Brighton Sewers Tour, 13th May

Exploring the sewer system that runs underneath Brighton might not be everyone’s cup of tea but this tour is both exciting and interesting. The guy’s from Southern Water lead us in to a reception area underneath Palace Pier before talking us through heath and safety aspects. Rather alarmingly we listened as they gave instructions detailing the appropriate action should the sewers start filling up with water or if there was a gas leak! We were told not to touch our faces as a precaution against infections associated with raw sewage and told to keep an eye out of rats! With all that out of the way, we watched a short video giving a brief history of the Victorian sewers then proceeded to don our hard hats and gloves. Just to give you a brief idea, the clever Victorians constructed about 44 miles of circular brick tunnels under the city to carry away the sewage. This amazing feat of design will probably far out last anything we can build today! Since then various projects have been undertaken namely the construction of Europe’s largest storm water tunnel stretching for 3 miles under the seafront of Brighton and Hove. This eradicates pollution during storm conditions.

Once under ground, it was absolutely great! You’d think the smell would be unbearable but strangely, within minutes you hardly even notice it. Some of the tunnels are quite narrow and being 6ft tall, it left me with a slightly bent neck! Our guides from Southern Water were extremely knowledgeable and were on hand to answer any questions that came up. Walking through a slippery sewer in near pitch-black darkness is pretty hairy stuff but at the same time, it's quite good fun. A person’s sense of adventure quickly surfaces knowing you are walking around underneath everyone else! The tour ended with us being lead up through a manhole cover into the street much to the surprise of passers by! I can imagine that it might look quite strange, 25 people piling out of Brighton’s sewer system! Without a doubt, one of the most intriguing experiences of the festival.