A Long History of Community Spaces That Offered Far More Than Book Lending!

History Notes by Marion Bance

It is no secret that our library service has been facing a challenging financial situation; it has, to use a councillor’s words been “running on fumes” for some time. Action to address imposed budget cuts was clearly needed and, at the Brighton & Hove City Council cabinet meeting on 11th December, it was agreed that Hollingbury and Westdene libraries will close on 31st March 2026; Rottingdean Library will remain open with community-run options being explored; and from the 1st April 2026 opening hours at both the Jubilee Library and Hove Library will be reduced.

The announced changes follow public consultation but, I think it is fair to say, they have not been well received; there has been significant local objection, with residents expressing concerns about reduced access to vital community resources. 

Brighton libraries have a long history of serving as a community resource. They have taken different forms but have always been important cultural hubs, functioning as multi-purpose meeting places as well as places of learning, inspiration and connection.
For 18th century Brighton to develop as a fashionable resort all the facilities expected by the “discerning” Georgian were required, including subscription libraries, also known as circulating libraries. These libraries were not conventional book-borrowing establishments, they were more like clubs, where, on payment of a subscription fee, visitors could “read, chat, listen to music, buy fripperies or gamble”. Visitors wrote their names in a visitors’ book which acted as a calling card announcing their presence on the town’s social scene.

The first true library in Brighton opened around 1760. Its proprietor was Mr E Baker; a canny chap who appreciated that there were times in the season when outdoor amusements were not possible and newspapers and library books could provide indoor entertainment. He built a small library on the east side of the Steine, near St James’s Street, with a wooden veranda and a rotunda where musicians could perform. In the first year, Baker announced that he would sell books “till the end of October”, he went on to open again in the summers of 1761, 62 and 63.

After Mr Baker’s death the library was taken on by Mr R Thomas and was known as the Brighthelmston Circulating Library. An advertisement published on 30th May 1774 reads: AT THE BRIGHTHELMSTON CIRCULATING LIBRARY, by R Thomas, Bookseller, Stationery and Bookbinder (previously Mr Baker’s), BOOKS ARE LENT TO READ at 10s 6d per Year; or 3s per Quarter. Persons living remote from the Library may be supplied by paying the expense of carriage. All new and entertaining books will be added to the library as soon as published… N.B. – The Library will be kept open regularly all the year, and all monthly publications taken in.

By the mid-1760s a second library had opened on the Steine, on the south side near the present Royal York Hotel. A timber building, it had two storeys and a colonnade of Doric columns. The original proprietor was Mr Woodgate; followed in 1779 by Miss Widgett, “milliner and library-woman”.

As Miss Widgett demonstrated, in order to boost income and keep subscribers coming back, it was necessary for these early libraries to “diversify”. So, in addition to selling and exchanging books, they sold stationery, maps, perfume, millinery, gifts and, a little surprisingly, Dr James’ Pills - the most widely used patent medicines in Britain, used for treating fevers and inflammatory disorders, “from gout to canine distemper”- plus a family medicine for most diseases, including ‘over drinking’. (Sue Berry, Georgian Brighton)

As the town grew in popularity and size, so did the number of circulating libraries. One that stands out is Donaldson and Wilkes’ Library (1798).  In 1806, Donaldson became the Prince Regent’s official librarian and bookseller, and his library was described in the 1818 Brighton Ambulator as an “agreeable rendezvous for the gay and polite”.

Those looking for a more elevated encounter would have been attracted to the town’s new literary societies, like the Mechanics’ Institution and the Mantellian Institution (established when the geologist Gideon Mantell moved to Brighton). These societies offered a curated experience with lecturers, libraries and reading rooms.

In terms of the breadth and quality of its content, the Brighton Literary Society was the “first important library”. Founded c. 1812 by influential residents, it raised money to buy books by holding lectures on scientific and historical subjects and by hosting soirées and exhibitions at the Royal Pavilion. 

The Brighton Literary Society was replaced by the Royal Literary Society and Scientific Institution, under the patronage of Prince Albert. The Society rented space in the Royal Albion Hotel and over a period of 28 years accumulated a fine collection of books. A reduction in revenue, following the abolition of taxes on newspapers, ultimately led to its demise - the price of newspapers reduced from 7d to 1d meaning people could buy their own copies and no longer needing to pay for the Society’s facilities.

When it closed in 1869 all the books went to Brighton Corporation to form the core of Brighton’s new public library, “to have and to hold, for the free use and enjoyment of the public for ever”. Initially rooms in the Royal Pavilion were used, but the collection grew so rapidly that the Town Council decided to convert the Royal Stables into a reference library, museum and picture gallery, opening on 12th September 1873. A free public lending library, The Victoria Lending Library, opened on 16th October 1889. Brighton Library thrived in the early 20th century. In the 1930s, branch libraries were opened extending the range of library service to the town’s suburbs. WWII, understandably, stalled further progress; the basement of the library, art gallery and museum building became an air-raid shelter, and the books were moved out of town for safekeeping in the Booth Museum of Natural History.

After the war, Brighton was ready for change, and several schemes were put forward to replace the old Church Street reference library, but for a variety of reasons they came to nothing. It was not until November 2002 that construction of a new, purpose-built library started. The long-awaited Jubilee Library opened to the public on 3rd March 2005. It has since become a popular and busy library, providing a major resource for all the many and diverse communities in our city.