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Gallery Themes : Exploring Brighton Gallery

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navigation symbol Introduction to the Exploring Brighton Gallery
navigation symbol Living in Brighton
navigation symbol Working in Brighton
navigation symbol Trades
navigation symbol Light Industry
navigation symbol Street Traders
navigation symbol Shops
navigation symbol Domestic Service
navigation symbol Finance
navigation symbol Transport
navigation symbol Time to Yourself
navigation symbol Banding Together
 
 
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  Street Traders

'Busking is wicked, it introduces me to a huge amount of people from all segments of the population who would not normally be hanging out together'
Phil the didge guy, on busking, 1999.

Three juggling clubs, c1995.
Three juggling clubs, c1995.

Entertainers and sellers of wares were a common sight on Brighton's Victorian streets. Many of Brighton's poor saw street entertaining as a way of earning a living. Minstrels, jugglers and organ grinders performed in almost every part of the town.

Pies, fruit and wares of all sorts were sold on Brighton's streets. By the end of the 1800s, street traders would gather in Gardner Street. Brighton Council, tired of moving them on, allowed Upper Gardner Street to be used as a market on Saturday mornings. By 1919, a second gathering of barrows in Oxford Street led to the opening of Brighton's Open Market, which moved to its present site in 1960.

Street trading is still evident in Brighton. As well as adding to the town's alternative image, for many, it is their main source of income.

See objects on display in the Street Traders section of Exploring Brighton gallery

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