Brighton i360 Viewing Tower - Journey

This is smart, efficient and wonderful attraction that everyone should visit. Reasonably priced and bookable on line with a discount, this is well worth the time and money. Fantastic views at every level and there is a bar on board! If you can afford the ‘sky high’ prices. Don’t miss the exhibition at the end and take 5 minutes to watch the time-lapse construction video.

We were due to ascend the Brighton i360 on the 27-Aug-24 at 14:30, two adults and two children under ten. We arrived 20 minutes early at 14:10, as advised in the booking confirmation to pass through the airport style security and bag search. We were then held in the outside holding area where we waited for the pod to commence our journey. Whilst waiting it became evident the pod was suffering technical problems as it kept travelling up and down a few meters before returning to the entrance level, however the doors were not opening. We finally entered the pod around 15:05, 45 minutes after our scheduled trip and 65 minutes after we entered the holding pen. The communication from the i360 staff was poor and not proactive. Three members of staff milled around and didn’t once brief the collective customers. If approached they said the ride will start “soon”. I first asked them after 10 minutes of delay, and was told we will be onboard “soon”, evidently this took another 35 minutes. Here is where the health and safety problems started. Due to the delays and to stop the later trips being impacted the i360 staff let the next trip scheduled for 15:00 trip join the holding area. This caused the group to double in size and the area we were kept in didn’t have sufficient seating or shade for us all. I could see many customers, including my own children overheating and becoming very uncomfortable due to this decision. At no point did any staff check on the customers held in the holding pen. With the lack of meaningful information from the staff it was hard to make an informed decision about what to do. When we were about to abandon the trip and request a refund the pod finally opened and we were told we could enter. At this point the Deputy Manager appeared for the first time to welcome everyone on board. I queried the Deputy Manager on the cause of the delay and lack of info and was told bluntly “the ride is ready, get on board or I can give you a refund”, no apology offered for wasting our time or explanation as to why. It felt very rude given the inconvenience caused. Once inside the pod we all very very dehydrated due to the prolonged wait. I asked at the bar for our water bottles to be refilled and was told this wasn’t possible and I was told I would have to purchase water at £2/can. I then had to have a very uncomfortable argument with the bar staff to get a free drink as I didn’t want to pay the extortionate prices for water. I was then given a free drink, however this whole process soured the experience. It felt like they would have rather my children fainted from dehydration than give away free water. A organisation that put the health, safety and welfare of customers first would have made sure we were all ok during the prolonged wait, offered free water and limited the number of customers to keep us in the shade. Instead they used the delay to try and upsell more drinks. Aside from the poor reliability, poor communication and lacking welfare the views of Brighton were good. My advice to fellow travellers would be to pack more water than you expect, have clothes to cover up as you will be in the elements, and don’t make plans afterwards as it may take longer than you expect!

Booked to coincide with sunset. Superb views. Don’t book the drinks included. Unless you have the most expensive it’s just the same price to buy a G and T there which we did. The staff serving were lovely. Was our anniversary and they were great. Lots of space to walk around as you are not in a pod. Wonderful views of the setting Sun. Thoroughly recommend.

This was such a fun activity offering splendid views of Brighton, the coast and surroundings. We all really enjoyed it. The staff were excellent.

Joni was vrey nice person and kind person and she helpful and geogous person and vrey beautiful person she works so hard to