Nightlife

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

One theater offers drama throughout the year: the Theatre Royal, New Road (tel. 08700/606650), with pre-London shows. Bigger concerts are held at Brighton Centre, Kings Road (tel. 01273/290131; 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 ($20), 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.

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.

The hot, hot club on West Street is Oceana Brighton (tel. 01273/732627), a new multiroom complex and the first nightclub in the area to offer an early-evening bar. There are three different venues here under one roof: the Deep Bar, the New York Disco, and the Reykjavik Icehouse. There's disco dancing on Europe's largest illuminated dance floor. Expect to pay a cover of £10 ($20), but this could vary depending on the night.

For a change of pace, Casablanca, Middle Street (tel. 01273/321817), 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'Neil's, 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.