LOVE YOUR PRODUCT

The sun was shining in Brighton on Saturday. People were smiling. Street musicians  were strumming and singing. As a friend said me: “you’re just so lucky living here…what’s not to like?” Quite a lot (I thought) if you’re a follower of local party politics. Quite a lot as the “what’s-not-to-like-ness” of Brighton gets translated into a surprising level of backbiting and discontent. Quite a lot if you travel an hour or so west and encounter a contrasting upbeat optimism in Portsmouth where the future is in  sight and the upside of ceasing to be an industrial town is beginning to dawn on everyone.

Someone once said to me Brighton that is a bit adolescent - yes, I suppose in a kind of “whatever; yeah but it’s not fair… why me?” way. But, in fact, it more resembles a bunch of UKIP supporters dressed up as hippy Greens. In other words Brighton has an identity crisis.

Or it used to have one. Because on Saturday the sun was shining and I saw some self-confident innovation that I’d not seen before.

First there was the Flour Pot Bakery in Sydney Street. Open for just two weeks it looks and smells fabulous and the people working there look excited…here’s how they describe what they do: “We ‘re creating an energizing atmosphere for an authentic and modern boulangerie experience, using natural ingredients”.

What’s not to like?

Pen to Paper opposite - my favourite shop - they say “We hold one of the largest ranges of Moleskine journals in the UK, complemented by a wide selection of notebooks from Clairefontaine. We stock Vergé de France writing paper from Georges Lalo of Paris with its matching tissue-lined envelopes and from Italy we have picked the deckle-edged Fabriano blank cards and envelopes.”

What’s not to like?

And then 64 Degrees. The best restaurant I’ve been to for ages. It’s a blinding revelation of both taste and service.  They say “the philosophy is that the food rules, the kitchen is the heart of the restaurant”

The result is there’s a great deal to like.

Interestingly the chefs serve the food they’ve just cooked, they talk about it with passion and they seem to spend their lives trying out new ideas. This is a University of Food.

Finally on the seafront I found “Hire a Poet” - a creative looking guy sitting at a desk with a typewriter. He was there to compose your very own personalised haiku. Two roughnecks were talking to this increasingly uncomfortable wannabe Keats. “I’m a racist bastard mate - can you get that in your poem.”

I loved the products I’d seen and I found I loved Brighton. And if you love your product lots of good things flow from that. This is sometimes easy to forget in a world of marketing. Remember what the guys at 64 degrees said: “the philosophy is that the food rules, the kitchen is the heart of the restaurant.”

The sun was shining in Brighton on Saturday and I was smiling.

www.colourfulthinkers.com