Sea Life Brighton Celebrates 150 Years!

Happy Birthday to the the world’s oldest operating aquarium, celebrating 150 years. Now known as Sea Life Brighton, it was first opened to the public on August 10th, 1872. The aquarium was designed by Eugenius Birch, the same engineer of Brighton’s West Pier. The attraction was also used as a cinema, for lectures and exhibitions.

During WWII the building was used by the RAF and in the 60’s became home to the Montagu Motor Museum. From the 70’s till 1991 dolphin and seal shows where a regular part of the attraction till Sea Life Brighton acquired the structure and released the captive sea mammals back into the wild and invested £1.5 M to turn it into what it is today with an addition of over £10M invested in the last 20 years to secure the authenticity of the building.

Neil Harris, Sea Life Brighton’s general manager, has organised several activities during this year and is encouraging visitors to share their experience throughout the decades within the building.

William went along to the anniversary party to say hello to the fish and to share this special moment with you!