Brighton's Victorian sewers are receiving a fresh lick of paint ahead of one of the biggest arts festivals in the country.

Stuart Slark and his fellow tour guides will spend the next few weeks refreshing the main areas of the city's sewers ready for this year's tours, which take place during May's Brighton Festival, owners Southern Water said.

For more than 50 years, the tours have given visitors a glimpse underground at the Victorian infrastructure which is still in use today, a spokesman said. Last year, 1,600 people explored beneath the city's streets, he said.