by Brighton and Hove, playground of murderous princes, erratic thespians and generation after generation of artists, writers and poets, is not short of Blue Plaques. They are everywhere.
Listed under Arts and Culture you will find Doreen Valiente, “Mother of Modern Witchcraft”, and poet and author Sir Lawrence Olivier, founder of the National Theatre.
Under Science and Industry is Magnus Volk, whose “world’s oldest public electric railway” still runs by the sea at Camptown.
Under Civil, Political and Military is Russian Prince Pyotr (Peter) Kropotkin, listed simply as “Anarchist”, and the little-known Sports category claims long-distance swimming pioneer Mercedes Gleitze.
And on a sliding wall between a hairdressers and opticians shop in North Lane, the bohemian heart and independent shopping hub of Brighton (Laine comes from the old English word describing a meadow or field) is another plaque honoring the “Founder of the Body Shop, an Environmentalist. and Animal Rights campaigner,” Dame Anita Roddick.
“The Body Shop, along with Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s, were pioneers of ESG [environmental, social, and corporate governance],” says Justin Francis, chairman of Responsible Travel and Projects for Nature.
“The Body Shop and its founders Anita and Gordon Roddick were the inspiration for Responsible Travel and seed investors too.”
The late Roddick’s first store, offering refillable bottles of cruelty-free beauty products, opened here in 1976 at 22 Kensington Gardens. When my mom came here for hemp hand cream, I would get dizzy from the tropical scents. It smells like the world in one exotic room.
North Lane, a grid of attractive residential and commercial streets, anchored by Brighton Station and the Royal Pavilion.
On a wet Tuesday, Kensington Gardens, a pedestrian lane, was home to local businesses including Resident Music, Bert’s Homestore, Kennys Rock and Soul Café (known locally as the “balcony cafe”) and the old esoteric emporium, Tardis -like Snoopers Paradise, busy.
Passionate and principled, Roddick and Sussex University students Ian Loeffler and Peter Deadman, who started a macrobiotic cafe on campus and then expanded into a store called Infinity Foods that sold among other things, “real bread,” helped the breath of new life. into the residential neighborhood.
“North Lane is the place to come if you wanted to start a business,” says Zena Thompson, owner of Snoopers. “Because he was free.”
So cheap that Roddick sailed that same year, North Lane was nearly killed by an overpass. But it didn’t happen.
Today, a cottage with a pastel-painted bow window big enough to fit two suitcases could set you back £500,000. Has Brighton’s golden goose, then, captured the spirit of Britain’s most bohemian corner?
“There’s still a great community here,” says tailor Gresham Blake, in the stylish shop he runs with his wife Fal. Blake started cutting cloth in the neighborhood 25 years ago in a room he shared with a biodegradable coffin and ceramic toilet seat maker.
If you watch The Masked Singer you’ll have seen Blake’s outfit on host Joel Dommett and an exclusive, limited edition Peaky Blinders series drops this year.
“It’s still diverse, young and inclusive and people are passionate about what they do,” he says. “You can’t create that kind of energy.”
Not far away is the Gak music emporium (guitar, amp, keyboard), the Vegetarian Shoe Shop and the Dockerills hardware store, in business for 90 years. The shop is run by fifth generation “Dockerill”, Jo. The service is faultless.
Gak, an endless rabbit warren, started as a market stall in 1992 and is now one of the UK’s largest independent musical instrument retailers.
The Vegetarian Shoe Shop opened in 1991 and has a worldwide mail order business but still has visitors from Kenya, Japan and Russia.
Its sandals and the popular Boulder Boots (£179) come in a range of colors and its newer trainer range includes corn, Piñatex, which is extracted from the fibrous leaves of the pineapple, and apple leather.
Pubs such as The Basketmakers Arms and The Great Eastern will not disappoint, the Run North Lane still in print 48 years later. While Gail’s, Costa and Starbucks have infiltrated, North Lane is cocoa bean (and bubble tea) heaven.
Dave’s Comics and vintage clothing store Starfish – which sprung from a stall at a local car boot fair – are going strong on Sydney Street, and one of Pelicano’s amazing cakes will help clear any lingering odors from your throat.
You could walk into a cafe in North Lane doing full Regency clobber or with a parrot on your shoulder and no one would judge (although avian flu is over, now is not a great time to test that hypothesis).
“You have to be different to survive here,” says Snooper’s Zena Thompson.
The biggest threat to this community, and livelihoods, is rates and rents – mentioned by every business owner I spoke to, including local authority, Dockerills. Roddick would struggle to flourish here today.
Outside 22 Kensington Gardens, home to Ditto Fabrics (“treasure trove of fabulous fabric”), passers-by did not notice the plaque.
When I pointed it out only one shopper, a Ditto customer for 30 years, was aware of the Body Shop’s Brighton origins, although most were aware of its recent troubles.
“I follow Mary Portas and read her post on Instagram. It’s very sad,” said Lucy, from Southampton.
Inside, I went up a narrow staircase to a small room where owner and founder Gill Thornley was drawing on a large measuring table. Thornley bought the lease from Anita Roddick and her husband.
The space is full of bolts but it’s not hard to imagine Roddick here refilling his distinctive, green-labeled bottles.
“Being a businesswoman back then was not easy,” she said. “My landlord was an ‘oh, not another arty-farty woman’ type. Anita understood that and gave me time to sort it out.”
Thornley has been here for 40 years – long enough to remember the green grocers and the dedicated cork and foam shops. “We provide a good service and we really know what we’re doing,” she says.
As the Body Shop empire collapsed yesterday, the rain felt entirely appropriate. There was nothing else for it but an eye-watering cake.
