A seafront promenade has been illuminated by new street lamps designed to evoke images of seagulls, surf and the sea.

The 24 lights, designed free-of-charge by Ditchling architect Philip Andrews, line the cycle lane from Embassy Court to Grand Avenue in Hove.

The delicately curved lamps will eventually replace reproduction copies of period designs in parts of Kingsway, Hove.

They will remain unique to Brighton and Hove as Mr Andrews holds the copyright for their design.

Mr Andrews, 57, designed the award-winning St Peter's House at Brighton University and used to represent the Royal Institute of British Architects on the Conservation Advisory Group (CAG).

He said: "Most people think of the lamp post as a utilitarian object but I wanted to create a metaphor that is modern.

"I think it's quite obvious that these are saying something and people can associate them with the seafront.

"The workmen who were putting them up said they looked like surfboards. You can imagine they might be birds in flight or the waves.

"The options were to have a highly-decorative Victorian design, which would have been a pastiche because they did not have things like that, or a stark, abstract shape.

"I am very pleased with them now I have seen them up."

Brighton and Hove City Council has been working with CAG for five years to come up with a suitable design.

The lights are made of steel and will shed more light on the cycle lane and make the seafront safer.

Selma Montford, of the Brighton Society and CAG, said: "We thought they were imaginative and appropriate for the area.

"Some people will say we shouldn't have done anything new and we should only have old lamp posts but we felt this was an opportunity to have something modern which is still relevant to the seafront."

Councillor Gill Mitchell, chairwoman of the environment committee, said: "The lights are modern yet fit in with the historic area."