13-05-2025
Brighton's original boutique hotel is voted its best still
I've woken up next to a knitted GPO 706L telephone and underneath a hand-knitted bedspread. Knitted seagulls dangle from a mobile above my head and elsewhere in my 'Do knit disturb' room at the Pelirocco. Artist and knitwear designer Kate Jenkins has created a plate of fish and chips, flowers and er, the curtains. Design trends have come and gone, but 25 years after it opened, Brighton's Hotel Pelirocco is still the queen of kitsch. Guests step through the hotel's Regency Square façade into an intoxicating pink-and-gold explosion of modern and retro art.
At the turn of the millennium, the 'Peli' opened on a budget. Its website calls it Brighton's original boutique hotel – though so does that of Blanch House, which opened around the same time. In the late 1990s, its creator and former owner Mick Robinson (AKA'Ginger Mick') had stayed in the Oscar Wilde room at another Brighton hotel and checked out disappointed. He began looking around and found a run-down property in a central location close to the seafront. 'When we turned up on our first day, the balcony had fallen off,' Robinson tells me at the hotel's 25th birthday party.
Robinson named Pelirocco after his DJ name. At that time he had a radio show called Pelirocco Platters. Pelirocco channelled Brighton's music scene with a record label and one of the earliest, if not the first, hotel soundtracks.
Primal Scream, Howard Marks, Irvine Welsh, Carl Barât, Eddie Izzard, the Happy Mondays, New Order, Tim Burgess, the Scissor Sisters, Mr Scruff, Jessie Wallace and Gilles Peterson have all checked in. Fatboy Slim, the Cuban Brothers and Asian Dub Foundation have performed in the bar.
The 19 themed rooms pay homage to cultural heroes (Leigh Bowery) and musical subcultures (Modrophenia). The country cabin-style Dollywould and Rebel Rebel have fancy dress kits, so guests can get their Dolly or their Bowie on before heading to the bar.
Some are more risqué than others. Botanica has a dancing pole. Taboo, a collaboration with a local adult boutique, has a bed with anchor points. Nookii has other surprises in store.
The building's transformation into a hotel was facilitated through sponsorship with companies including PlayStation, Nokia and Kraken. Robinson spent £40 on the art. 'We trolled Brighton's junk shops and car boot stalls and kept adding to it.' Profile shots of Bowie, Paul Weller, the Specials' Terry Hall and Brighton's own Fatboy Slim stare from hall landings, while film and gig posters and memorabilia celebrate punk, ska, reggae, dub, jazz, country and house music.
Mark Gibson has been here since the hotel opened and has worn many hats. Since taking over as manager 12 years ago, he has navigated a slew of competitor hotels, the advent of Airbnb, a global pandemic and, more recently, a generational shift away from excessive behaviour. Maturing Gen-Xers have creaky hips and Gen Z's idea of Friday-night fun is a low-impact workout and a kombucha.
That the Pelirocco is consistently voted Brighton's top boutique hotel on Tripadvisor is testament to its continued success. How does a hotel rooted in hedonism and fading subcultures stay relevant in the face of stiff competition?
'Guests have calmed down a little over the years,' says Gibson. 'There were times when we partied to the max, bands came back after their gigs, TVs went through windows, the bar didn't close and people partied until the sun came up. That was a weekly occurrence.'
The team is always looking ahead to the next room re-theme, art launch or collaboration. Décor in the hotel's lounge and bar is constantly refreshed with bi-monthly art exhibitions, while annual upgrades keep rooms fresh.
Gibson admits Airbnb has posed a challenge, but 'service' scores highly on the hotel's Tripadvisor rankings. 'We've got lots of staff who came for a 'short time' and are here a decade later, so often a guest's breakfast or cocktail is served by the same person they met years ago.'
Pelirocco has not stopped partying. At its birthday celebrations, DJs include Don Letts, the Grammy-award-winning documentary maker and musician credited with walking a generation of punks down the reggae path. In the Rebel Rebel room, one half of street-art collective the Postman, whose pop-art murals are dotted around Brighton, is showing guests how to create their own piece of pop art.
Pressure Sounds – which doubles as a small recording studio – has become a reggae room for the night and musicians are setting up in Bettie's Boudoir.
On my way out I see Letts, talking to camera. 'I've had a long-standing relationship with the joint. And in a time where we are all glued to screens, places like this, where people can come together for a creative, collective, synchronised experience, should be treasured,' he says.
The next morning I message Gibson. Has anything gone through a window? 'TVs are safe. All body parts are working,' he replies.
The Peli tastes different to when it was bottled, but there's plenty of fizz in the old bird yet.
