Names on the buses

868 Syd Dean

Connections with Brighton and Hove : The Regent, built in 1921 in Queen’s Road, was the first super cinema in Brighton and could house 1,700 people. Two years later, a ballroom was opened next door in North Street and became an immediate success. Generations of Brightonians met there each week and enjoyed dancing on its famous sprung floor. Bandleader Syd Dean was resident there during the 1940s and 1950s and was extremely popular. Dean, who lived in Hove, imposed strict discipline on the members and coaxed sweet sounds from them. Sadly the ballroom closed in the early 1970s along with the cinema and although there was an advertised replacement in the Top Rank Centre a few hundred yards down the road in West Street, somehow it was never the same. Rock ‘n’ roll had also dulled the public appetite for dance music and although Dean tried many revivals, his best days were by then over. Dapper and personable, Dean was a national figure who frequently broadcast on the BBC. He said of his fame in Brighton: "There’s Rottingdean, Saltdean - and Syd Dean."

868 Dennis Trident - carried name since delivery in April 2002, repainted into new livery May 2006 for Metro 5. Metro 5 branding removed December 2008. Bus sold in April 2015.