Explore Kemptown

The Kemptown area was named after Thomas Read Kemp’s Kemp Town residential estate in the 19th Century. He was a politician and property developer. When the name stuck, the area developed into what it is today, stretching from the east of Brighton’s centre, along King’s Cliff all the way to Black Rock. Local architecture is a mix of Regency and Victorian style, with a few more modern additions, staying consistent with the rest of the city area. A historic artistic quarter, Kemptown is known to house many local artists, actors and performers. The area also has a prominent LGBTQ+ community and is at the heart of many of the city’s Pride events during the summertime.

Kemptown is known for its selection of delightful independent stores, making it a fantastic place to shop for some unique gems during your trip to Brighton. Here is a list of some of our favourite spots in this part of town.

Kemptown Bookshop is an amazing independent bookstore, which also happens to be Brighton’s oldest independent bookshop. Established over 50 years ago, the Kemptown Bookshop has over three floors of wonderfully curated books for adults and children alike. They also often organise some wonderful events, where local authors are invited to discuss their work and guests can attend and debate, discuss and ask questions. It’s a fantastic community hub that is welcoming and friendly. The store is located on St George’s Road and is open daily. 

For your floral needs, Hunter Florist is the place to go. This local florist has been providing Kemptown with high quality fresh flowers for years. It’s an adorable, colourful shop with an excellent selection of various seasonal flowers that make for the perfect gift or treat for yourself. The store is located on St James’ Street and is open daily. 

An eclectic market-like antique store, Kemptown Trading Post is the perfect place for any lover of all things vintage. You’ll find an assortment of collectibles, antiques and vintage homeware, as well as all kinds of vintage clothing from all over Europe. It’s a great spot to unearth unique objects that make fantastic one-of-a-kind gifts or just peruse the stalls. Located on St George’s Road,the store is open daily.  

Kemptown is delightful and lively, and we think that the best way of discovering the area is to just take your time and meander around the streets. Start at Old Steine and make your way up St James’ Street. From there, keep going until you find a street you want to explore and see where the day takes you. The area is rather small so you won’t get lost. Once you’ve seen enough of the narrow streets, make your way down to the seafront. Head to Lewes Crescent to admire some more of that classic Brightonian Regency architecture. From there, you can either head back to the city centre via the promenade and go straight to the Pier or head down onto the beach and finish off your day with a lovely, restful beach walk.

By car: 

• Driving into Kemptown is relatively straightforward although the narrow streets can be somewhat of a pain to navigate. Parking is available but very limited. 

By bus: 

• Brighton & Hove public buses run into Kemptown and there are many different bus routes visitors can chose to take to access the area. 

By foot: 

• Walking to Kemptown is the easiest way to get there, it’s right off of Brighton’s centre, at Old Steine so it’s an easy area to access. 

• Kemptown is great for evening drinks with friends or family, it has just as many fun spots as the centre of town, but doesn’t quite amass the same crowds.