The salty sea with its supposed health benefits was the main reason why Brighton was called the Queen Of Watering Places.

But in the early 19th century there was another popular aquatic attraction in the resort.

Dr Frederick Struve had already successfully started artificial spas in Germany at Leipzig, Berlin and Dresden, using chemicals to imitate the waters in famous natural spas.

Looking at England, he decided that Brighton, with its royalty and ritzy atmosphere, was the ideal place to start his venture.

He opened his German Spa at the bottom of an open space then called Brighton Park in 1825.

Using a special machine, mineral salts were added to natural water drawn from a deep artesian well.

The spa opened every day except Sundays between May and November. The cost was a guinea per week.

It was so popular that sometimes the queue of carriages containing potential customers stretched almost to the seafront.

Dr Struve gained royal backing from King George IV and after his death, William IV and Queen Adelaide both visited the spa.

The doctor was cautious in claiming health benefits for the treatments available there, saying that progress tended to be gradual rather than immediate.

Certainly there was nothing in the pump room at what was now called Queen’s Park to rival the opulence of Bath and Cheltenham.

But the setting was splendid and many visitors to the spa also took the time to stroll round the park, enjoying its amusements such as archery.

Dr William King, an influential figure in Brighton, was enthusiastic about the venture, He said: “Dr Struve has introduced among us one of the greatest blessings which this country has known.”

Patronage gradually declined as Brighton lost its royal connections and became less fashionable. Descendants of the doctor formed the firm Hooper Struve which became one of Britain’s largest mineral water companies.

It continued in business at Brighton for the best part of a century, still using water from the well in the millions of bottles it produced each year.

Hooper Struve left Brighton in 1965 and the pump room became derelict. Vandals added to the problem and Brighton Council, which now owned the building, was urged to act.

Neighbours, having seen the Attree Villa demolished at the northern end of the park, were determined the spa should be saved.

But the pump room was demolished, leaving only the handsome façade, and the building looked doomed.

A rescue plan by the eminent architect Lord Holford including a restaurant and an open-air theatre came to nothing. So did a second scheme for establishing a costume museum on the site.

Residents became angry when a businessman planned a casino for the site, feeling it was out of keeping.

The battle raged on year after year until everyone agreed that a nursery school should be built there. It opened in 1977 and is still running successfully.

Conservationists had won only a partial victory but the row was a turning point in the history of planning in Brighton.

From that time onwards, the council tried to conserve historic buildings instead of giving the green light for many of them to be demolished.

But the habit of taking the waters at Brighton has long gone. At least Queen’s Park still has the imposing facade of the spa, unlike Hove where the pump house in St Ann’s Well Gardens was demolished more than 70 years ago.