Calls for St James' Street to close to traffic over Pride Weekend

There's calls for the road which used to host Brighton pride's iconic street party to be closed to traffic during this year's celebrations.

Brighton and Hove City Council says St James' Street in Kemptown will remain open "with the aim of keeping it accessible to all" as the party moves to Marine Parade.

It added that the decision followed "extensive consultation with residents and visitors" and will be accompanied by "higher than usual safety measures", which include "some road closures", as well as "additional security staff."

However, Jack Wilby, who runs Affinity Bar on the road, is urging for more preventative action ahead of the event.

He told Greatest Hits Radio the road should be "pedestrianised":

"We're obviously going to have a lot of people that are going to be intoxicated over the weekend.

"If buses and cars and taxis are allowed up and down the street, there's possibly someone might fall over into the road and get hurt."

His concerns follows one of his own friends being hit by a bus while drunk.

"Something which can be avoided"

"It's simple things like that - it happens. It's a silly mistake, but it's something which can be avoided."

Roads connected to St James' Street will be closed, while police concern over safety could also see the road shut on the day.

Jack added: "I kind of get why they haven't done it.

They want to run St. James Street as if it's any other part of the city during Pride - business as normal.

"But it's very much not. St James' Street is the heart of the gay village in Brighton and it's the reason why the street party got brought into place and was the roads were shut off 10 years ago, because there's so many people flocked to this area.

"I don't think moving it is going to affect that." Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.