Victorian Brighton had at least 200 public houses in an age when the population was far smaller than now.

So how did the boozy businesses remain viable in the light of such competition? Today, there are far fewer pubs and they're equipped with every conceivable gimmick and gastronomical lure to attract the straying clients.

No doubt it was a question of priorities, our forefathers much preferring to tipple

the night away instead of enduring their kin tickling the ivories in the aspidistra-

ridden drawing rooms.

Certainly, they were denied the alternative enjoyment of EastEnders and Coronation Street but undoubtedly made up for lost time in the Rover's Return of that era.

-F R Harris, Hangleton Way, Hove