Mods meet for ride along to Beachy Head for Mod Weekender

Hundreds of riders on their Vespa and Lambretta scooters could be seen gathering infront of the Brighton i360 ahead of their ride along to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne.

RIDERS MEET AT THE i360 HOVE AND RIDE TO BEACHY HEAD (Image: EDDIE MITCHELL) 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.

Yesterday hundreds of riders could be seen in their best 60s fashion pieces gathering on Madeira Drive.

Mods arriving in Madeira Drive (Image: Simon Dack) 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.

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.