THE golden key to Brighton's Clock Tower has been returned to the city after decades Down Under.

The mayor of Brighton and Hove was on hand to collect the key from the Dubois family who flew in from Australia to hand it over.

The Clock Tower, sometimes called the Jubilee Clock Tower, was built in 1888 in commemoration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

At its opening, the golden key, which opens the little door at its base, was handed to the then Mayor of Brighton Alderman Edward Martin.

He was put in charge of its safekeeping and it was handed down through generations of the Martin, then Dubois family.

However, when the Dubois family moved to Australia, the key went with them.

Members of the family visited with the key in 1962 and then again in 2013. On each occasion they took the key home with them.

But now, the family has decided to hand over the golden key to the current mayor Pete West, ensuring it is kept in the city.

He met the Dubois family at the Clock Tower for a handing over of the key before trying the lock.

But as the lock has been changed over the years, the key no longer fits.

The mayor said: "We’ll have to see if a locksmith might remedy that as I really want to be able to adjust the time on the clock as it is always runs slow."

He then took the family to the council chamber where they came across an old silver plate in the mayor's parlour trophy cupboard that had been presented to Edward Martin at the end of his mayoral year.

The mayor added: "All this amateur sleuthing has rather whetted my appetite to know more about these key people in the development of our city, and of the ordinary people and stories that surround them too."