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Regency Tavern

To be found in the twitten between Russell and Regency Squares, this popular public house has a long history. In 1830 the Beer Shop Act was passed through Parliament, this allowed anyone to brew or sell beer from their own premises on payment of a two pound licence fee. When this Act came into being many premises in Brighton registered but only two of those that registered then still exist, The Regency Tavern and The Druid's Head. At one time a toll was in operation in the twitten outside the pub charging a ha'penny (half penny) to walk from one square to the other. Anyone passing through the toll would be given a piece of verse that read "This gateway hangs well and hinders none. Refresh and pay then travel on." At this time it was called "The Gatehouse". At other times it was known as "Coffe House" when it specialised in "elevenses" laced with rum and brandy.

Two ghosts allegedly haunt the Tavern one a crippled girl the other a grey lady.

The story of the little girl dates back around 100 years when the Tavern was a cobblers shop, she was the cobbler's daughter. The cobbler had just installed gas in the premises and had warned his daughter of the dangers that came with it. At the fateful time it is thought that she had been locked in her room as a punishment for some sort of naughtiness when she thought she could smell gas. Fearing for her life she jumped from the first floor window and died on the cobbles below. Her shadow has been seen on many occasions over the years.

The grey lady is believed to have been a landlady who had run the bar for decades. She's described as being a tall and slender woman whose whole life was the Tavern and so in death she feels it is impossible for her to leave. She's a peaceful ghost who has been witnessed passing through walls behind the bar.

In 1990 another tragedy was to beset the pub. During "Italia 90", the football World Cup, a horde of disgruntled football "supporters" had been rounded up by the police who were trying to escort them through the town. Somewhat unwisely they were herded towards the twitten outside the pub, clearly there would be problems trying to funnel them all through the twitten and the pub was stormed, just about every window in the ground floor was smashed. The landlady, Jackie Penfold, a most colourful character, who on a birthday a few years earlier had been given a gold Rolls Royce wrapped in ribbons as a present from her late husband Len, suffered a fatal heart attack - perhaps one day her ghost will return to join the other supernatural presences on the premises.

You can get a glimpse of how the area looked in the 1940s as there is a view through the twitten looking towards Preston Street in the early scenes in the film "Brighton Rock".