Brighton’s long love-hate relationship with the motor car started when the first drivers arrived there during the 1890s.

When motorists succeeded in getting rid of the rule that they had to drive behind a man walking in the road, the emancipation run was from London to Brighton.

It has been held on the first Sunday of November ever since. Called the Veteran Car Run, and unofficially known as the Old Crocks Race, it is the most watched event in Britain.

In 1905, hotelier Harry Preston persuaded the council to give Madeira Drive a hard surface and then use it for racing cars over a measured half-mile.

All the leading drivers of the day took part and the publicity helped Brighton come out of a bad period for the town.

Many ordinary people were starting to drive and some garages switched from dealing with bikes to the far more profitable business of mending motor cars.

There were enough drivers on the roads in the 1920s for Brighton to have an early set of traffic lights at the Aquarium.

But by the 1930s, the death rate on the roads was higher than it is today because drivers and their cars were often dangerous.

Motoring probably reached its peak of popularity in the 1950s. The film Genevieve, based on the London to Brighton run, was an affectionate tribute to an old crock.

In the 1960s, Lord Montagu, boosted by the success of his motor museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire, decided to open a satellite in part of the Aquarium building. But it closed when the owners decided to use the space as a pool for dolphins.

By this time, cars were starting to cause problems and Brighton became one of the first cities outside London to introduce parking meters.

In 1973 councillors approved an outline report from planner Sir Hugh Wilson which recommended pedestrianising large parts of the town centre, with a new elevated road from Preston Circus to Bond Street, where parking for 2,000 cars would be built. It involved a lot of demolition in North Laine.

But a vigorous campaign took place called Homes Before Roads, and when Sir Hugh came back with his full report it was rejected. Later, North Laine became a conservation area.

Some pedestrianisation took place anyway. It was always opposed by traders, who invariably found later that their takings rose rather than fell. The biggest battle was in Duke Street, where for once there was also a rival group in favour.

When the Brighton bypass was proposed in 1980, strong opposition to it led to a lengthy public inquiry but the downland dual carriageway was still built.

The Green-led city council is trying to curb speed and persuade people out of their cars but a vigorous group of motorists is contesting this.

Brighton has one of the lowest car ownerships in the country but many remaining drivers feel they are being unfairly persecuted.

The conflict continues and shows no sign of ending.