Juicy guide to Brighton and Hove

The pair have pooled their talents and passion for the town to write the Juicy Guide to Brighton and Hove. It promises to be a quirky insider's guide to the town, written by locals for locals and full of tips on neighbourhoods, schools, street life and reviews.

Gilly and Lucy, who are both 36 and live in Kemp Town, spent months living it up clubbing, dining, shopping and just generally gossiping as part of their research for the guide. "It was a hard life", admitted Gilly.

The pair have had lives as unconventional as their book. Mother-of-two Gilly, who has short cropped hair and a cheeky twinkle in her eyes, is a food critic and writer for magazines and newspapers. She has written three books, including one on ancient Chinese and Indian sexual methods which she decided to write after being sent on a magazine assignment.

Gilly said: "I went to India to do a piece on an Ashram, which was a commune where people would come from all over the world to stay and do courses on meditation. I ended up staying eight weeks. After that I wrote the book which is about Indian and Chinese philosophies on the body, mind and spirit. It also offers very practical advice!"

Lucy, who also has two young children, worked as an actress and then held jobs in publishing and as a film script consultant. She has lived all around the world and previously in London but always dreamed of settling down in Brighton.

Lucy said: "My sister was at university here and I used to visit her. I fell in love with the place immediately and always had dreams of living here. Once I had children, I didn't want to live in London any more. I love the way you can access everything and there is a different culture down here. You can say hello to people on the bus."

Gilly, who also used to live in London, went on weekend pilgrimages with her husband to locations all around the country, including Bristol, Salisbury and Bath to find somewhere new to live but none of them quite hit the mark.

She said: "Then someone suggested Brighton and I wondered why I didn't think of it. It was by the sea and most importantly you could get a good coffee. It's a great community of entrepreneurs and that gives the place a lot of energy. It's got a real buzz and the sense anything is possible."

When Gilly moved to the town two years ago, two years after Lucy, she felt depressed and frustrated at not knowing the best places to go out. They pair met through their children, who both attend the same school, and immediately hit it off.

Gilly discovered Lucy was a mine of information and the idea for an insider's guide to Brighton and Hove was born. The Juicy Guide is designed to be a source of information about everything best about the town and is based on word-of-mouth tips and personal experience.

Gilly said: "We swapped information as women do and that is what we wanted it to be a repository of word-of-mouth information. People really want to know things like the best plumber in a place, the best book and child-friendly restaurants.

"We are typical of lots of people in that we have small children so we don't go out that much and when we do,we want it to be good, not mediocre. It is a guide to everything best in the town, it is all positive and there is no slagging off."

They started gathering information for the guide and commissioning other writers last August. Lucy said: "We go well together, we say we are like Red Bull and vodka because Gilly is the stimulant, she is energetic and can be outspoken. Sometimes I have to smooth things over afterwards!"

The guide includes sections on commuting, the seaside, life and art, and reviews on clubs, restaurants and teenage Brighton. Lucy indulged her passion for shopping to write a chapter on the best places to buy in town and Gilly used her expertise in food to explore local restaurants.

Although they had a whale of a time getting out and about to carry out research, they had a few hair-raising experiences along the way. Gilly recalled questioning a confusing bill at a prestigious restaurant.

She said: "The owner started shouting at me, saying only the most discerning people go to her restaurant and she didn't want people like me. When I left, I asked for a menu and when she asked why, I told her I was a food critic. You have never seen anyone become more obsequious, she was getting my coat and being a bit revolting."

The women decided to bypass publishers so they could have more of a say in the way the book was written and marketed. They are publishing it themselves and have turned it into a real family affair with Gilly's husband, journalist Jed Novick, editing the book and Lucy's niece Beatrice Warren writing the section on teenage Brighton.

The name Juicy was chosen the encapsulate the fresh feel of the guide and is an amalgamation of Gilly and Lucy's names. The Juicy Guide will be launched at a star-studded event being supported by The Place To Be campaign for city status on April 30 which the writers say will be Brighton and Hove's equivalent to the Oscars.

Celebrities Carol Barnes, Joe McGann, Chris Eubank and Steve Coogan are among local celebrities expected to attend the lavish Regency masked ball. The evening will be produced by Zap and is designed to be a showcase of local talent with awards going to the best pub, club and hotel in town.

Place To Be chairman Simon Fanshawe will hand out the award to best designer and The Argus will give the prize to the best pub landlord in a competition to run in our pages soon.

The Juicy Guide will go on sale in bookshops from April 30.

Check out the Juicy Guide website at www.juicyguides.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.