The Open Market's entrance letters have gone away to be restored

If you’ve walked past Brighton Open Market¹ this month and wondered where its name went, the letters are being repaired. They have been taken down from both entrances, on London Road and on Ditchling Road, and sent to a specialist restorer. The Argus² first reported the work.

“After far too many years of our iconic signs flickering on and off, we are repairing the signs to bring them back to their former glory,” market manager Vassoula Kypreos told the Argus. “The signs have gone to a specialist restorer and we hope they will back for our 100th Birthday and Xmas Markets.”

A worker told the paper that many of the letters had stopped lighting up and had rust. Each one will be checked off site to see what needs replacing. Nobody has set a date for their return.

The Hyde Group³, the housing association, is paying for the repairs. It also arranged a deep clean of the market in the spring, the first stage of a plan to revive it. Hyde has said that a new website and booking app had brought in more than 130 traders and nearly 500 stall bookings since January.

The market began off London Road in 1926, after campaigning by the chimney sweep Harry Cowley. A permanent market with 42 stalls opened on 7 January 1960, and the site was rebuilt again in 2014.