clubs to find out about admission fees and updates in their nightly schedules, which often vary from week to week or season to season.

Creation, West Street (tel. 01273/321628), is a popular club that features Gay Night once a month. Audio, 10 Marine Parade (tel. 01273/606906), home to both gay and straight dancers, has one floor for dancing and offers different music styles on different nights of the week on the second floor.

One of the best hunting grounds for dance clubs is Kingswest, a King's Road complex that houses two clubs featuring a blend of techno, house, and disco. Event II (tel. 01273/732627) sports more than £1 million ($1.9 million) worth of lighting and dance-floor gadgetry.

For a change of pace, visit Casablanca, Middle Street (tel. 01273/321817), which features jazz with an international flavor.

Pubs are a good place to kick off an evening, especially the Colonnade Bar, New Road (tel. 01273/328728), serving drinks for over 100 years. The pub gets a lot of theater business because of its proximity to the Theatre Royal. Cricketers, Black Lion Street (tel. 01273/329472), is worth a stop because it's Brighton's oldest pub, parts of which date from 1549. Drinking lures patrons to Fortune of War, 157 King's Rd. (tel. 01273/205065).

H. J. O'Neils, 27 Ship St. (tel. 01273/827621), is an authentic Irish pub located at the top of the Lanes. A stop here will fortify you with traditional Irish pub grub, a creamy pint of Guinness, and a soundtrack of folk music. Of course, they make the best Irish stew in town.