Brighton & Hove's REGENCY Magazine » Local History

Local People: Roger Amerena

REGENCY — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 11:15:24 +0000

There are, without doubt, some strange things going on up in the Montpelier area of Brighton. Its venerable Montpelier and Clifton Hill Association (MCHA) is holding its annual Christmas party, charging £15 per ticket, on 4th December. Or is it? Expensively produced leaflets, bearing the association’s logo and charity number, were delivered to members, and invited them to attend the event being held at Montpellier Hall with, as the leaflet indicated, “the kind permission of Mr. Roger Amerena”. In fact, the leaflets were produced and distributed by ex-chairman of the association … one Roger Amerena. Not only is it not the MCHA Christmas Party (they are holding a free party for members on 10th December at St. Nicholas’ Church), it was not authorised in any way by the association. One can only speculate about the reasoning by Mr. Amerena, who had ceased being chairman and a trustee back in May of this year, prior to the society’s annual general meeting. The reason Mr. Amerena was forced to step down as chairman and a trustee was that he was declared bankrupt and, had he remained, the MCHA risked losing its charitable status of 40 years standing. Even when this was explained to him it did not seem to bother Mr. Amerena who cajoled two elderly members of the association to nominate and second him for the position of chairman at the upcoming AGM. When his nomination was rejected by the committee a further request was put forward – that Mr. Amerena should be immediately co-opted onto the committee and should be allowed to stand – unopposed, no less – as chairman at the next AGM. That proposal failed to find a seconder. Now Mr. Amerena is offering to pay people’s memberships of the MCHA, presumably as a means to have them lobby on his behalf.

At this point some of you may feel that I am being unfair to the gentleman, that his bankruptcy is shame enough, that it is an issue between himself and his creditors. That certainly might be the case if Mr. Amerena was all that he claims. The rumour he seems content to have bandied around is that he is a hard-working pillar of the community, who has had the misfortune to be financially crippled by virtue of the loss of all the money he personally put into the failed Coach House project. If he did in fact lose money then he is not alone, and a great deal more sympathy should be extended to those who gave money when they couldn’t afford to lose it in this way. With a silver tongue worthy of a used car salesman, he told some of them that there was no risk, and they might even see a profit. Even now it is not known how much was lost as despite the intention that the limited company formed to manage the Coach House would be converted into an open and accountable charitable trust, Roger Amerena never did this, and has resolutely refused to produce satisfactory accounts.

The days of bankrupts being hanged are long behind us and some now see bankruptcy as a cheap way to avoid paying their debts. Bearing this in mind it is not unfair to say that the actions of some bankrupts today are far less honourable than in days of old. I would suggest Mr. Amerena falls into that category. In fact far from being the solvent local bigwig he attempts to portray Roger Vincent Amerena has been the subject of bankruptcy proceedings in 1994, twice in 1996, in 1997 (when he was declared a bankrupt for three years), in 2005, and again this year, which led to his second official bankruptcy. He certainly wasn’t involved in any “philanthropic” conservation ventures during any of those occasions.

There is a reason I think people in the area, particularly MCHA members, need to know this. The issue is one of accountability, which Mr. Amerena seems to think himself above. When I was a trustee of the charity in 2004 it was clear that in Roger Amerena’s mind both he and the association were one. He regularly referred to his association and even his newsletter when talking about the association’s magazine – and this was prior to him even being chairman. He took staggering liberties such as obtaining mortgage quotations on the Coach House in the name of the MCHA with no authority from the association whatsoever. He misled advertisers, telling them that the trade card he was producing for the association was distributed “all over the area” when in fact it was delivered to only a couple of hundred members. These are by no means isolated examples. The culmination of all this was when the majority of the committee wrote to the then chairman, Mr. Amerena’s predecessor, stating that they felt Roger Amerena was unfit to become the next chairman. Several years later … and nothing seems to have changed.

Local History For Sale In  Auction This Month

REGENCY — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 11:09:21 +0000

Gorringes in Lewes will be selling a collection of Brighton prints belonging to Anthony Dale (1912-1993), founder of the Regency Society on 8th December, including two signed and dated watercolours of Kemptown by Norman Janes (b.1892).

History Centre To Stay Open

REGENCY — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:02:08 +0000

Many were relived to hear that the council’s plan to close the local History Centre has been cancelled. Good to see that the council are taking note of people’s views in the press and through the petition facility on the council’s website.

Royal Alex Update

REGENCY — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:31:12 +0000

Taylor Wimpey’s appeal against refusal of their planning application to demolish the historic Royal Alex building and build a block of flats on the site was defeated at the Public Inquiry in June this year. The council subsequently decided to prepare a planning brief for TW, so that they wouldn’t have to submit yet another planning application with no hope of acceptance. During the following months, Jo Thompson, major project officer, and Gill Thompson, town planner, held meetings with representatives of local amenity groups: the Montpelier & Clifton Hill Association, Clifton Montpelier Powis Community Alliance, Brighton Society, Regency Society, also Homelees House, the Primary Care Trust, Taylor Wimpey, and two local residents – Philippa Sankey and Adam Jones, whose houses in Clifton Hill back onto the Royal Alex grounds, and who are also respectively Secretary and Chair of the CMPCA.

During these meetings, Jo Thompson & Gill Thompson (no relation), made clear that the rejected option of complete demolition was not on the table, and that any planning application would have to involve retention and conversion of at least the main Royal Alex building. Also the green space in front of it must be preserved.
A poorly publicised exhibition was then held at Hove Town Hall during the last week of October. On display were five options, ranging from retention and conversion of all the buildings on the site, to complete demolition and redevelopment. There was no indication that the latter option was out of the question, and just included for ‘control’ purposes.

Only financial considerations were taken into account, although the District Valuer had not completed his assessment by the time of the exhibition. The exhibition appeared to be biased against the conversion option – complete demolition was the only option showing not so much a profit as a smaller loss. This is largely due to the Council in effect continuing to tax profit that does not exist, by requiring the provision of 40% affordable housing. Coincidentally, the day before this exhibition started, there was a conference on land economics and valuation at UCL, which was attended by many of the best brains in the country. The conference unanimously concluded that the economic model that aims to build ‘social housing’ using the super-profit from development is for the time being dead; it was rather aptly referred to as ‘bubble economics’, and it was firmly stated that the bubble would not be around for the foreseeable future.

Local architect Mr. Graham Towers, who has more than 30 years professional experience of urban housing design and development, has found that the Royal Alex exhibition was incorrect regarding the numbers of flats which could be achieved in the different options. His calculations, based on a detailed and realistic comparison with the Taylor Wimpey planning application, show that more flats could be achieved in a conversion scheme than claimed in the exhibition, and fewer flats created in a new-build scheme.

The exhibition also did not take into account the fact that the large roof space in the existing building could be utilised for additional flats, as has been pointed out to Jo & Gill Thompson by Mick Hamer, who coordinated the MCHA case at the public inquiry in June.

Discussion of the planning brief for this site is pencilled in for the environment cabinet of 17 December. The MCHA is pressing for discussion of the brief to be deferred until the meeting of 26 January to allow time for a proper feasibility study by a qualified and experienced conservation architect, and to allow time for all stages of the public consultation to be completed. Otherwise there is the risk of yet more doomed planning applications followed by another time consuming and costly appeal. This is unfair on the community and also unfair on the developers, who need a clear and unambiguous brief this time.

Ceremony Marks 25th Anniversary  Of Brighton Hotel Bombing

REGENCY — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:54:10 +0000

Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret, who was paralysed in the bombing

In the early hours of 12 October, 25 years ago, residents of Brighton and Hove were woken by the sound of an explosion. A bomb, planted by the IRA to strike at the heart of Margaret Thatcher’s government, tore a gaping hole straight through the Grand Hotel. Their primary target, Margaret Thatcher herself, escaped unscathed, but five people lost their lives in the attack.

25 years on and people again gathered in the Grand Hotel to witness the unveiling of a plaque in memory of those who lost their lives. Lord Tebbit and his wife, who was paralysed by the blast and confined to a wheelchair for the past 25 years, were in attendance to speak of the dedication and selflessness demonstrated by the emergency services that night.

Whilst the structural scars of the Grand healed quickly it was clear that was not the case for many present, who still suffered from the emotional scars of the attack. Although a sombre occasion Lord Tebbit raised the mood considerably with several quips, such as referring to when everyone present meet again “in another 25 years”.

Thomas Read Kemp – a Regency ‘Credit Crunch’?

REGENCY — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:25:12 +0000

Thomas Read Kemp's "Kemptown"

In November 1822, the Sussex Weekly Advertiser reported that; ‘Two elegant new squares are talked of to skirt the East and the West of the town’. One was Kemp Town and the other, Brunswick Town in Hove.

Thomas Read Kemp developed Kemp Town. He inherited this land from his father. By 1820 Thomas Read and Frances Kemp (nee Baring – of the banking family) had sold their country house in Herstmonceaux and were living at The Temple, now the High School for Girls in Montpelier Road.

Thomas must have been planning his huge project for some time. Between c1818 and 1824, he bought land in East Laine, a large arable field between Brighton and Kemp Town to extend what we now call Eastern Road directly into Sussex Square. This road enabled Kemp not only to give an inland route into Sussex Square and the Crescent but also to develop land that he owned along it.

Kemp chose Busby and Wilds as his architects for the design of his grand project for Sussex Square and Lewes Crescent. That part of Kemp Town was originally to have 250 houses and, mews (see picture). Kemp decided to act as the developer without a surveyor in charge and without following the usual practice (employed so successfully over in Brunswick Town) of expecting the builders to find their own funding.

In 1822, Kemp was paying the wages of at least 200 workmen to level the site and to begin the construction of the carcasses of the houses. He bore the costs of not only the building work but also the landscaping and the esplanade to the south of the main road along the seafront.

By 1824 there were carcasses awaiting buyers and no evidence of interest in them, so Kemp borrowed £42,000 secured on the land in his marriage settlement with Frances (nee Baring, his first wife) and on land in Kemp Town. Early in 1826 Kemp did have most of the carcasses of the square and crescents standing. Due to the lack of sales, Kemp was short of capital and borrowed more in 1826.

In 1827, Kemp decided to move to Kemp Town and to sell The Temple. He could not find a buyer and let it as a school. A French visitor described his opulent lifestyle at Kemp Town: “The impression is of a man who is hoping that his lifestyle there would attract buyers who might emulate it.” Slowly houses sold. In 1828, Matthias Wilks of Tandridge bought a house in Sussex Square on the south east corner. The same year Kemp’s sister, Mrs Sober contracted to buy 23 Sussex Square for £3,150. By May he had sold 17 carcasses on to Cubitt, 15 to Joseph and Matthias Wilks and 11 to Nehemiah Wimble (of Lewes) but remained the largest proprietor with 47 houses and sites. The Earl of Bristol bought two houses in the north-west corner of Sussex Square in 1829 and then large plots of land from Kemp, including all of the pasture between his house and the old parish boundary at Bear Road.

In 1828 the 6th Duke of Devonshire bought the carcass of No. 14 Chichester Terrace from Kemp and in March 1829, No. 1 Lewes Crescent from Thomas Cubitt ( a well known builder). The two houses were on a wedge shaped plot and although he used them both, they were laid out as two separate houses with, the accounts suggest, a connecting door and a large detached kitchen to keep the smell of cooking out of the houses. Cubitt completed No.1 and did all the interior work within it for £9,293. The Duke spent over £1000 a year on running costs alone. Could the sheer size of these houses deterred people from buying?

To show that he wished to sell land west of the core of his main project, Kemp built St. George’s chapel, designed by C A Busby. The Chapel cost Kemp £11,000 and the additional cost of the private Act of Parliament. Such a chapel was often built by a developer starting a large and prestigious project. Pews were let to pay for the curate and for the running costs.

Kemp never finished his scheme. He was faced with three issues by 1828s, first that Brunswick Town was closer to the town centre, second that this rival was better managed, third – in 1827, the economy was starting to enter a recession which lasted for Brighton into the early 1840s. Having chosen to finance the whole project, he slowed down the rate of construction and the project got caught in the credit crunch which made wealth buyers unwilling to commit to holidays homes beside the sea.

Sue Berry wrote Georgian Brighton (Phillimore,2005) and has published many articles on the history of the area now within the City. She is now writing The City of Brighton and Hove, to be published by the Victoria County History series in 2011. She teaches for the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Sussex and can be reached via her email which is on the University’s web site.

This Old House

REGENCY — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:54:34 +0000

It was the summer of 2003 when we first were introduced to the sad, boarded up house at No. 54 Waterloo Street. It had once been a magnificent Regency terrace, but long ago had been converted to a shop and later was closed and boarded to discourage squatters. The squatters weren’t discouraged; they had snuck in from the back [as evident from the broken back door and the many stripped rooms] and dismantled the house as best they could, probably hawking goods at the Brighton Train Station Sunday Market.

We weren’t daunted, even when the estate agent refused to come inside and sat on the sidewalk in front and smoked while we wandered through the rooms in awe. We could hear people on the road chatting that someone was looking at the property, ‘oh what a sad state!’ and ‘wouldn’t it be lovely if someone bought it and did it up!’ My husband and I smiled at one another as we heard this, for that was exactly what we were planning to do.
It was Halloween when we finally exchanged and everyone congratulated us on the speedy process but we (as Americans) were stunned that it had taken so many months. We hurried along to the Estate Agent’s office to collect keys, our hearts pounding and our heads swirling, wondering if we had made the right choice. We hadn’t walked through the house since that August, and after signing our life away for a boarded up property without electricity or hot running water, we were more than a little scared.

The bored agents handed us a large dusty box instead of a key—with the words neatly scribed on top in fountain ink, ‘ROBINS FAMILY DEEDS, NEVER STORE WITH THE CITY.’ The agent mumbled that his office didn’t know what to do with the box and the family had all died out. I peeked inside and saw stacks of parchment papers and a ring of skeleton keys. Our adventure had begun!

In those early days of the house renovation, our finances were stretched and much of the works we undertook
ourselves. We spent hours stripping wallpaper and lead paint, exhausted each night. The best part of our day though was in the evenings reading through this family’s box of papers.

We learned that Ebenezer Robins Sr. who built the house was a local man who amassed a great deal of wealth through a brewery he and his brothers founded at the turn of the century in the Regency Ward. It was called the Anchor Brewery, and it stood on what is now Golden Lanes (behind Embassy Court.) He came from a poor Jewish family and had a large number of brothers including Usher Robins [who became quite famous in his own right.]

Ebenezer Robins was one of the original Brunswick Town Commissioners and had a great deal of interest in the dealings of the city. He also appeared to be a private man, noting ‘strict confidence’ on most of his letters and we found more than one example that he had a temper. In a ‘colourful’ and ink smeared letter to his solicitor, Ebenezer declared that his WILL needed to be immediately updated to reflect that ‘All of the Robins family affairs and documents shall remain with family and representation thereof, and never stored with the city.’ He went on to imply that his family was being unfairly persecuted based on unjust prying eyes. Thus it is explained how we came about to have the amazing box of documents and deeds. The house remained in the Robins family for a further seven generations.

We have since realized how unusually lucky we are, as most of Hove’s deeds and documents were lost forever in the Hove Town Hall fire of 1966. [Which incidentally also explains how we ended up with that magnificent piece of forgettable architecture on Church Road.]

There are also many gentle and proud letters in Ebenezer’s delicate scrawl including his eloquent request to Busby’s office for ‘immediate plans to design a fine property within the forementioned parcel (now known as No’s 54-61) on Waterloo Street for his eldest son recently engaged.’

In the early 1830’s he bought land from St. Andrews church to build homes and shops on Waterloo Street for his son [Ebenezer Jr.] his wife Mary’s brother John, and John’s brother Samuel, three men who also worked in the brewery.

My home at No. 54 Waterloo Street was in fact the home built for Ebenzer Jr and his wife (also named Mary.) She was given the first deed to our home in 1833 on her wedding day. She and Ebenezer Jr. lived here for twenty one years and raised seven children! We have one son, I can’t imagine seven! The pine stairs show worn patterns
dipping the middle of each tread, could that be from boys running up and down them?

Ebenezer Sr. died here, of a condition noted on his death certificate as ‘Cerebral Softening.’What could that be I have wondered? Did he fall down the stairs? Did he go insane? Was it a stroke? We may never know, but it does appear that his final days were with his family comforted in these very walls.

Mary left our home in her will to her eldest daughter Eliza who also raised her family (a brood of six plus two unwed sisters) and the lineage continues for another five generations woven through amazing letters and deeds carried into present day. There’s also elements of sad history, noting sons that were lost in the war, and the
sale of the brewery when the men didn’t return. There’s a letter returned to Ida Robins Hoodless that didn’t reach her son at war, and there are water (possibly tears?) stains on a deed noting the sale of some of the property owned by the Robins family in Norfolk Square. And as for the family, the estate agents were wrong. (Imagine that!) There are still a few Robins dotted around Brighton and Hove. One well known direct descendant is Michael Robins, the famed local town historian and tour guide.

One day I will probably write a book about the amazing family I’ve come to know. For now though, I consider myself very lucky to get to be a caretaker and restorer of this magnificent house, at least for this generation. If I catch you outside peeking in (as I often find people) I’m happy to come drag you inside for a quick tour and a glimpse at some of these amazing documents. This is Brighton and Hove’s history and it should be celebrated. We are all very fortunate to live within the walls of these homes, and this is history that should be shared.

10 Security Tips to a Safer Home