A turf war has broken out over the right to cash in on the name of the most fashionable tourist district in Brighton and Hove.

Firms, developers and council officials have been accused of trying to rewrite history to exploit the growing popularity of the North Laine area near the station.

The name South Lanes has been sneaking into planning applications and business addresses for companies setting up in the area known as The Lanes for more than a century.

Some fear businesses are trying to merge the two areas.

Tory councillor Averil Older, a former guide at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, was concerned enough to ask city council chief executive David Panter if there had been an official change of policy.

Mr Panter replied: "There is no hidden agenda on this in terms of any name change."

Coun Older was concerned after seeing a massage business mentioned in The Argus last week give its address in Meeting House Lane as the South Lanes.

She said: "I have also seen it on a recent licensing application and I also saw Fabrica in Duke Street last year mentioned in a council leaflet as being in the South Lanes.

"Some time ago, one of the pubs also said it was in the South Lanes.

"I want to know whether this name change is being promoted by the council. Are we now changing our city's history and who took this decision?

"Anyone who doesn't know the difference between The Lanes and the North Laine shouldn't be living here.

"I am worried developers of the Post Office site in Ship Street will say it is in the South Lanes.

"I think someone could be trying to get commercial advantage out of this but I don't know who it is.

"I have seen South Lanes written several times, once on a European update issued by the council.

"The Lanes were the old fishermen's cottages and have been called that for years."

The Lanes are pedestrianised alleys in the heart of the old town of Brighton and are a prime tourist draw, the emphasis switching in recent years from antique shops to bars, restaurants and jewellery shops.

Many of the houses in North Laine were built for railway workers in the nineteenth century.

Much of the area was blighted by a road scheme in the early Seventies but it has since become fashionable as a place to live and its quirky shops make it a bohemian quarter rivalling The Lanes in popularity.

The word Laine derives from Anglo Saxon meaning loan or lease and was a local term for open arable fields.

The North Laine area east of Queen's Road was given its name when the district became a conservation area in 1977.

The Lanes has long been a famous name in Brighton and many want to keep it that way.

Wednesday March 17, 2004