Brighton's Wilson Avenue tip opens 8am to 4.30pm weekdays and 9am to 5pm at weekends. Hove shuts at 1.30pm on Saturday and Sunday. ID rules and Christmas hours.
Brighton tip opening times differ between the city’s two household waste recycling sites. The Brighton site off Wilson Avenue in Whitehawk is open seven days a week including bank holidays; the Hove site on Modbury Way, off the Old Shoreham Road, shuts at lunchtime at weekends and closes on bank holidays altogether. Neither needs a booking, but both check photo ID and a proof of address at the gate. Everything below comes from the council’s own pages, with last year’s Christmas hours as the guide to this year’s.
The quick answer
- Brighton (Wilson Avenue, BN2 5PA): 8am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays.
- Hove (Modbury Way, BN3 7AE): 8am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 1.30pm Saturday, 10.30am to 1.30pm Sunday, closed bank holidays.
- Bring a photo driving licence showing your Brighton & Hove address plus a proof of address dated within three months. No booking needed. Trailers only at Hove, and only up to 1.2m.
Opening hours
| Day | Brighton, off Wilson Avenue, Whitehawk BN2 5PA | Hove, Modbury Way off Old Shoreham Road BN3 7AE |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday | 8am to 4.30pm | 8am to 4.30pm |
| Saturday | 9am to 5pm | 8.30am to 1.30pm |
| Sunday | 9am to 5pm | 10.30am to 1.30pm |
| Bank holidays | 9am to 5pm | Closed |
Two warnings from the council’s recycling sites page are worth knowing before you set off. Staff “may close the main gates up to 45 minutes before the published closing time, to clear vehicles already queuing on site”, so a 4.30pm close can mean a 3.45pm gate. And you are asked to “only queue on the smaller access roads leading to the tips, not the major approach roads”: Wilson Avenue itself for Brighton, and the side road rather than the Old Shoreham Road at Hove. The Hove entrance is between Aldrington Avenue and Leighton Road.
Christmas and New Year hours
The council set these hours for both sites over Christmas 2025, in its festive collections release: Christmas Eve 8am to 1pm; Christmas Day and Boxing Day closed; New Year’s Eve 8am to 1pm; New Year’s Day closed. Note that the Brighton site, which normally opens on bank holidays, closed on all three of those days. The 2026 hours will be confirmed in the council’s Christmas release, expected in mid December, and will be added here. Real Christmas trees can be taken to either site; there are also drop-off points across the city, covered on our Christmas bin collections page.
What to bring: the ID rule
There is no booking system and no permit scheme, but there is an identity check. The council’s access page asks for a “photo ID driving licence that shows your Brighton & Hove address plus a matching proof of residency that must be dated within the last three months”. A bank statement, council tax bill, tenancy or mortgage agreement or a utility bill all count as the second document.
- Vans: two forms of ID, such as a driving licence and a recent utility or council tax bill, both proving a Brighton & Hove address. A hired van needs the rental agreement as well and must be within the size limits. Anyone in the van with you who is bringing waste needs their own ID.
- Banned vehicles: anything of 3,500kg gross weight or more, Luton vans, box bodies, flatbeds, tippers, dropsides, trailers over 1.2m and commercial vehicles carrying business signage.
- Trailers: allowed at Hove only, up to 1.2m (4ft), during normal hours. “Trailers are not permitted at our Brighton site at any time.”
- On foot or by bike: pedestrians can use the Hove site by the marked route from St Joseph’s Close. There is no walking route into the Brighton site, so pedestrians cannot use it. Bikes and cargo bikes can enter either site but “must queue along with cars and vans in the main queuing lane”.
What you can take
The council’s accepted items list covers the usual household range: paper, glass, cans, cardboard, plastics, textiles, electricals including TVs, washing machines and fridges, garden waste, timber, scrap metal, paint and engine oil. Limits and exceptions:
- Rubble and soil: up to eight standard rubble bags a month, with a maximum bag size of 50 litres.
- Plasterboard: four sheets per visit.
- Bonded asbestos: up to four bags at the Hove site only, double-wrapped in plastic, with two forms of ID. Larger amounts need a registered asbestos waste carrier.
- Not accepted: builders’ waste from commercial jobs, business waste, petrol and diesel, and invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed and ragwort.
Kerbside alternatives
If the trip is not worth it, the day-to-day rules for your own bins are on our bin collection days page, and the move to fortnightly refuse rounds is on the fortnightly collections page. Check roadworks and travel and parking before a weekend run to Wilson Avenue, when the queue can back up.
Still to be confirmed
- The 2026 Christmas and New Year hours, expected in the council’s mid-December release.
- Whether any charges apply to rubble, plasterboard, tyres or asbestos: the council page names them as charged materials but does not print prices.
Sources: Brighton & Hove City Council: Our household waste recycling sites, How to access our sites, What you can and can’t take, Christmas and new year collection dates 2025.
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