THOSE who enjoy the museums and high art in Brighton are just as likely to enjoy fish and chips and a jaunt on the pier.

That was the argument from fish and chip seller Pete Avey as the debate rages on over Brighton's cultural identity following a stinging attack by an arts boss on the kiss me quick seaside traditions of the city.

Mr Avey has been working on the beach for nearly 60 years and said much of the city's seaside attractions have remained as popular as they are traditional but his customers also enjoy the likes of the Pavilion.

Retailer Pete Blunden agreed with some of Brighton Fringe managing director Julian Caddy's criticisms, saying parts of pier is an eyesore which is "stuck in its ways".

A debate that started on Friday with the news the pier had been sold to the man behind Pizza Express has since evolved into a debate about the future and soul of the city.

On Tuesday Mr Caddy ignited a furore when he said the pier "perpetuates a culture that brings Brighton down and entrenches its reputation as a cheap, out-of-date seaside destination."

"Today there are very much two Brightons," he wrote in this paper: "The inland one of vibrant creative industries, modern restaurants and a dynamic population – and the seafront of tacky sideshows, fish and chips, rock and assorted paraphernalia."

But fish-and-chip seller Peter Avey said "We all feed off each other - people come down for the Pavilion then they wander down onto the pier".

The 78-year-old remembers a very different pier to the one dominated by flashing lights and rollercoaster rides that he looks out upon today.

He started working on the pier as a lifeguard in the 1960s when it was home to a theatre, was run by a 'captain' and had fishermen dangling their rods over the end.

"I would love to see it go back to the way it was originally," said Mr Avey, speaking to The Argus as the debate over the future of the city's cultural identity raged on.

"But it is like everything in life; you always want what you remember when you were younger. They had a theatre and fishing on the end. I love the pier; I was brought up with it."

Peter said the traditional offerings work well alongside more highbrow attractions.

He said: "People come here for the seafront and to see the sea and swim and all of that, and the pier and the pavilion and the wheel are all good extras.

"We all feed off each other - people come down for the Pavilion then they wander down onto the pier."

For Mr Avey, however, who built up Seasiders restaurant on the seafront before passing it onto his son (and is still to be found working there despite technically retiring years ago), it is the seafront that brings people in.

"I have always said this is Brighton," he said, gesturing towards the vast blue waters on one of the warmest days so far.

He gets customers from all over the world, he said, groups of students from Europe and further afield, and they certainly don't stick to the 'sideshows and rock' in Mr Caddy's tale of two cities.

"If you come down here in the morning you will see people strolling along," he said. "They tend to go onto the pier and then a lot wander on and do other things around town."

That argument holds partly true out of sight and earshot of the pier in the North Laine, in the sort of shops where a piece of rock is hard to find.

Pete Blunden, 30, works at Moda and Soda in Gardner Street, selling "mod fashion and street fashion" and is currently enjoying a huge resurgence of paisley shirts, he added.

The Brighton born-and-raised shop worker said he agreed the pier had its faults but it nonetheless had a big pull.

"The pier has always been a bit hit-and miss for me," he said.

"I have lived here all my life and it is somewhere I always tell people to go and visit but it's always been a bit cheesy for me.

"Yet it's definitely something that people come here specifically for - the pier and the beach, one of those iconic things like rock and seagulls.

"The North Laine area also attracts people - it's quieter (than London) but it's still shopping."

But, he added, the city does need to modernise and cater to the young, up-and-coming generation of which he is part.

"In my opinion it seems quite stuck in its ways, I guess.

"Sort of coming up in my own city I would prefer to see sort of newer architecture and more properties - there is such a shortage at the moment.

"I think it is slowly getting there and on its own to the degree – a lot of the shops here are changing hands quite rapidly.

"I would probably change the end of the pier and make it less of a construction site – all these big metal rollercoasters.

"I am sure it brings people in, but it is a bit of an eyesore."