The Old Ship Hotel

About The Old Ship Hotel

The Old Ship has been an inn on this stretch of seafront since the sixteenth century, which makes it the oldest hotel in Brighton by several hundred years. The Grade II* listed building at 32 to 38 Kings Road is largely Georgian and Victorian on the outside, but the assembly rooms added in 1767 survive inside, and the guest list over the centuries has taken in the Prince Regent, Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens.

It is a large hotel now, with around 150 bedrooms spread through a warren of interconnected buildings, and the rooms reflect that. Standards vary between wings and refurbishment cycles, so it is worth paying up for a sea-view room at the front, where the outlook across Kings Road to the beach is the same one guests have been paying for since the Regency. Rooms at the back are quieter but plainer, and the corridors take some learning.

Public spaces are the strongest part of the hotel: the panelled lounge bar, the historic assembly rooms used for functions, and a restaurant serving straightforward British food and a proper cooked breakfast. There are ten function rooms, so weddings and conferences are a regular feature of the place.

What the Old Ship offers is central position at a price the newer seafront hotels cannot match. The Lanes begin immediately behind it, the Palace Pier is a five-minute walk east and the Royal Pavilion about eight minutes inland. It is a historic building rather than a polished one, and guests who want everything uniform will be happier elsewhere, but for location and value on the seafront it remains hard to beat.