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By William Shaw
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Richard Wolfströme
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by Standard 8
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Words William Shaw
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"Can we go in one that’s a bit more gay?"
The pub The Fortune of War predates almost all of the new businesses that revitalised the seafront arches in the 1990s. 157 King’s Road Arches
Sophie’s father came unprepared for the weather. He’s so cold they have to buy him an extra layer – a red No Fear hoodie. It’s hilarious to see it on her dad, the hood flying back up in the wind and him trying keep it back down.
She takes him to Doctor Brighton’s because he says he’s never been to a gay bar before in his life. Now his daughter’s a student in Brighton, he insists she shows him one.
He’s never really been around gay culture. He just wants to see.
They have a half there, but he’s not impressed. "Can we go in one that’s a bit more gay?" he asks, as if he was expecting people in a Brighton gay bar to be walking round in leather thongs or something.
So she takes him to Kemptown. What she likes about today is that her father has come alone – without his wife. Sophie’s parents divorced when she was just three. Growing up, she would go and visit him at weekends. Back then it would just be Sophie and dad; the two of them. Since he married again it’s never like that any more.
He actually came down to Sussex with his wife to see his brother-in-law; the trip’s not even about Sophie, it’s about his wife’s family. But it’s given them a chance to be together while she’s with her brother.
The St James is more gay. They stand out as different here. Over another half, dad winds her up in front of the other customers by flicking through a hardcore magazine, eyebrows raised, giving Sophie looks. He texts his wife: "Guess where we are!?"
Later they come down to The Fortune of War. The wind here wild, so strong you can lean right into it without falling. Dad’s red hoodie is flapping around his face, both of them laughing hysterically, wind whipping tears from their eyes.
At that moment she is thinking, "I’ll remember this for ever."
The older her dad gets the more she fears him leaving her, her being left with only memories like this.