Where Life Begins: Saying Hello to Connected Brighton
- 8 hours ago
- 6 min read
Introducing the Agora, Sussex's family-led fertility clinic as a proud partner of Connected Brighton
Today's blog comes from our VIP Connected100 Business Club members, the Agora — Sussex's largest independent fertility centre, with clinics in Brighton, Eastbourne and Worthing. Family-led and proudly independent, the Agora has spent almost twenty years helping people across Sussex build their families, with a national reputation for inclusive, values-led care. In this first blog, they introduce themselves: who they are, what they believe in, and how they might be able to support you, your family or your team.
We are delighted to be joining Connected Brighton as a business partner. For those who haven't yet met us, we're the Agora, Sussex's largest independent fertility centre, with clinics in Brighton, Eastbourne and Worthing. Our partnership with Connected Brighton has always felt like a perfectly natural alignment. We've had the pleasure of working with Lyndsey Clay for a few years now, and her warmth, energy and genuine commitment to bringing local people and businesses together is exactly the spirit we love being a part of. We're really looking forward to supporting the community she has built.
Over the coming months we'll be sharing a few blogs about the things we care about and the people we try to support. This first one is simply a hello: who we are, what we believe in, what we do and how we might be able to support you, your family or your team. (Keep an eye out, too, for our Pride blog and video to follow shortly.)
A clinic built as a family, for families
The Agora was founded in Hove in 2006 by Dr Carole Gilling-Smith, a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, academic researcher and pioneer in reproductive medicine. Almost twenty years on, we believe we are the UK's only family-led IVF clinic - Carole as CEO and Medical Director now works alongside her three children, with her husband having designed and built each of our clinic sites over the years.
That matters more than it might first appear when it comes to bespoke reproductive care. The Agora was never built to be sold like so many other privately owned fertility clinics; we've been built to last and stay true to our values. We're a proudly independent, clinician-founded and values-led clinic at a time when so much of private fertility care is becoming increasingly corporate and private equity funded. That means decisions at the Agora are made by people who answer to their patients and their conscience not to shareholders in some remote Boardroom who do not understand the emotional rollercoaster that accompanies so many fertility journeys.
We're grateful that this approach has been recognised in our local community: we were recognised at the 2024 Sussex Business Awards by winning Large Company of the Year and Carole being named CEO of the Year and at the 2025 Dynamic Awards Carole was further recognised as MD of the Year. But the recognition we treasure most can't be kept in a trophy cabinet – our greatest achievement is in the children who began their story with us, well over 5000 now, and the warmth with which so many families across Sussex speak about us and recommend us to the people they love.
Fertility care, genuinely on your doorstep
Our Brighton flagship Clinic in Dyke Road is home to one of the most advanced fertility laboratories in the South of England and where all the magic happens is known affectionately to our team and patients as the Rainbow Suite. Our Eastbourne clinic is equally impressive and boasts breathtaking views of the Sussex Downs whilst our monitoring clinic in Worthing overlooks the sea! Every stage of treatment, from your first consultation through ultrasound monitoring, egg collection, embryology, embryo transfer and aftercare, is carried out by our own 70-strong team, many of whom have been with us since our early days.
We offer IVF, ICSI, egg and sperm freezing, donor conception, surrogacy, and advanced genetic testing, and everything we do is based on the latest evidence-based techniques. We also believe in transparent, ethical pricing – we offer some of the lowest, all-inclusive IVF and egg freezing packages in the UK, which include advanced technologies that we believe genuinely improve outcomes, such as blastocyst culture, time-lapse embryo monitoring and EmbryoGlue (these are typically sold as costly 'add-ons' in most other IVF clinics). And alongside self-funded care, we have long provided substantial NHS-funded treatment to exactly the same standards, yes including all those 'add-ons' because we believe the chance to build a family should never depend solely on wealth or postcode. Our care is also Consultant led and personalised to your journey, with everything tailored to your needs and wishes.
Egg freezing: planning on your own terms
One area we're asked about more and more is egg freezing, and it's easy to see why. Whether you're focused on your career, haven't yet met the right person, are facing medical treatment that could affect your fertility, or simply want to keep your options open, freezing your eggs can give you time and peace of mind.
Egg freezing works best when it's an informed choice rather than a rushed one, so we start with a clear, honest conversation about what the process involves, typically after a fertility assessment. That conversation is about explaining the process, discussing what your individual chances realistically look like at your age, and what it costs, with no pressure and no jargon. Our job is to give you the facts, so the decision is genuinely yours.
Supporting you through menopause
Fertility is only one part of the reproductive health journey through life, and we're proud to support women from puberty through to the perimenopause and menopause. These are stages in a woman's life that can affect everything from sleep, mood and energy to relationships, confidence and work - far too many women have been left to simply get on with it.
In our dedicated menopause service for example, we offer expert, individualised menopause care, including evidence-based guidance on both hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and non-hormonal medication that may help with symptoms as well as exercise and nutrition tailored to your age and the needs this stage in your life requires. All this is delivered with the same warmth and straight-talking honesty as the rest of our care. Whether you're noticing the first subtle changes or are well into the transition, you deserve to feel informed, heard and supported.
Care for everyone
From our earliest days, the Agora has built thoughtful LGBTQIA+ pathways for same-sex couples, solo parents by choice, donor conception families, surrogacy journeys, and trans and non-binary people who too often felt overlooked elsewhere. Inclusivity isn't a recent addition for us; it's been part of who we are from the beginning, and we are now recognised as national leaders in inclusive fertility care. What we hope you'll feel, from the very first appointment, is safe and that someone genuinely understands and cares.
Let's stay connected
As part of the Connected Brighton community, we'd love to be a useful, friendly resource to individuals and couples, as well as businesses who champion workplace wellbeing. Whether that's answering a question, offering a talk for your team or network, or simply being here when you, a colleague or a loved one needs us. If anything here resonates, please do reach out. We're always happy to talk, and there's never any obligation.
We run dedicated regular Open Evenings at our Agora Brighton and Agora Eastbourne Clinics which are a useful way of gathering information about whatever treatment you might be interested in, meeting the team, and visiting the clinic. We also warmly welcome all telephone enquiries and if you wish we can also arrange a quick free Q & A session with our specialist team as well as a tour of our clinic. Our website is packed with useful information about our different services, as well as patient stories and blogs, so head over to www.agoraclinic.co.uk if you want to find out more.
Thank you, Lyndsey and Connected Brighton, for the warm welcome. We can't wait to get started.
The Agora Clinic
Brighton | Eastbourne | Worthing
01273 229410 | info@agoraclinic.co.uk
Comments