I have sold houses in Brighton for more than 23 years (you only get 20 years for murder) and there is definitely a change in 'new' neighbours.

While Brighton has been 'hip' for some time, it seems that now it is 'trendy' as well.

Celebrities flock to Brighton from London and all over the South East to buy (mostly period) property to live by the sea.

They say it's a "happening place", that the "atmosphere" is just wonderful darling", the buildings are "just like in central London" and they "must do lunch".

For the rest of us it's just a great place to live and maybe we even take it a little too much for granted.

Our local council must surely be the main culprits of this, with their new ideas and initiatives.

You can just hear them in chambers saying "Hey, I've got a great idea. Lets take all the cars through a one-way system no-one understands and then - and this will really get them - when they get to the end of it, we will stop them from parking there."

Anyway, we have some of the best period houses in the country and not just along the seafront but all over Brighton and Hove.

This is due to owners who are knowledgeable and sympathetic in maintaining and enhancing their property's features.

Our variety of restaurants is one of the best outside London (although I feel there is room for one or two top-quality ones).

We also have a growing IT industry and there is talk of a faster train service to London, cutting travel time in half.

Brighton could even be the silicon implant in the breast of the South East.

So, with all this notoriety, if we are twinned to towns in Europe (are we?), we should be thinking BIGGER.

At the moment, if it's a German town it's probably called something like Towelsendown First.

If it's Belgian, it's likely to be a place a retired councillor stumbled upon when he took a wrong turn on his way to Brugge after having had a pint of Stella.

No more. Brighton should be twinned with San Francisco, USA.

Just look at the similarities. They have Pier 39 and Fisherman's wharf - we have our Marina and Jackson's Wharf.

We are major promoters of the arts, so are they.

And just like Brighton, San Francisco has a 'mixed' population of varying ideas and attitudes.

On one street corner you can find an art exhibition and on the next, a row of beggars. Ring any bells?

They have their cable cars we have, well, the Volks Railway. They have Alcatraz we have, erm, Embassy Court on Brighton Seafront! (Now famous for featuring in the new Texas music video).

They have the Golden Gate Bridge we have, eh, the Adur footbridge ... well anyway, I think it's a good idea and someone should sell the idea to the Americans.

As a seasoned salesman (oh all right, I am only an estate agent, but willing nevertheless), I would be happy to try if the council would like to fund the journey for me and my other half.

If I fail, by spending our council tax money in this way, the council will make at least two people happy, which is a huge improvement on the number of people it normally pleases with its decisions.

Brian Huggins, area director of Fox and Sons estate agency, bid successfully to write a guest column at an auction in aid of the Argus Appeal.