Traders who say their area is being targeted by violent, homophobic thugs are celebrating the news surveillance cameras will be installed.
Shopkeepers in St George's Road, Kemp Town, say they are being beaten up, terrorised with crowbars and screwdrivers and verbally abused.
They say drunks and drug addicts are targeting the area and are worried plans to ban drinking alcohol on St James's Street will push troublemakers their way.
Now traders hope three CCTV cameras which are to be installed on St George's Road will help reduce violence.
The £34,000 scheme is being paid for by a European Union grant, awarded to the Kemp Town Business Association, and Brighton Health Care NHS Trust, which is managing the project with Brighton and Hove Council.
The work has now gone out to tender and the council is confident the cameras will be fitted in the next two weeks.
Roland Wallis, acting chairman of Kemp Town Business Association and store owner, said: "People here will be very relieved at this great news. There are real problems here and they need to be met head on. Traders are nervous.
"One person was attacked with a screwdriver in a shop and traders increasingly have to deal with problems of aggression. A lot of people have been threatened."
Association chairman Jonathan Macfarlane said attacks such as the one on Ricardo Saroyan-James, beaten up on St George's Road for being gay, were becoming more common.
Vicky Goddard, who works in a shop in St George's Road, said her boyfriend, who owns the store, was been beaten up twice because he refused to open up after closing hours.
She said: "You feel quite vulnerable. There was even a man walking along the road shouting with a knife in his hand.
"As a woman you feel intimidated walking along here at night because there is nobody apart from a few drunk people and at those times I would definitely want cameras."
The cameras will be monitored from the Royal Sussex County Hospital, which will maintain a constant link to Brighton police.
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