Mods descend on Brighton seafront for Mod Weekender

Hundreds of riders dressed in their best 60s attire on their gleaming Vespa and Lambretta scooters could be seen in Madeira Drive this weekend.

Hundreds of Mods have started to gather in Brighton for their annual Mod Weekender (Image: Simon Dack) The Brighton Mod Weekender gathering, which includes ride-alongs as well as concerts and other events, is an annual August bank holiday spectacle and has been run by The New Untouchables since 2005.

But mods have been coming down to the city for some 60 years.

In the 1960s mods and rockers would clash in Brighton with more than 1,000 teenagers said to have been involved in violence on the 1964 Whitsun weekend in May.

Hundreds of Mods have started to gather in Brighton for their annual Mod Weekender (Image: Simon Dack) Known as the Battle of Brighton, on a Bank Holiday Monday in May 1964, around a thousand youngsters descend on the beach, leading to violent clashes between two opposing subcultures – Mods and Rockers.

The rivalry between these two opposing factions often sparked clashes, but the violence reached a peak over the Whitsun bank holiday in 1964 when they came to blows in a number of towns on the south coast.

After the Battle of Brighton there was comparative peace on bank holidays until the late 1970s when the Brighton-based film Quadrophenia and the start of the punk fashion led to a mod revival.

The movie which stars Sting, Phil Daniels and Leslie Ash amongst others depicted the story of Jimmy who seeks solace in the Mods, a gang that has a showdown with its rivals in Brighton. When things go south in his hometown, he longs to return to Brighton.

Many Mods pay a visit to Quadrophenia Alley, off East Street, which featured in the film, as part of their pilgrimage.