Brighton and Milton Keynes do not appear to have too much in common.

One is steeped in Regency history and architecture, the other is a concrete jungle, hailed - or damned, depending on your tastes - as England's foremost Sixties new town.

One is a byword for trendy bohemia and "anything-goes" diversity, the other seems characterised by its rigid gridiron road layout.

Yet the two places 120 miles apart now have something they share: A bespectacled, friendly Frenchman cruelly nicknamed The Gerbil.

The company run by Pierre-Yves "PY" Gerbeau had paid £65 million for a major stake in Brighton Marina.

X-Leisure will take over the reins of a major revamp of the marina from Parkridge Developments, which paid £10 million for the site's commercial properties four years ago.

Parkridge earmarked the ugly concrete ramps of the marina entrance as one of the features most urgently in need of a facelift.

In a masterplan which won Brighton and Hove City Council's approval last year, the London-based firm also promised a major overhaul of the marina's design, with a transport interchange, steel-and-glass frontages and better walkways and cycleways.

The fate of their proposals for five large new buildings, including red-and-green cylindrical towers, looks a little more uncertain with the arrival of X-Leisure.

Parkridge managing director Philip O'Callaghan has said the plans are now being reconsidered, while Mr Gerbeau was reluctant to make any firm predictions.

Jerry Moss, treasurer of Brighton Marina Residents Association, said: "We're looking on this positively.

"Everyone agrees with Parkridge's ideas for smartening the marina approaches but it was felt their plans for the Village Square were out of keeping with what's already there.

"Mr Gerbeau had marvellous plans for the Dome, though, when only sheer politics stopped him taking it over.

"It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with here."

Anyone impatient to discover what the future may hold for Brighton Marina could do worse than consider the firm's existing leisure complexes across the UK.

The flagship is Milton Keynes, where the first of X-Leisure's dedicated Xscape centres opened in November 2000.

Its most striking boast is the UK's largest indoor snow slope, the 170m-long, 60m-wide Snozone featuring 1,500 tonnes of snow.

Mr O'Callaghan has already cautioned people not to expect a similar attraction at the marina, which is not large enough to support a Snozone.

But with the firm showing confidence in a UK-wide Xscape template, which so far appears to be working, the lessons of elsewhere may well be brought to Brighton.

X-Leisure describes its Milton Keynes base as "the ultimate in entertainment".

As well as the snow slope it houses a 16-screen cinema, a 24-lane tenpin bowling alley, two indoor climbing walls and a range of bars, restaurants and shops.

The success inspired X-Leisure to open a similar 450,000sqft venture in Castleford, near Leeds.

It was launched last October and 82 per cent of the space is now filled.

As well as the obligatory snow slope, by day there are ice walls, climbing walls, an air park and skate park and by night what X-Leisure calls a "21st Century dine and dance destination".

Next on the agenda is the third Xscape complex, about to begin taking shape at Braehead, near Glasgow.

The Brighton proposals, however, could follow a slightly different guiding approach - not Xscape but X.Space.

X-Leisure's complexes, covering 4.25 million sqft and attracting 45 million visitors a year, are split between these two brands.

Mr Gerbeau describes his typical X.Space centre as "situated in a prime location either in or out of town with an individual ambience and mix of leisure offers especially blended to suit the local market".

Part of Parkridge's challenge in recent years has been to replace some of the rundown, uninspiring shops of Merchants Quay with more inviting designer outlets.

X-Leisure's task will include integrating the newer approach of Parkridge's £40 million Waterfront building of bars, restaurants and a boutique hotel with the existing cinema and casino and the company's own fresh suggestions.

Big businesses have made big promises for the marina before, of course.

But Parkridge had spent the past few months looking for an investment partner and wrapped up the crucial details of a deal with X-Leisure in ten days.

The new owners, who have promised to be very "hands-on", boast resources which Parkridge simply could not muster.

While the marina accounted for more than half of Parkridge's property, X-Leisure already runs 18 entertainment complexes.

As well as the Milton Keynes and Castleford centres, these include the 02 Centre in Finchley Road, north London, combining an eight-screen cinema, a nature-themed centre with indoor aquaria and Sainsbury's and Homebase stores.

X-Leisure is just one part of an even larger whole. Its parent company is Capital and Regional, a co-investing property asset manager running retail and leisure properties worth almost £3 billion.

As well as the 18 leisure complexes, it has 15 shopping centres and 16 retail parks.

Mr Gerbeau and Parkridge have both promised to make the marina one of the most exciting resorts in the world.

Mr O'Callaghan has said it has the potential to rival Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Nice, which would be quite an achievement for a site often dismissed as a "white elephant" in the past.

A balance will no doubt have to be struck.

Opponents from Brighton Marina Yacht Club have threatened legal opposition, fearing the "marina" element will be overwhelmed by bars, cars and visitors.

The Waterfront, on the other hand, was deliberately designed to encourage people to look out to sea while dining or drinking.

And the colourful towers proposed by architects Piers Gough and Sir Michael Hopkins are said to have been inspired by the red and green of maritime "port" and "starboard" symbolism.

Mr Gerbeau's designs on Brighton Marina may, in the end, bear little resemblance to his "spaceship" in Buckinghamshire or the dazzling 02 Centre tucked between London's city and suburbs.

Neither location, after all, can boast Brighton's relationship with the sea, which could prove more promising, perhaps, than even the Thameside setting of Mr Gerbeau's Millennium adventure.

The X-Leisure deal should be finalised on September 3.

It may be too much to hope for a fairytale ending in the grand Disney tradition.

Yet an interesting adventure should begin the day the man who thrived at Disney and survived the Dome arrives at the marina.