You might have spotted something new on your usual Brighton wander: a giant stick of rock by the sea, a pink-haired David Attenborough, a comic-book celebration of the Seagulls or one of dozens of other rather colourful places to park your bum.
They’re part of The Story Trail, a new city-wide art trail that’s scattered 74 BookBenches across Brighton & Hove until 8th November. More than 30 full-size benches, each in the style of an open book, have been handed over to artists, while another 42 smaller ones have been created by local schools, nurseries and community groups. And unlike plenty of public art, sitting on these is positively encouraged.
The whole thing is raising money for Amaze, the Sussex charity that supports families with disabled children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
For The Story Trail, the charity has teamed up with Wild in Art, the people behind Brighton’s previous Shaun The Sheep by the Sea, Snowdog and Snailspace public sculpture trails. And these benches have plenty of Brighton personality too.
Brighton in bench form
Some of the best designs have gone very local. Brighton artist Faye Bridgwater has turned her bench at Queen’s Park into Brighton Skies, inspired by the city’s ever-changing light and the huge Facebook community of the same name, where tens of thousands of people apparently share our collective obsession with photographing a good Brighton sunset.
Down on the seafront, Georgina Luck has created Sweet Seat, a wonderfully oversized collection of Brighton rock with the names of different neighbourhoods running through it. There’s a nod to Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock novel in there too.
At the Fishing Museum, Gill Prendergast has taken one look at Brighton beach on a sunny Saturday and created Packed Like Sardines. Designed like a vintage sardine tin, one side has its fish crammed together while the other lets them escape into rather more luxurious surroundings.
And by the Beach Carousel, illustrator Ilona Drew has painted Sweet Memory, bringing together the Palace Pier, West Pier and the starling murmurations above them. Drew also describes the hand-painted piece as a celebration of human creativity at a time when AI-generated imagery is sadly becoming increasingly commonplace. Consider us firmly Team Paintbrush on this one.
There’s a pink-haired David Attenborough too
The Postman have tackled Sir David Attenborough in typically vibrant style, marking his 100th year with 100 Years of David. Their characteristically colourful bench gives him bright pink hair against a glossy blue background filled with wildlife.
Football gets its moment too. Brighton illustrator and lifelong Seagulls fan Jamie Eke has created 125 Years of Albion to mark the club’s anniversary, with a blue-and-white comic-book design sitting appropriately outside Brighton Museum in Pavilion Gardens.
JEylesDesigns has squeezed a whole load of local landmarks into Under the Brighton Rainbow by the Palace Pier, while Pinky Vision’s retro Tell Me A Story, near the Peace Statue, is designed to get strangers sitting together and swapping stories.
Which is rather lovely in a city where sitting on a bench can sometimes involve pretending not to notice the person six inches away from you.
So where are all 74?
They’re spread right across Brighton & Hove, with plenty clustered around the city centre and seafront but others giving you an excuse to venture further afield.
You can use the free Story Trail app to hunt them down, entering the code on each sculpture as you find it and unlocking rewards and offers along the way. There are printed maps too, plus a sticker book for anyone planning to take collecting them considerably more seriously.
Maps are available from Story Trail HQ at Churchill Square and spots including Jubilee Library, Brighton Museum, Hove Museum, Brighton Toy and Model Museum and Waterstones Brighton.
The trail itself is completely free, with a suggested £2 donation for the app or printed map helping support Amaze.
And there’s another reason to pick a favourite while you’re out there. Once the trail finishes, the full-size benches will be reunited for a ticketed farewell weekend from 27th to 29th November, before being auctioned on 30th November to raise money for the charity. The smaller benches will head back to the schools and community groups that created them.
So yes, you could attempt all 74. Or you could do what we’ll probably do and start spotting them accidentally, develop a favourite and then become stubbornly invested in finding the rest.
The Story Trail runs across Brighton & Hove until 8th November. It’s free to follow.
Feature photo by Emma Bailey
