[1] With a launching statement describing its aim as "giving a voice to ordinary people"[2] the first issue was published in March 1973.

Before the arrival of Desktop Publishing it was typed, with the typewritten sections pasted up onto master sheets using Cow Gum, with headlines in Letraset.

[4] Subsequently, editorial meetings were held at the "Open Café”, an anarchist, whole-foods restaurant on Victoria Road in Brighton.

In 1976 the local Conservative Member of Parliament, Andrew Bowden, wrote to all the newsagents in his constituency advising them not to sell the Voice because the collective included "a number of left-wing extremists" responsible for "churning out deliberate lies and political filth".

Two years later, local fascists responded to the Voice's campaign against the National Front by smashing windows of some newsagents.

Unlike some other alternative newspapers in the UK the Voice received an insignificant proportion of its income from paid advertising.

[6] It concentrated on the scandalous housing situation in the town and was one of the first to highlight the practices of some Brighton landlords, most notably Nicholas Hoogstraten who subsequently spent time in gaol.

The Unemployed Workers Union published Doleful News as an insert and fully produced Issue 81 of the Voice.

The paper developed close relationships with local union leaders, which led to copies of the Trades Council Bulletin being incorporated in the Voice.

Initially it was considered inappropriate to edit contributions, but it was quickly realised that such an approach would lead to an unsaleable paper.

[8] Members of the collective at one time or another included Steve Bassam, who was Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords in 2008–09; Rod Kedward, a noted history professor at the University of Sussex; the investigative journalist Duncan Campbell, Mike Scott, a Brighton Social Worker and the journalist Val Hennessy.

One count reported that at least seven Voice contributors eventually ended up working in the national media,[4] including the BBC.

Other local journalists including Roy Greenslade, who subsequently became editor of the Daily Mirror, also provided tips.