The Post Office Sorting Office

The Post Office Sorting Office

Photo by Peter Crowhurst

The former Regent Iron Foundry

By Peter Crowhurst, North Laine resident

The present sorting office was built in 1926 on the site of the Regent Iron Foundry. The foundry produced much of the town's iron work, including a lot the iron for the town's piers from the 1810s until 1912. Foundry Street, adjacent to the Post Office, is a reminder of what once stood here, as is the name of the local pub, recently changed from the Pedestrian Arms (itself named for a local connection) to The Foundry. A photo from the James Gray collection shows workers posing in front of the foundry.

Brighton's first electricity generator

As well as having a connection to the iron industry, the Post Office was also home to Brighton's first electricity generator, which was sited in the Regent Foundry yard. By 1886 three generators were supplying 1,000 lamps in Queen's road and Western Road at the request of local shopkeepers.

Now the YMCA

In 1890 Brighton Corporation had built a new power station sited opposite the Iron Foundry in North Road, which opened in 1891, and the building remained until it was demolished in 1986 to make way for the YMCA.