(c) Suzanne Hinton

It is well known that all that glisters is not gold.  In Brighton, it is also common knowledge that all that is seems to be French is not French.  Here’s a case in point.

From 1926 until about 1956, 26 Western Road in Hove was ‘Maison Francis’.  Francis was Thomas Francis, hairdresser and ‘cosmetologist’ (according to Kelly’s Directory in 1931).  By 1956, perhaps things French had become less fashionable and ‘Maison Francis” was replaced by hairdresser “Lawrence of Mayfair.  Fortunately, the beautiful threshold mosaic still survives in 2017.