Names on the buses

831 Sir John Howard

431 Sir John Howard

Connections with Brighton and Hove : For a brief period in the 1890s Brighton had three piers the old Chain Pier crumbling in to the sea, the beautiful West Pier and the new Palace Pier under construction. The man behind the new pier which was eventually to become one of the most popular leisure attractions in the country, was Sir John Howard. Work actually started on the Palace Pier in 1891 but progress was slow and the storm in 1896 that destroyed the Chain Pier brought wreckage into the new construction that damaged it. The Brighton Marine Palace and Pier Company, which had been financing the new pier, almost fell into liquidation but Sir John Howard formed a new company to buy the pier. He completed the pier and opened it in 1899. Initially all it had was an illuminated archway and some kiosks but it proved a great success and new buildings quickly followed. The pier, bought by the Noble Organisation in 1984, now has about four million visitors a year. Sir John also formed the Howard Convalescent Home in Kemp Town and built a wing of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Eastern Road.

831 Dennis Trident - carried name since delivery in March 2000, on METRO Line 49, repainted in the new livery January 2005. March 2012 name transferred to new Volvo Gemini 431 on Route 1.