Outspoken art critic Brian Sewell has called Brighton and Hove "tawdry" and suggested most of its centre should be bulldozed.

The notoriously opinionated writer, who once called for Gateshead to be bombed, has claimed the city is the capital of congestion, bad food and bad taste.

He said: "I have never liked Brighton. I come, if I must, unwillingly.

"It seems to me to be tawdry and scruffy. It is unkempt, there is far too much traffic, far too many people and it has absolutely no sense of direction.

"If you arrive at the railway station it is a hell of a trek to the centre and if you arrive by car there is never anywhere to park."

Mr Sewell, who lives in London, from where he expounds his provocative observations in documentaries and, until recently, the Evening Standard newspaper, also criticised Brighton and Hove's architecture, roads, beaches and nightlife, claiming he did not know of a single good restaurant in the town.

He said: "Since I left school some of the worst food I have ever eaten was in restaurants in Brighton.

"Unless you know of a particularly good restaurant, you cannot take friends out for a meal because you just cannot take the chance."

Even his praise of the things he liked was qualified.

He said: "The Pavilion is a fine piece of architecture.

"But I think one should come upon it as one comes upon a desert encampment. Instead, you hardly see it at all. It's so enclosed by clutter, it destroys the vision.

"The only hope for the Pavilion is to flatten all the buildings within half a mile of it."

Brighton and Hove City Council leader Ken Bodfish responded today with a withering indictment of Mr Sewell's motives.

He said: "Brian Sewell is Brian Sewell and makes his name by being rude.

"He does this in order to gain publicity."

Mr Sewell made his comments following a request by The Argus to interview him.

His letter of reply said: "Feeling as disenchanted as I do about the town, I hardly think that I am a suitable subject for your paper."

He admitted he had not been to the city since 1986 but said he didn't imagine things had changed for the better.

He said: "I have stayed in the town for the odd weekend - no more than that - and it just isn't anything.

"In the days when I was a Conservative I would occasionally turn up to Brighton conferences and even then it seemed pretty grim - not making any effort to be anything."

He scoffed at Brighton and Hove's campaign two years ago to become European Capital Of Culture in 2008, saying: "I don't think any town or city in Britain should be claimed to be a European capital of culture and it seems to me fairly ludicrous for Brighton."

It is not the first time Mr Sewell has courted controversy by criticising provincial cities.

Last summer he was described as "metrocentric" after calling Newcastle hideous and likening it to the outskirts of Zagreb in Croatia.

He described the Sacre Coeur in Paris as a 19th Century monstrosity, saying: "God should intervene to knock it down."

Richard Baker, general manager of The Grand hotel on Brighton seafront said: "There are people who come here two or three times a year from a busy city like London who tell me they see Brighton as a haven.

"The city is busy and popular. People like living here."