It isn't pretty and now it faces the bulldozer, but history has been made in the Brighton Centre in its 26 years of existence.

Political figures as well as some of the biggest names in showbiz have all appeared there. The venue has also hosted international sporting events.

Opened by then prime minister Jim Callaghan, who journeyed from his home at Ringmer, it was the first purpose-built conference centre in the country.

It was there his successor, Margaret Thatcher, told party members the "lady was not for turning" during her famous speech at a Tory conference.

She also faced the biggest demonstration in Brighton's history when thousands of Right to Work demonstrators protested against unemployment - with two breaking into the centre during her speech.

Then, in 1987, she made her speech as usual, despite five deaths and many injuries in The Grand hotel next door because of an IRA bomb.

More recently, Nelson Mandela made what may well have been his last speech in England to an adoring Labour conference.

The centre hosted the final concert by crooner Bing Crosby and many of the biggest names in showbiz have performed there, including Johnny Mathis, Status Quo, Cliff Richard and The Who.

A big sporting venue, it has been the venue for international basketball, tennis and five-a-side football.

It has also staged the immensely popular Holiday on Ice show each January for more than 20 years.

Only classical music has not been a hit in the arena, because the acoustics were not thought good enough for a concert.

But while the centre has a glorious past, most people agree it has now reached its use-by date.

Brighton and Hove City Council has announced plans to pull it down and rebuild it by 2008, a project which will take two years, create 380 jobs and bring in £865 million to the local economy over 30 years.

The scheme is part of a new vision for the regeneration of the seafront.

A new conference centre designed by world-class architects is seen as vital for preserving the 15,000 jobs which depend on visitors to the city.

No details have been finalised on what will be in the new building but now the decision has been made, the council can start putting together a development brief for what is planned to be a landmark building.

It is likely to be linked to Churchill Square, something that was never really achieved properly with the existing building.

If all goes well, the new building, funded from the private sector, will also take in the site of King's West, widely regarded as the ugliest construction in the city.

The current centre will stay open and accept bookings until 2005.

In the Sixties, most conferences in Brighton were staged either at the Dome or in the old SS Brighton, an ice rink, in West Street.

When the SS Brighton was demolished almost 40 years ago, the neighbouring new King's West Centre was used for the big events.

But the partial conversion of King's West into cinemas ruled out conferences.

Brighton Council leaders had to think fast.

Under the dynamic leadership of Stanley Theobald, father of current councillor Geoffrey Theobald, the council set to work.

It sold land at Portslade, a farm at Falmer and housing sites off the A23 to raise the £4 million cost of the new building.

But the final cost was £10 million, which meant a subsidy of £10 a year from every man, woman and child in the town.

By the time the centre was up and running, the energetic and persuasive Tony Hewison was in charge of entertainment and conferences in Brighton.

After his early death from cancer, the first-floor room was named the Hewison Hall.

The venue gave Brighton an advantage over its rivals but it was not long before it faced serious competition.

Attempts were made by others to catch up. Harrogate spent four times the money on a hall half the size.

Bournemouth did rather better with a centre that made use of more modern technology.

In an increasingly international market, Brighton faced severe competition from venues all over the globe. The Brighton Centre, never a beautiful building, began to look dated.

Even the opening of an east wing by then Labour leader John Smith could not disguise the fact the centre was inflexible and did not have enough space.

The city council, by now in charge of it, began to see whether the building could be modernised.

It commissioned a study by economists Roger Tym and Partners, which found the existing building directly sustained around 1,000 jobs in the city and injected an estimated £50 million into the local economy annually.

With consultation from local businesses, they considered several options, including keeping the centre as it is today, but eventually concluded the best solution was to rebuild.

The new, more flexible centre could even have a smaller main hall than the existing centre, especially if a large new arena which could house occasional giant conferences was built at Black Rock.

This arena, built primarily as an ice stadium, is proposed as one of three bids for Black Rock.

It would be ironic if 40 years after the sports stadium was pulled down, to the lasting regret of Brightonians, a new arena fulfilled the same dual purpose.

Commissioning a new Brighton Centre will be just as bold a decision by city councillors as it was 30 years ago.