Sussex By The Sea
Sussex Life|April 2019

From Hastings to Bognor, Sussex’s seafront is still thriving, as a new book by Allan Brodie of Historic England proves.

Jack Watkins
Sussex By The Sea

Anyone pessimistic about the plight of the British high street should take heart from the enduring spirit of the nation’s seaside towns, widely thought to have been on their last legs for years. “Seaside resorts, including those in Sussex, have been changing continuously for the past two or three centuries,” says Allan Brodie, senior investigator of Historic England and author of a generously illustrated new book The Seafront. He points out that talk of their decline has been a common theme since the 1970s ever since people started looking to the Med for their holidays. “They are still there, and still popular, and a walk along the seafronts of Brighton, Hastings, Worthing, Eastbourne and Bognor Regis shows most retails units to be occupied, at least during the summer season. There is still a dynamic quality to resorts around the coast.”

Brodie’s book conveys the contradictions and contrasting features of the fascinating, but not always easily definable area of English coastal resorts that lies between the seaward end of the pier and the first line of buildings along the promenade. He describes the seafront as: “familiar, yet unfamiliar, predictable but exciting, natural but artificial, relaxing and exciting, busy and quiet,” before tracing the evolution of something that has been part of our popular culture for more than 200 years. It’s also been the inspiration for many paintings and novels, notably Walter Sickert’s Pierrots, Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock, and Patrick Hamilton’s The West Pier.

This story is from the April 2019 edition of Sussex Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April 2019 edition of Sussex Life.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM SUSSEX LIFEView All
TAKE YOUR TIME
Sussex Life

TAKE YOUR TIME

Dean Edwards’ new cookbook features delectable recipes that you can slow cook or stick in the oven. Here’s a selection of the best

time-read
7 mins  |
November 2020
Decorative art
Sussex Life

Decorative art

Not simply functional, treat your walls like an extension of your personality

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2020
ON THE FRONT FOOT
Sussex Life

ON THE FRONT FOOT

The rugby legend took the reins at Sussex County Cricket Club in 2017, rekindling his love for a sport that first won his heart on the village cricket fields of North Yorkshire

time-read
8 mins  |
November 2020
NAKED AMBITION
Sussex Life

NAKED AMBITION

In the 1980s, Christine and Jennifer Binnie partied with Boy George and Marilyn and bared all as performance art collective The Neo-Naturists. Now they are working together to gain the recognition they feel they deserve

time-read
5 mins  |
November 2020
ROCKET MAN
Sussex Life

ROCKET MAN

Astronaut Tim Peake has come a long way since growing up in Westbourne and attending Chichester High School for Boys: 248 miles above Earth, to be precise. But, he says, life on the International Space Station has a lot in common with family caravanning holidays

time-read
6 mins  |
November 2020
Revolution man
Sussex Life

Revolution man

Lewes’ most famous resident Thomas Paine may be the greatest propagandist who ever lived. But how did a humble customs and excise officer ignite the touchpaper for revolution in not one but two countries?

time-read
8 mins  |
November 2020
THE DIARY
Sussex Life

THE DIARY

17 exciting things to do this month in East and West Sussex

time-read
8 mins  |
November 2020
All in a day's work
Sussex Life

All in a day's work

Meet Tim Dummer, who has helped keep Midhurst’s Cowdray Estate shipshape for an impressive five decades

time-read
3 mins  |
November 2020
My favourite Sussex
Sussex Life

My favourite Sussex

Bruce Fogle is an author and a vet with a practice in London who has lived in West Sussex with his wife, the actress Julia Foster, since 1989. He recently became president of RSPCA Mount Noddy near Chichester

time-read
2 mins  |
November 2020
10 OF THE BEST Meat-free restaurants in Brighton and Hove
Sussex Life

10 OF THE BEST Meat-free restaurants in Brighton and Hove

Brighton is often rated one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the UK. What these restaurants prove is that plant-based food doesn’t have to be puritanical – at all of these places you’ll find big flavours and a desire to push the envelope

time-read
4 mins  |
November 2020