'Green open spaces are very important, they give people a very different perception of their town.'
Estelle, voluntary gardener, Royal Pavilion, 2001.

	Sign with bullet holes, detailing the civic amenities provided by the Corporation of Brighton in 1934.

Many Victorians hoped parks, libraries and museums could compete with pubs and other 'forces of evil in trying to catch the man who had free time'.

It was initially felt that Brighton did not need parks, because the seafront provided enough fresh air and open space. However, a campaign grew for a public park and Preston Park was purchased from the Stamford family in 1883.

Brighton's first libraries were private social clubs for fashionable visitors to the town. The first Free Public Library was opened in 1873. A speaker declared: 'it is by Literature that the moral part of our nature is mainly directed and cherished'.

A museum was established in the Royal Pavilion in 1861. It initially displayed objects from local collectors. A decade later and renamed Brighton Museum & Fine Art Gallery it moved to its current premises. National Lottery money has helped fund the new museum you see today.

See objects on display in the Civic Amenities section of Exploring Brighton gallery