Brighton Pride organisers are “deeply disappointed” after Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) announced no trains will run to or from Brighton Station next Saturday, 5 August – the first day of Pride.
While the Brighton Pride community parade, Fabuloso festival in Preston Park and village party in Kemptown will be going ahead, Pride organisers have advised that people make alternative travel arrangements for Friday, 4 August.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) said earlier today that it had taken the “difficult decision” after ASLEF announced an overtime ban for train drivers.
Paul Kemp, managing director of Pride, said: “We are deeply disappointed GTR has announced no trains will run to Brighton on the Saturday of Pride weekend cutting off Brighton and Hove from the rest of the UK rail network on such an important weekend for our city.
“This will come as a huge shock for not only Pride and the LGBTQ+ community but all the businesses preparing to welcome guests to our city from across the UK and world.
“Many Pride visitors have already booked and paid for Saturday night accommodation locally, they will now have to change plans or find an alternative way to get into the city.
“It’s truly devastating news for everyone.
“Pride always supports the right to protest. Reducing cars on the roads and getting people back on the trains should be a priority to tackle the climate crisis.
“But we would like to be clear that we don’t agree with GTR’s decision, nor the reasons given for completely stopping train services and the potential of adverse knock-on effects.
“We’ve worked with GTR for many years. We have been impressed with how well they monitor passenger arrival numbers and can be ready to stop trains coming in, if their service is reaching a capacity level, to make sure people can leave safely again later on.
“Safety is always a priority. There are considerable extra resources to safely manage the area outside Brighton station, contributed to by Pride.
“We also have multi agency representatives working together throughout Pride weekend. This well-established multi agency approach monitors numbers of people coming into the city as part of a much wider ranging safety remit.
“We also note that an overtime ban still allows for a reduced service to operate, which is very different from the strike days.
“So it is very sad to see GTR put a complete service shutdown in place rather than finding a working alternative.
“We must however highlight the positive working relationships established between Pride and GTR over the last few years.
“We say thank you to and support all railway staff currently campaigning for better rights.
“And we sincerely hope this kind of action can be avoided in future for the good of all.
“Whatever way you choose to come here for Brighton and Hove Pride 2023, we wish everyone in our community, and our allies, a happy and safe Pride this summer.
“On this the 50th anniversary of the first Brighton Gay Pride march, now is the time to come out and make our voices heard louder than ever.”
Profits from Brighton Pride events fund the Brighton Rainbow Fund which supports local LGBTQ charities, with Pride organisers saying the GTR decision will have “far reaching” effects for those who benefit from the fundraising.
More travel information is available on the Brighton Pride website: Brighton-Pride.org/travel
Come early and bring a tent, the council is also not helping the situation with the main road closed and demolition finishing 4pm everyday. There is no need to have the road closed off for so long just to park machinery that is not getting used three quarters of each day,
Ignore the no camping bring a tent and enjoy your weekend. Hove lawns opposite my flat is a great area to set up camp, plus i can put up two in my garden for the weekend.
How much was raised from last years festival for local community causes? Anyone know the answer?
From 2021 rather than last year, but “In the last seven years, Brighton & Hove Pride has raised over £936,000 for the Brighton Rainbow Fund, Pride Cultural Development Fund and Pride Social Impact Fund. “
Just interested in last years for now! If anyone knows?
Just over £300,000 was raised for charities last year 2022. Its much needed money for our local charities and does much good. Google it to find out more from the rainbow fund.
Brighton doesn’t seem to welcome paying visitors. Getting a train is unreliable at the best of times. There’s no point driving here as there’s nowhere to park.
Perhaps it is time for a decent park and ride scheme.
The existing Park and Ride at Withdean is walking distance to Preston Park
Plus the pool valley coach station is so rundown with no facilities.
train strikes have regularly coincided with home games at the Amex for the last 2 years or so – only makes the news though when it affects the pride event – an event that most local residents find abhorrent, particularly for the way some of the participants indulge themselves in their gluttonous carnal practices and behaviour
Your views are thankfully not reflective of “most” residents, who turn up in their 1000s and enjoy the parade and party. Comments like this show why there is still need for pride events in 2023.
FYI, this is newsworthy because Pride is attended by 500,000 people, according to the official website (in comparison, the Amex capacity is only 30,000).
The only people I have ever seen indulge in “gluttonous carnal practices” on pride weekend have been straight people.
Homophobia is so unladylike.
What a disgusting thing to call anyone.
It’s people like you who make pride events even more essential.
Most local residents welcome Pride and are supportive of LGBTQ+ people in their communities. Please don’t feel like you’re in some kind of majority. You are not.
This is why Pride had to become a Pay event and Preston Park and St James street were trashed by gay for the day straight people that brought there own booze.
The point of Aslef’s overtime ban is to cause as much disruption as possible. They’ve succeeded and everyone blames GTR.
Pride is generally quite chaotic at Brighton Station so I understand why GTR don’t put lives at risk with a reduced service
You think that not only should workers provide their Labour for a 40 hour week, but that if an employer wants overtime then that should be mandatory and the employee cannot refuse?
An overtime ban only causes disruption because the employer doesn’t have enough staff to cover the hours that it needs/wants.
Fair point but i do think cutting a city off is totally wrong. Unions should think about local business that will suffer especially with the poor summer we are having with global cooling.
I think you mean “rail companies should think about local business”. The union is not preventing rail management from rostering employees without mandatory overtime, and the union is not the entity cancelling not only standard services (which continue to operate throughout the week) but cancelling all services.
What a load of pony, nobody has anything to say about it when people can’t get to their jobs to pay the tax to police the bloody parade.
Well unions are stopping most people from outside of Brighton getting to work. Join in the celebrations you might enjoy yourself. Local business does well out of it, especially with the poor summer we are having with the seafront opposite my flat empty in the main tourist season.
I’ll be working mate across from your flat selling buckets and spades to the tourists