Hello, BOTI gang! This week we’ve been wondering whether we qualify for free ice-cream, planning a pilgrimage to Baby Bao’s new home, eyeing up a giant Battenberg and limbering up for Our City Dances. And that’s just for starters. Add Brighton Bash’s vibrant carnival at St Ann’s Well Gardens (more on that below) and the Maccabees and Moby on the beach – we’ll be watching from the prom – there’s no excuse for staying in. Here’s what we’d recommend getting out for over the next couple of days.
Get your bao fix as Baby Bao finally opens in Kemptown
It’s been a long time coming, but the team behind the hugely popular Baby Bao residency at The Pond (and Earl’s) are finally getting a permanent home. And they’re ready to feed Kemptown. The new George Street spot is soft-launching with half-price steamed buns, £5 pints and two cocktails for £18 this weekend, giving you the perfect excuse to be one of the first to visit. Because delicious things come in small, fluffy packages (and these really are delicious – pictured is the crispy squash with daikon).
From Fri; from 4pm
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Listen to live music in Kemptown’s Secret Garden
If you’ve been reading BOTI for a while, you’ll know that we’re big fans of this (not-so-secret) secret garden (and enjoying Table Brighton’s cheese and wild garlic scones inside it). This Saturday, it’s opening the gates for one of its (and our) favourite summer traditions. Pack a picnic, bring a blanket and settle in amongst the flowers and the sculptures as The Adur Band performs an evening of live music inside the Grade II listed walled garden. You’ll be able to get your hands on wine and soft drinks for a donation, with proceeds helping to look after one of Brighton’s loveliest secret(ish) spaces.
Sat; 7pm £22.38
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Get in early for a free drink at Brighton’s newest café
There’s another new coffee spot on the block, and if you’re quick, your first drink’s on the house. Blank Canvas is opening on Dukes Lane this Saturday, with the first 44 drinks going free as it soft-launches the new space. Billing itself as “a space to express, sip and share”, we reckon it’s worth popping your head in to see what it’s all about. And getting that free coffee, if you’re quick.
Sat; from 10am; from free
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READ ALSO: WIN TICKETS TO BRIGHTON COCKTAIL FESTIVAL
Head to one of Brighton’s biggest celebrations of Black culture
There’s a reason Brighton Bash has become such a fixture in the city’s summer calendar. Get ready for a joy-filled day of live music, DJs, carnival, spoken word, dance, workshops, street food and more as St Ann’s Well Gardens comes alive in celebration of Black culture and community. And when the park closes, things don’t stop there – the official after-party, The Second Wave, takes over Komedia with an evening of reggae, dub, hip hop, Afrobeats and dancehall.
Sat; from 11am – 8pm; from free
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Continue the party at a music-first club night
For an alternative after-party, head over to the latest edition of underground music magazine Offie Mag’s club night at buzzy music-first venue Alphabet. This Saturday’s Offie Mag Social sees London Black dance music club night Plentyppl take over, with DJ sets from CasuallyClued, The Return of She and Shadrack on the line-up. If you’ve not been before, you can expect great tunes played on a top-notch sound system and a friendly, up-for-it crowd that’s there for the music rather than just being out. (Even better, all profits go to the Black Anti-Racism Community Organisation.)
Sat; 10.30pm – 2am; £11.50 (or £13.80 with a copy of their latest issue)
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Get in the Pride mood a week early
Why wait until next weekend? Home of Brighton Gin Bottom’s Rest is teaming up with neighbours on Lower Market Street for a free pre-Pride street party on Saturday, with live bands, singer-songwriters, poetry, a community BBQ from Lunch Positive and plenty of reasons to raise a glass. Once the street party wraps up about 7pm, head inside the pub where Pansy People DJ Jo Overfield will be spinning tunes from 8pm. Better still, proceeds from the day will help support Lunch Positive’s work with people living with or affected by HIV.
Sat; from midday; free
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Discover the queer safe spaces that came before gay bars
Long before Brighton became one of the UK’s LGBTQ+ capitals, there were molly houses – secret meeting places where queer men could find friendship, love and community despite risking arrest simply by walking through the door. Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus is marking the 300th anniversary of the raid on the most famous of them, Mother Clap’s Molly House, with a joyful show that mixes pop anthems, storytelling (with the cast acting out scenes that reveal the reality of gay life in 1726) and its trademark warmth and wit to remind us that queer people have, as they put it, “always been here”.
Sat; 7.30pm; from £15
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Get your groove on at Brighton’s biggest free dance festival
Think you’ve got two left feet? Or always harboured a secret ambition to strut your stuff in the West End? It’s perfect either way. South East Dance’s annual Our City Dances festival is back outside The Dance Space at Circus Street this Saturday with free drop-in workshops in everything from Zumba and musical theatre to Bollywood and FunkFit, plus performances, giant games, crafts, food stalls and coffee. There’s genuinely something for every body.
Sat; 1pm – 5pm; free
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Have some brine with that beer at a pickle party
Only just hearing about the free keg of Pickle beer at The Geese on Thursday? Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where that came from as The Pickle cafe in Kemptown is celebrating its first birthday with a weekend of pickly goodness. On Saturday, head to the Pickle itself for pickle beer (their collab with Loud Shirt Brewery), pickle margaritas, the slicing up of a huge Battenberg birthday cake and DJs from El Melting Pot (at 3pm). There ain’t no party like a Pickle party because the Pickle party don’t stop.
Sat
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Beat the heat with a free ice-cream
Running your own business – whether you’ve got a team behind you or it’s just you, a laptop and a self-assessment return on the sofa – can be a headache, but at least Saturday comes with free ice-cream. Tide is parking up on New Road to hand out free scoops alongside (completely optional) advice on navigating HMRC’s upcoming Making Tax Digital changes. They’ve gone heavy on the puns, with flavours including Self Assess-mint, VATnilla and PAYE-stachio, but there’s no tax on that. Officially it’s for business owners, so if you’ve got one (or can make a case that you have), you know what to do. Anyway, we’re pretty sure everyone’s got a side hustle these days (although it’s debatable whether selling the odd thing on Vinted counts).
Sat; 10am – 5pm; free
Stay up late for cult cinema
Who says cinemas are just for daytime and early evenings? Duke’s After Dark is back with a 10.15pm screening of the gloriously twisted cult classic Drop Dead Gorgeous starring Kirsten Dunst. Grab a late-night drink, settle into Brighton’s oldest cinema and enjoy beauty pageant fun, suspicious deaths and some of the sharpest comedy of the ’90s.
Sat; 10.15pm; £9.35
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Get your hands on Tiger Eats Chicken at Bison Beer
The Spice Kitchen’s Chef Kanthi’s got a new project – Tiger Eats Chicken – and it’s well worth your time. Think spice-marinated fried chicken smothered in Indian and Sri Lankan-inspired sauces, plus sides and vegan options and you get the picture. So if you’re after a pint and something seriously good to soak it up, head over to Bison Beer in Hove while it’s here.
Sat (and 30th, 31st of July and 1st August)
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Don’t miss your last chance to do dragons, then dim sum
This weekend is your final chance to try the Royal Dragons Experience, which pairs the Royal Pavilion’s Dragons exhibition with an exclusive two-course meal (choose from five dishes, including plump pork and kimchi gyoza, chicken karaage, and chickpea and aubergine curry), and a glass of Champagne at The Ivy Asia. Because it turns out Brighton’s most iconic building has been hiding dragons in plain sight for more than 200 years (plus you’ll find new dragon eggs and weird creatures lurking all over the place too). Given the decadent decor at Ivy Asia, it’s a collab that makes complete sense and is actually really good value. Plus, every ticket sold helps support Brighton & Hove Museums.
Until Mon; from £36.50
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Turn your ticket stubs into something worth keeping
TikTok might have made junk journalling cool again, but Happy Space’s bi-monthly Scrap & Yap sessions are about more than sticking pretty things in a notebook. Bring along old tickets, postcards, photos, receipts or whatever else you’ve been hoarding, grab a coffee and spend a cosy Sunday morning at Pink Moon turning memories into something worth hanging on to. There are stickers, washi tape and crafty bits galore if you need them – plus plenty of fellow scrapbookers if you’re more interested in the yap than the scrap.
Sun; 10am – 1pm; £13.70
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Take your Sunday to the terrace for an 80s party
Concorde 2 is swapping Balearic beats for black eyeliner this weekend as Just Like Heaven returns with a summer terrace party dedicated to alternative 80s classics. That means everything from The Cure and Joy Division to Echo & the Bunnymen and The Smiths, all soundtracking an afternoon by the sea that’s made for indie kids and anyone who kind of wishes they’d been around in the 80s.
Sun; 4pm – 9pm; £9.38
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GET OUTTA TOWN
See what happens when Family Store throws a festival
The people behind one of the North Laine’s coolest shops are branching out into festivals. Family Store has teamed up with Look Again to launch Port of Cool in Newhaven – a day of gorgeously left-field live music, DJs, craft beer from Abyss, indie traders and local food, with Memorials, The Baby Seals, Paddy Steer and Charlie Keen’s Silver Birch all on the bill. The festival site is only 1 minute from Newhaven train station, which is just a 30-minute hop from Brighton, so there’s really no excuse.
Sat; 1pm – 11.15pm; from £21.25
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