North Laine

The North Laine is a compact grid of narrow Victorian streets characterized by a dense concentration of independent shops, cafes, and record stores. While visitors often mistake the name for a reference to narrow lanes, the term originates from an Old English word for a large, open field. Until the early nineteenth century, this area functioned as one of five agricultural tracts used to grow wheat and barley to feed the population of what was then a small, developing seaside town.