COMPETITION 25 



being on pretty good terms with the smugglers who 

 carried on their operations with such audacity along 

 the Sussex coast. 



" After walking up Clayton Hill, a cup of tea was 

 sometimes found to be necessary at Patcham, after 

 which Brighton was safely reached at 7 p.m. It must 

 be understood that it was the custom for the passengers 

 to walk up all the hills, and even sometimes in heavy 

 weather to give a push behind to assist the jaded 

 horses." 



But it was not always so ideal or so idvllic. That 

 there were discomforts and accidents is evident from 

 the wordy warfare of advertisements that followed 

 upon the starting of the Royal Brighton Four Horse 

 Company in 1802. As a competitor with older firms, 

 it seems to have aroused much jealousy and slander, 

 if we may believe the following contemporary 

 advertisement : 



THE ROYAL BRIGHTON Four Horse Coach Company 

 beg leave to return their sincere thanks to their Friends and 

 the Public in general for the very liberal support they have 

 experienced since the starting of their Coaches, and assure 

 them it will always be their greatest study to have their 

 Coaches safe, with good Horses and sober careful Coachmen. 



They likewise wish to rectify a report in circulation of 

 their Coach having been overturned on Monday last, by 

 which a gentleman's leg w r as broken, &c., no such thing 

 having ever happened to either of their Coaches. The Fact 

 is it was one of the Blue Coaches instead of the Royal 

 New Coach. 



*** As several mistakes have happened, of their friends 

 being booked at other Coach offices, they are requested to 

 book themselves at the ROYAL NEW COACH OFFICE, 

 CATHERINE'S HEAD, 47, East Street. 



The coaching business grew rapidly, and in an 

 advertisement offering for sale a portion of the coaching 

 business at No. 1, North Street, it was stated that the 

 annual returns of this firm were more than £12,000 

 per annum, yielding from Christmas, 1794, to 



