'It was like being in a soap opera'
Suzie, working fairground rides, The Palace Pier, 1993

	Flyer advertising 'The Tommy Trinder Show' at the Palace Pier Theatre, Brighton in 1967.

When visitors began to pour into Brighton, new jobs were created for local people.

Teenage boys offered rides in goat-carts in the 1830s. Six glamorous young women helped tourists on the seafront as 'promettes' in the 1950s. Brighton still has a Punch and Judy professor (as the puppeteer is known in the trade), and shop-keepers still sell Brighton Rock, invented in the 1870s.

Brighton's early tourists weren't always impressed. 'I assure you we live here almost underground,' one visitor wrote in 1736, complaining about low ceilings, but hotels and boarding houses thrived, offering seasonal work for low wages.

The piers employed toll-keepers from 1823 until 1984. Entertainers performed in 'end-of-the-Pier' shows. Caterers and funfair attendants offered 'teas at popular prices' and 'fabulous quality cuddly toys'. From silhouette cutters to deckchair attendants, the tourism industry has offered a diverse range of work.

See objects on display in the Employment in Tourism section of Images of Brighton Gallery