Long-term moorings in Brighton

Moorings in Brighton mean Brighton Marina, on the Sussex coast half a mile east of the city. It lies under white cliffs behind an east and a west breakwater, and opens straight onto the English Channel. Its entrance silts up and has to be dredged, which is the main thing to understand before keeping a boat here.

Moorings in Brighton

• Brighton Marina: run by Premier Marinas, with over 1,300 berths for yachts, motorboats and fishing craft. Reception is staffed 24 hours a day.
• Inner Harbour: the part of the marina behind lock gates on its east side. The lock works on demand from 7am to 7pm all year, with later lockings by arrangement in summer.
• Boatyard: on site and open all year, with a 60-tonne boat hoist, a static crane for mast and engine lifts, and cradle storage ashore.

On the water

• Entrance: a buoyed channel between the breakwaters, dredged to 1.7m below chart datum. Premier's notice of January 2026 says it was last dredged in mid-2025. The speed limit is five knots.
• Low water: Premier advises boats drawing more than 1m to wait at least two hours either side of low water before moving in the marina, because some areas are shallow.
• Heavy weather: sand banks build up on the south and east side of the eastern breakwater in storms. Many boats then approach from the south to avoid the backwash off the breakwaters.
• Radio: call the marina on VHF channel 80 or 37 before arriving, leaving or using the lock.

Silting and dredging

The marina needs regular dredging to stay open at all states of the tide. A ten-year licence to dredge and to place the silt off Rottingdean was granted in May 2025 and quashed in November 2025, after a legal challenge by Sussex Wildlife Trust. Premier's request for a one-year licence, made in January 2026, was on hold in September 2026.

Premier said in September 2026 that it hoped to apply in November 2026 to use a disposal site off Newhaven instead, and was aiming to start dredging again in spring 2027. Until then, read the marina's notices to mariners for the latest depths before choosing a berth for a deep-keeled boat.