Quick Answer Brighton Marathon Weekend runs Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 April, with up to 20,000 participants across four events including the main 26.2-mile marathon on Sunday. Road closures will affect much of the city centre both days. Beyond the running, there’s live music at Concorde 2 and CHALK, a closing-night performance of Waitress at the Theatre Royal, and a stunning one-off classical concert at St George’s Church on Saturday evening.
Brighton Journal Local Angle Marathon weekend is one of those rare occasions when Brighton genuinely feels like a city rather than a town. The seafront transforms, the pubs fill by 9am, and there’s a particular kind of electric warmth to watching strangers cheer strangers past the finish line at Hove Lawns. If you’re not running, don’t stay home — get out and be part of it.
The Big One: Brighton Marathon Weekend
The Brighton Marathon Weekend takes place across Saturday and Sunday, with up to 20,000 participants expected across four events: the Brighton Miles, the Brighton & Hove 10K, the Brighton Trail Marathon, and the main 26.2-mile marathon. Brighton Journal The marathon starts at Preston Park and finishes on the seafront — a proper spectacle. Expect significant road closures across the city. The best spectator spots are along the seafront near Hove and at Preston Park. Brighton Insider
Saturday’s programme is more family-friendly — the Brighton Miles includes a Superhero wave open to all ages, and the atmosphere around Preston Park is festive from mid-morning. Sunday is when the city really holds its breath: the full marathon winds through the centre, past the Royal Pavilion, along the seafront and finishes at Hove Lawns. If you have a friend running, the finish line is the place to be from around 10am onwards.
Theatre: Last Chance for Waitress
Waitress at the Theatre Royal Brighton runs until Saturday 11 April ATG Tickets — so tonight is your final opportunity. The feel-good musical based on Adrienne Shelly’s film has been one of the Theatre Royal’s stronger recent productions, and Saturday’s closing night will have that particular charge that last performances always carry. Tickets are likely limited but worth checking at the box office directly.
Live Music
Saturday evening offers one of the more unusual concerts of the year: Hayao Miyazaki’s Dreams by Mystery Ensemble at St George’s Church, Brighton, at 8pm Ticketmaster — a classical reimagining of Studio Ghibli’s most beloved scores performed in one of the city’s most beautiful spaces. It’s the kind of show that sells out quietly and gets talked about for weeks afterwards.
Also on Saturday, Day Fever takes over Concorde 2 Songkick — the reliable seafront venue doing what it does best with a high-energy night that will still be going long after the marathon volunteers have packed up.
On Sunday, Creeper play CHALK and Cosmic Psychos headline the Green Door Store Songkick — two very different ends of the live music spectrum, both worth your time if the legs hold out after a day on the seafront.
Where to Eat
Marathon weekend is not the weekend to attempt a spontaneous walk-in at the popular spots on the seafront. Book ahead. For a proper post-spectating lunch, Silo on Church Road remains the most interesting kitchen in the city. For something faster and more casual, the North Laine cafés around Kensington Gardens are well-positioned relative to the road closure map and reliably good for a relaxed mid-morning brunch while the runners pass.
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