How to park free in Brighton & Hove

Brighton's 19 parking zones

Assuming you don't want to park in the zone-free outskirts (at least 2 miles from the city centre) the simple answer is that, any day of the week, you should arrive after 8 o'clock in the evening and leave before 9 o'clock the next morning. However there are local variations in the restrictions that can be taken advantage of.

There are three types of parking bay:-

• Permit holders only.
• Pay & Display.
• Shared Permit holders & Pay & Display.

In all the following zones the same time restriction 9am to 8pm (the period when the casual parker risks a fine) applies to all 3 types of bay:-

 Zone A - Preston Park Station
 Zone C - Queen's Park
 Zone E - Preston Park Station(North)
 Zone F - Fiveways
 Zone G - Hollingbury Road/Ditchlinq Gardens
 Zone H - Kemp Town & Hospital
 Zone  J - Preston Circus
 Zone M - Brunswick & Adelaide
 Zone N - Central Hove
 Zone O - Goldsmid
 Zone Q - Prestonville
 Zone R - Westbourne (incl. Church Rd, Portland Rd and Poets Corner)
 Zone T - Hove Station
 Zone Y - Central Brighton (North)

This accounts for 14 of the City's zones. Of the remaining 5 zones the most significant is Zone W, Wish Road.

Zone W - Wish Road, Hove

Zone W

In Zone W the restrictions are less severe. Parking is free between 11o'clock in the morning and 7o'clock in the evening. Usefully this allows for daytime visits to the beach, Lagoon, or other leisure facilities along Hove seafront and the Portland Road shops.
Parking is also free overnight from 8pm to 10am.


The remaining zones:-

Zone B - Coldean and Zone D - Moulscoombe. Parking is only restricted on match/event days at the nearby Amex stadium. At all other times parking is free but it is a long way from the city centre albeit with a good bus service.

Zone U -  St Luke’s. The smallest zone. Free parking 11am to 2pm and 3pm to 10am next day. Or in other words the only period you have to avoid being parked is the one hour between 10am & 11am and the one hour between 2pm & 3pm.

Zone Z - Central Brighton (South) Possibly as a hangover from earlier schemes different restrictions apply to different types of bay:-

• Permit only and shared Permit only and Pay & Display bays: - Free parking from 8 o'clock in the evening to 9 o'clock the next morning.
• Pay & Display bays:- Free parking 6 o'clock in the evening  to 9 o'clock the next day. (There are only a few of these). 

The northern boundary to Zone Z runs along the south sides of Temple Gardens, Clifton Road and Clifton Terrace.

Happy Hunting.

February 2018 update

Since the original post six new zones have been added which are detailed below:

Most noteworthy is the addition of zone L which extends the area of light restrictions from zone W up to Boundary Road.