Rejuvenating St James’ Street

Home to many a café, gastro-pub and restaurant, St James’ Street is one of the most notorious streets in Brighton. However, in recent years the street has seen a decline in popularity, with fewer people visiting the area as the years go by. In an attempt to fix this, the Brighton and Hove Tourism Alliance have raised money from EU grants to help improve the area.

The alliance has started out with a test draft of vinyls and stickers. They began by designing temporary vinyls and stickers to display, in an attempt to help brighten up the street. Specifically, these involved floor vinyls, as well as mini-vinyls on the lamp posts. The main centrepiece of this being a big banner that advertises the St James’ Street brand.

From our interviews with locals and local business owners, we were able to canvas opinion. The consensus seemed to be that, although locals seem happy and grateful for the the attempts to rejuvenate the street, people seem to feel that other things could have been done with that money, such as helping with the numerous homeless people who roam the area. It also seems that many people, particularly local residents, were not really informed about the regeneration, or any of the details around it.

We concluded that, although there have been issues with the first try, that it is too early to tell as to whether this project will ultimately be a success.