Brighton and Hove Launches Overnight Deep Cleaning Team for City Centre Streets
Churchill Square in Brighton city centre, where the new overnight deep cleaning team has begun its initial phase of work. Photo: Paul Gillett via Geograph, Creative Commons licence
Brighton and Hove City Council has launched a new overnight deep cleaning team to tackle the appearance of the city centre, starting with the streets around Churchill Square
A new overnight deep cleaning team has begun working in Brighton and Hove, with the council officially launching the service this week following a trial run on the night of Thursday 28 into Friday 29 May 2026.
The team will carry out work that is difficult to do during the day when businesses are open and the streets are at their busiest. That includes jet-washing pavements and street surfaces, removing graffiti and repainting street furniture. The aim is to produce visible and noticeable improvements to the city centre, particularly in areas with high footfall from residents, workers and visitors.
The initial phase of work is targeting the bus stops around Churchill Square, with the team working its way up to Montpellier Road. The overnight team operates alongside the council's existing daytime team, which remains responsible for clearing litter, responding to fly-tipping and maintaining hygiene and safety standards in public spaces throughout the day.
How did this come about?
The decision to introduce overnight cleaning was approved by Brighton and Hove City Council's cabinet on 19 March 2026, following a pilot project known as the Station to the Sea Test and Learn, which trialled intensive cleaning work along the corridor from Brighton Station to the seafront.
Concerns about the cleanliness and appearance of the city centre had been raised consistently by the Business Improvement District, the Destination Experience Group, the Hoteliers Association and individual businesses. Brighton and Hove welcomes around 12 million visitors a year, and the pressure that volume of footfall places on central streets had been highlighted as a long-running issue requiring a more focused response.
A dedicated City Centre Manager was appointed as part of the same programme, with a specific brief to improve the look and feel of the heart of the city. The overnight team is being led by that city centre manager.
The programme is funded at £250,000 per year for three years, approved by cabinet as part of the cleaner city initiative. The scope of the overnight work covers the North Laine, The Lanes, Western Road and St James's Street, with the potential to expand to other streets where needed.
What the cabinet member said
Councillor Tim Rowkins, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, said the scheme was about the council taking its responsibilities as a host city seriously.
"We know that our residents and businesses want a cleaner city centre, and we are determined to deliver just that," he said. "Introducing an overnight team will add significant capacity and resources and will, over time, make a striking difference to the look and feel of the city."
"People love visiting Brighton and Hove and we have an incredibly vibrant night-time economy. All of that has a big impact on the city centre and, like any good host, we need to clean up properly after the party. Introducing an overnight team and prioritising regular deep cleans will help us achieve just that."
A model used elsewhere
The overnight cleaning model is not new. Brighton and Hove City Council cited Westminster as one example of a council that has already adopted this approach successfully. Westminster covers some of the most heavily trafficked streets in the country and has used overnight teams for years to maintain the appearance of the West End and surrounding areas in a way that would not be possible during trading hours.
Brighton's city centre faces similar pressures in miniature. The combination of a busy shopping area, a dense concentration of bars and restaurants, a large student population and millions of visitors a year means the streets around The Lanes, North Laine and the seafront take a significant amount of wear. Graffiti, gum, stickers and the accumulated grime of heavy footfall are difficult to remove without the kind of equipment and time the overnight team will now have available.
The decision to procure specialist graffiti removal equipment as part of the same programme also opens up the possibility of the council running a commercial graffiti removal service in the future, which could generate income to offset some of the costs of the wider programme.
What this means for the city centre
For anyone who uses the city centre regularly, the practical effects should become visible over time. Jet-washing removes the build-up of grime from pavements and street surfaces that accumulates gradually and is easy to stop noticing precisely because the change is so slow. Graffiti removal and repainting of street furniture addresses the kind of visible deterioration that affects how a place feels to be in, even when individual instances are small.
The initial focus on Churchill Square and the route up to Montpellier Road covers one of the busiest and most visited stretches of the city centre. Churchill Square is Brighton's main shopping centre and the streets immediately around it see heavy pedestrian traffic throughout the week. Getting that stretch visibly cleaner first makes sense as a way of demonstrating the impact of the programme early.
The longer-term scope covers a much wider area. The North Laine and The Lanes between them represent the most distinctive and most photographed parts of Brighton's city centre. Western Road is one of the main shopping streets connecting Brighton and Hove. St James's Street in Kemptown serves a dense residential and commercial neighbourhood to the east. Keeping all of those areas consistently clean overnight, rather than simply managing them during the day, is a significant step up in the council's approach to the city centre environment.
For the latest Brighton and Hove council news and local stories, visit ImJustBrighton.
This article is based on a Brighton and Hove City Council press release issued on 1 June 2026, sent directly to ImJustBrighton via Vuelio, and official Brighton and Hove City Council cabinet documents published at democracy.brighton-hove.gov.uk.
