About

QueenSpark began in 1972, as part of a grassroots campaign to fight the conversion of the 1824 Royal Spa in Brighton’s Queen’s Park into a casino, and make it a nursery school instead.

The struggle succeeded, aided by the circulation of a street newspaper called QueenSpark, which provided information about the campaign and featuring the Sparchives column, which focused on a series of reminiscences of the area.

The success of the campaign and popularity of the ‘QueenSpark’ newspaper inspired others to continue writing about life in Brighton and QueenSpark Books was born. The first book to be published in 1974 was an autobiography - Albert Paul's Poverty – Hardship but Happiness. Since then, we have always prioritised the 'lesser-heard' voices of Brighton and Hove, and continue to publish books that add to this unique 'People's history' of the city.'