Best Bits About Brighton

Guide to the Best Brighton Hen Weekend

When your best friend decides to have a hen weekend, there is no better place to head to than the sunny capital of the south coast, Brighton. When my bessie, based in Cardiff decided to have hers, Brighton was the obvious choice and a holiday house in the heart of Kemp Town was quickly booked and invites sent out.The next step for me was to get busy and organise the best hen weekend ever. Having lived in Brighton for eight years and with a love of discovering new places, I had a wealth of options to choose from and only one weekend to fit everything in. The choices made were based on suitability for the weekend, good value and most importantly tried and tested favourites. With plans in place and the weekend fast approaching all there was left for me to do was to start panicking, er no, actually cross my fingers and hope that my plans would come together and everyone would have a ball.

As for the Hen, she made only one request, sparkly heels please. Below is a list of the places that worked out so well for us, set out as a guide in case you need some good suggestions for organising the best hen weekend in Brighton too.

For Karaoke:

Lucky Voice,

Rocking the airwaves in the best parts of London in Soho and Islington as well as emerging in Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Brighton, Lucky Voice has been tailor-made for the combined caterwauling of happy hens. In fact so tailor-made is Lucky Voice for Hens that they offer a free round of special shots to hen parties when they arrive. There are 8,000 songs to choose from and comedy wigs and hats in the room for added value. So accommodating are the folk at Lucky Voice you can even create a playlist before your visit. I was skeptical that two hours might be a little on the long side, but when you’ve got a whole lot of familiar songs to sing along to and everyone happy to join in, the time passes too quickly. There were lots of top tunes with the surprising and best choice of the night going to Bonnie Tyler – Turn Around. If you just pulled the face I pulled when it was suggested, just remember to keep an open mind on this one.

For Sparkling Drinks:

Bohemia Brighton

After finishing too soon at Lucky Voice we needed somewhere special to head to and in trotting distance for the most vertiginously challenged of us, which luckily for us was Bohemia Brighton. Located a perfect tottering distance away and embracing the grand, this is the place for the smart dressing over 25s. A home of sophisticated glamour that is coiffured hair, manicured nails, handbag labelled, high heeled wearing kind and as it goes a wow destination for my visiting hens. Take note it is up to the doormen’s discretion whether they will allow you in, so this is not the place to head to if drunken debauched rather than refined and sophisticated are the key elements of the evening.

For pampering the Hen:

Lash N Load , Based at the same premises as Hair du Jour

My Bessie loves glamour, sparkles are a must, nails are manicured, handbags and heels admired and acquired and eyelashes are long and luscious. So what else could I do but ask the lovely Yolanda to work her magic on Blondie’s lashes. Specialising in semi-permanents, the skill and intricacy that this involves creates a stunning result. Before Yolanda started the treatment I had no idea what the process of attaching semi-permanent eye lash extensions would involve. However as I watched her stick each eye lash individually in place between existing eye-lashes, where one synthetic lash bonds with specialist eyelash extension glue to a single natural lash I realised what precision this required. Although time intensive the results looked amazing and so natural that I’m next on the list for these.

For evening dining and more singing:

Bom-Bane’s,

Already a favourite with BestBits, Jane’s Music Cafe turned out to be the perfect venue to enjoy an early dinner. With tactical planning I had booked an early meal of some hearty fare as a prerequisite for setting out on an evening of cocktail making. At an absolute steal of a price at £13.90 Jane served up locally sourced O’Hagan’s “nothing added “ sausages (with vegetarian option as required) and stoemp, a Belgian dish of mashed potato and seasonal vegetables. The set meal included a mezze starter and Belgian waffles dessert and was absolutely delicious. Sat by the window on the ground floor the tables caused delight by pressing buttons, which filled the base of an inset miniature model of the pier with water and made chimes on the wall jingle. To make the occasion even more special Jane had gone to the trouble of cutting out letters to read Blondie’s Hen on the wall. The dining room is intimate and feels exclusive, made even more so when Jane pulled out her harmonium and sang a song about Blondie. Having secretly supplied details about the Blonde one to Jane she had turned bare facts into lyrics and sang a song all about her and her fiance. It was utterly unbelievable and blew us all away. I can’t guarantee that Jane will do the same for every Hen, but even the meal in her music cafe was worthy of the best Hen Do.

: Blonde and Jane Bom Bane

For Cocktail Making

Cube,

Taking place in a private bar upstairs, the cocktail making at Cube involved standing behind a real bar in small groups to shake it and mix it up in an effort to make the best cocktail. Our mixologist for the evening was Richard who guided us through using muddlers, measures and shakers and was willing to join in the craic (as the Irish say). As the class (?) progressed I got the impression through my increasingly cocktail dropping haze that we were a bit unruly for Rich to manage, but luckily Richard rolled with it and the jokes and laughs just added to the evening. With a connection for your iPhone / iPod even the music became bespoke for our very own soundtrack. It was lots of fun and a perfect way of making everyone feel included in the Hen, which is what it is all about.

The party moved downstairs where the cheeky hens starting pegging each other and anyone else they could without getting caught, not the original plan for the pegs but it really took off.

For Sunday Brunch:

Bill’s,

Actually the Hen weekend didn’t make it to Bill’s because the Hens left too early for a brunch visit, but if they hadn’t this is where we would have headed and I’ve been here enough times to whole-heartedly recommend here for a Sunday brunch to end a perfect girlie weekend of singing too loudly, drinking bubbles, wearing heels and dancing too much.