Bognor Regis
“Bognor Regis” I reply when asked where I live. After the slightest pause, my questioner responds “How nice!” Her anxiety leaves our conversation becalmed. This is because the seaside town of Bognor Regis is a national joke, and my response to her question a curveball.
The joke results from the juxtaposition of the words Bognor and Regis. The name Bognor, which by itself sounds a bit silly, didn’t deter the well heeled from visiting. Thus, George V came to recuperate in 1929. This led the town to issue a perhaps misguided request to add the word Regis (meaning of the King) to its already slightly silly name. If that didn’t seal its fate, the story that the King later uttered the words “Bugger Bognor!” certainly did. He said this, depending upon whom you believe, in response to the town’s request to use the royal suffix, or with his last dying breath, or not at all.
Today, it’s as if Bognor has been sprayed with a generous coating of anti-toff™. Aspirant members of the middle classes wouldn’t dream of taking the beach in Bognor. Instead they flock to the Witterings, which are about 10 miles to the west as the crow flies. As a result, all roads to the Witterings become jammed with traffic for miles when the sun shines, making life a misery for residents. Admittedly, the Witterings have a sandy beach whereas at Bognor the sand is exposed only at low tide. However, the sand hardly compensates the Witterings for the traffic and insufficient parking.
Most of Bognor’s tourism is hoovered up by Butlins, an affordable, all-inclusive, seaside holiday resort. Aside from “Bugger Bognor”, one other thing many Brits know about Bognor is that it has a Butlins. This is located on the town’s eastern edge, in the gap between Bognor and neighbour Felpham (pronounced Fel-fim). Butlins is surrounded by a fence. Consequently, Bognor benefits little from Butlins, beyond the fact that Butlins is the town’s biggest employer, mostly of employees paid at the minimum wage.
Other hotels in Bognor struggle. The Royal Hotel, a handsome Victorian seaside building, closed several years ago and has been rusting and empty since. For the time being a sign advertises that it has been sold. Not far away, the Royal Norfolk Hotel, a handsome Georgian building, has seen better days. A few miles west in the parish of Pagham, what was several years ago the Kings Beach Hotel is now a small Co-op grocery.
If Bognor has suffered economically from its national joke status and thick coating of anti-toff™, there are silver linings. It’s perhaps the least pretentious town in England, despite its Royal suffix. Prices are reasonable. Traffic is less of a problem than at desirable coastal destinations, although it is a concern for outbound commuters, as not many roads connect Bognor to the A27. The town is big enough to have several supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Lidl, Marks & Spencer) and most of the other shops and services people need, all easily accessible if you have a car.
And then there’s the sea. The Bognor Regis Promenade runs for 2.75 miles along the shore from the western edge of Bognor to the eastern edge of Felpham. The promenade is shared by pedestrians, dog walkers and cyclists. A rollerblade excursion from the Waverley Pub to the Lobster Pot beach cafe and back is enough to exhaust my almost teen children. Part of the reason the promenade’s shared use works so well is that it isn’t too busy.
I incorporate the promenade in my runs and my heart lifts when I reach it. As you proceed from the west, you’ll pass multi coloured beach huts, pubs, attractive Victorian buildings, yellow exercise stands (interspersed at intervals), the Bognor Regis Sailing Club, green spaces and gardens, the Pier, fishing boats, a rock shop, a casino, a fish and chips shop, children’s play areas, an old bandstand, a jetski slipway, Butlins, quirky bungalows, the Lobster Pot beach cafe, Felpham Sailing Club with its Boat House Cafe, and a row of skyblue beach huts each with a bright yellow door. But mostly it’s about the sea, the fresh air, the big sky and the ever changing coastal weather.
To its west, the promenade ends at Aldwick, a parish older than Bognor. Technically, I live in Aldwick, which is also technically where George V recuperated, but that didn’t stop Bognor from laying claim to the Regis suffix. It seems fitting to tell people I live in Bognor Regis. In any case, nobody has heard of Aldwick.
Along the length of Aldwick’s shoreline is a string of private housing estates: the Aldwick Avenue Estate, the Craigweil Estate, the Aldwick Bay Estate, among others. Some of the houses are extravagant, gardens tend to be lush and beautiful, and there are many trees, with a thriving population of green and great spotted woodpeckers.
These estates were presumably once part of large country estates that got subdivided. At any rate, the Craigweil Estate was once the grounds of Craigweil House, built by the Countess of Newburgh in the 18th Century. It was demolished in 1938 after a fire. Craigweil House is where George V recuperated in 1929. Today, a blue plaque marks the spot.
Occasionally, I hear about celebrities seduced by Aldwick’s charms. Unlike West Wittering’s Keith Richards, Aldwick’s celebrities tend to fly under the radar. A tradesman tells me Robert Smith (The Cure) was one of his regular clients - great bloke, so considerate and polite.
If, where the Bognor Regis Promenade ends and Aldwick begins, you continue west along the pebbles (at low tide, you may prefer the sea sand), you will be walking along Aldwick’s privately owned beaches, although there is a public right of way. Soon enough, you’ll pass a glass and timber Huf Haus. In the sea near the Huf Haus, exposed at low tide, are the remains of a D-Day Mulberry Harbour that never made it to Normandy. Children play around it, looking for crabs and other beach finds.
Further on, there’s a walkway through and around the Bognor Rocks, which become impassable at high tide. When that happens, you can get around the rocks by walking up Dark Lane past Strange Garden (a private housing estate), turning left into Craigweil Lane and heading back to the beach along a pedestrian footpath when you reach the sign for Aldwick Hundred, a magnificent Grade II listed house that can be admired from the shore.
The shoreline here is lovely, with an abundance of sea kale during the warmer months and beautiful wild flowers in spring. Indeed, all the way from Bognor Pier to the eastern edge of Selsey, the beach forms part of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (being the Bognor Reef SSSI and the Pagham Harbour SSSI).
Aldwick’s share of this shoreline runs for just over 1.5 miles, after which, continuing west, one reaches Pagham. Here the often large seaside houses of Aldwick, each separated from the beach by a generous garden, yield to smaller bungalows fronting directly onto the pebbles. Some of these are simple but attractive shacks, while others are more aspirational modern units. Continuing west, Pagham becomes ever more remote and wild. Behind the beach bungalows, roads haven’t been made up.
Pagham has been in the news because its beaches have been stripped away by the tidal flows in and out of Pagham Harbour, putting houses at risk. The unstable shoreline around Pagham Harbour changes endlessly from month to month. For centuries, the coast here has resisted human attempts to manage it.
Pagham Harbour was once a large working harbour between Pagham and Selsey. In 1876 the harbour entrance was artificially closed and much of the land was reclaimed as pasture. In 1910 the shingle barrier was breached by a storm and the harbour flooded again.
Today it’s a haven for coastal birds and is known for thousands of Brent Geese migrating from the north for the winter. The harbour has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It’s managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which has a visitor centre close to Sidlesham.
If you could simply cross the harbour’s narrow entrance (but don’t even think about it), Selsey would be an easy walk away on the other side. Instead, it’s about a 7.5 mile walk to go from one side of the harbour mouth to the other, or a 15 mile round trip.
It’s worth it, if you have a day to spare and it hasn’t been raining too much (otherwise boggy patches make it difficult), perhaps stopping for lunch at the Crab & Lobster Pub in Sidlesham. The first time I did this walk, I accidentally sunk to my knee into what seemed a fetid mixture of mud and bird excrement, less than 200 yards from the pub. Thankfully, I was warmly welcomed inside for lunch, my sorry state notwithstanding.
Bognor’s combination of natural coastal beauty, anti-toff™ and easily accessible shops and facilities combine to make it, in many ways, a perfect place to live. “You’ll never want to leave” my neighbour informed me when I told her I was contemplating moving here permanently.
Many Eastern Europeans have reached a similar conclusion. I learned this first from the delighted reaction of the team of Polish movers packing up the contents of my London home when they heard their destination was Bognor. They were keen to make the most of their trip there.
Bognor’s Eastern European population was the subject of the Channel 4 documentary “British Workers Wanted”, which followed two Leave-voting Bognor women trying to attract Brits to join their recruitment agency to plug gaps caused by Eastern European workers leaving Brexit Britain. Their quest failed dismally. Local sources of employment favoured by Eastern European workers include Butlins, nearby farms and a plethora of residential care homes.
While Bognor is, in many ways, a perfect place to live, it has its drawbacks. There’s not much happening culturally, there are neither good restaurants nor decent coffee, the average age is well higher than the national average and, as Channel 4’s documentary suggested, this truly is Brexit Britain. In the 2017 general election, the Conservatives and UKIP won 62.6% of the vote. Union Jacks are everywhere. There’s one flying in the garden a few houses away.
Bognor’s deficiencies when it comes to culture, restaurants and coffee are mitigated by Chichester, 7 miles north west and about a 15 minute car journey, traffic permitting. Chichester is like a mini London, shrunk to a population of, say, 25,000. It has the Chichester Festival Theatre, the Pallant House Gallery, a University (part of the campus of which is located in Bognor), a Cathedral, Roman ruins, City Walls and a decent array of restaurants and shops.
Comparisons with London shouldn’t be stretched. Chichester doesn’t have a young or dynamic population. It’s not exactly progressive. Tory MP Gillian Keegan said a second Brexit referendum would create “decades of division" in Britain and would be the “worst thing that we could do”. Chichester’s population is restlessly pretentious. Occasionally, I find myself in one of Chichester’s supermarkets and usually regret it. A noticeable number of shoppers seem pushy and aggressive.
By contrast, the people of Bognor are warm, friendly and relaxed. While its minority demographic comprises hard working Eastern Europeans, the majority comprises Brits, a significant number of whom are not working, whether because they are retired, workshy or unable. Ostensibly, everyone gets along nicely. People are happy to stop and chat. Drivers are cautious and deferential to one another.
However, conversations with local Brits may take a dark, conspiratorial turn. In the popular Pagham Beach Cafe with its Anglo-Americana decor and ever changing roster of young waitresses, a discussion about its history segues unexpectedly into an exchange of opinions on immigration. Ever since, the establishment has been known to me and visiting friends as the Brexit Cafe. It hasn’t stopped us eating there, because the breakfasts hit the spot. When I tell the barber cutting my hair about my plan to create this blog post, she refers darkly to recent crimes involving Eastern Europeans. It’s hard to reconcile this simmering resentment with my peaceful interactions with almost everyone I meet.
Bognor Regis has endured two centuries of rapid change. When William Blake came to the area in 1800 to stay for three years, a period said to have inspired his anthem Jerusalem (“And was the holy Lamb of God on England’s pleasant pastures seen?”), Bognor scarcely existed. Blake stayed in a cottage in Felpham, marked today by a blue plaque, and visited the nearby Fox Inn. The self-guided William Blake Trail, created by the students from Felpham Community College, takes one on a pleasant walk around the area.
Around the time of William Blake’s stay, Bognor was little more than a hamlet of farmhouses close to the sea, surrounded by the more substantial parishes of Aldwick, Bersted and Felpham. Towards the end of 18th Century, a London property developer called Sir Richard Hotham spotted an opportunity to capitalise on the demand among the affluent for seaside summer holidays. He bought land in Bognor and its surrounds and developed a resort, which he called Hothampton. The name didn’t stick, but he succeeded in putting Bognor on the map as a seaside summer holiday destination.
One needed to be affluent to holiday in Bognor, as there was no railway line. This changed when Bognor’s own station opened on 1 June 1864. RC Sherriff’s book The Fortnight in September, published in 1931 and based on the author’s visit, describes a family’s annual two week holiday here. It recreates a vivid picture of Bognor as a vibrant, bustling town. Bognor’s little museum (worth a visit) has a photo from the 1950s of tiers of deckchairs filled with sunseekers lining the pier, three or more rows deep.
Although many of the buildings from those times survive, it’s hard to reconcile these scenes of vitality with today’s sense of dilapidation. From the 1960s, affordable air travel opened up Spanish and other more attractive seaside destinations and Bognor suffered a fate similar to that of many other once thriving British seaside towns.
Despite the setback, the town is fortunate to have an economic substance to it that other seaside towns may lack. People go about their business, shops have customers, schools have children, gyms have pilates classes, commuters head out in the morning (I often wonder where) and life goes on.
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| A winter view of the Bognor shoreline from Aldwick |
The joke results from the juxtaposition of the words Bognor and Regis. The name Bognor, which by itself sounds a bit silly, didn’t deter the well heeled from visiting. Thus, George V came to recuperate in 1929. This led the town to issue a perhaps misguided request to add the word Regis (meaning of the King) to its already slightly silly name. If that didn’t seal its fate, the story that the King later uttered the words “Bugger Bognor!” certainly did. He said this, depending upon whom you believe, in response to the town’s request to use the royal suffix, or with his last dying breath, or not at all.
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| Wikipedia tells us Bognor is one of the oldest recorded Anglo-Saxon place names in Sussex. In a document of 680 AD it is referred to as Bucgan ora meaning Bucge's (a female anglo-saxon name) shore, or landing place |
Today, it’s as if Bognor has been sprayed with a generous coating of anti-toff™. Aspirant members of the middle classes wouldn’t dream of taking the beach in Bognor. Instead they flock to the Witterings, which are about 10 miles to the west as the crow flies. As a result, all roads to the Witterings become jammed with traffic for miles when the sun shines, making life a misery for residents. Admittedly, the Witterings have a sandy beach whereas at Bognor the sand is exposed only at low tide. However, the sand hardly compensates the Witterings for the traffic and insufficient parking.
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| An aerial view of Bognor's beach huts, with Marine Park Gardens behind |
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| An installation on the roof of the Navigator Hotel. The Navigator and its neighbour The Waverley are worth a visit for pub food and a drink while enjoying the view out to sea |
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| The area is criss-crossed by paths. It takes a while to figure out routes through the maze of curved roads and cul-de-sacs |
Most of Bognor’s tourism is hoovered up by Butlins, an affordable, all-inclusive, seaside holiday resort. Aside from “Bugger Bognor”, one other thing many Brits know about Bognor is that it has a Butlins. This is located on the town’s eastern edge, in the gap between Bognor and neighbour Felpham (pronounced Fel-fim). Butlins is surrounded by a fence. Consequently, Bognor benefits little from Butlins, beyond the fact that Butlins is the town’s biggest employer, mostly of employees paid at the minimum wage.
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| Butlins |
Other hotels in Bognor struggle. The Royal Hotel, a handsome Victorian seaside building, closed several years ago and has been rusting and empty since. For the time being a sign advertises that it has been sold. Not far away, the Royal Norfolk Hotel, a handsome Georgian building, has seen better days. A few miles west in the parish of Pagham, what was several years ago the Kings Beach Hotel is now a small Co-op grocery.
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| The Royal Hotel, now closed |
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| The Royal Norfolk Hotel |
If Bognor has suffered economically from its national joke status and thick coating of anti-toff™, there are silver linings. It’s perhaps the least pretentious town in England, despite its Royal suffix. Prices are reasonable. Traffic is less of a problem than at desirable coastal destinations, although it is a concern for outbound commuters, as not many roads connect Bognor to the A27. The town is big enough to have several supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Lidl, Marks & Spencer) and most of the other shops and services people need, all easily accessible if you have a car.
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| What more do you want? |
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| Bargains to be had |
And then there’s the sea. The Bognor Regis Promenade runs for 2.75 miles along the shore from the western edge of Bognor to the eastern edge of Felpham. The promenade is shared by pedestrians, dog walkers and cyclists. A rollerblade excursion from the Waverley Pub to the Lobster Pot beach cafe and back is enough to exhaust my almost teen children. Part of the reason the promenade’s shared use works so well is that it isn’t too busy.
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| Aerial shot of the Bognor Regis Promenade |
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| Promenade is shared use |
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| Keep your eyes open, because you never know what you might see |
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| No need to fight for beach space. These gulls were attracted by leftover food |
I incorporate the promenade in my runs and my heart lifts when I reach it. As you proceed from the west, you’ll pass multi coloured beach huts, pubs, attractive Victorian buildings, yellow exercise stands (interspersed at intervals), the Bognor Regis Sailing Club, green spaces and gardens, the Pier, fishing boats, a rock shop, a casino, a fish and chips shop, children’s play areas, an old bandstand, a jetski slipway, Butlins, quirky bungalows, the Lobster Pot beach cafe, Felpham Sailing Club with its Boat House Cafe, and a row of skyblue beach huts each with a bright yellow door. But mostly it’s about the sea, the fresh air, the big sky and the ever changing coastal weather.
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| Olde Bognor Rock Shop next to Cassino Amusement Centre |
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| Beach huts at Felpham |
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| Endlessly changing skies over the endless sea |
To its west, the promenade ends at Aldwick, a parish older than Bognor. Technically, I live in Aldwick, which is also technically where George V recuperated, but that didn’t stop Bognor from laying claim to the Regis suffix. It seems fitting to tell people I live in Bognor Regis. In any case, nobody has heard of Aldwick.
Along the length of Aldwick’s shoreline is a string of private housing estates: the Aldwick Avenue Estate, the Craigweil Estate, the Aldwick Bay Estate, among others. Some of the houses are extravagant, gardens tend to be lush and beautiful, and there are many trees, with a thriving population of green and great spotted woodpeckers.
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| If ever the Beeb or C4 makes a version of The Stepford Wives, they should consider setting it on the Aldwick Bay Estate |
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| The Drive on the Craigweil Estate |
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| I wish I knew the make of these two trees. They're a useful landmark for mariners |
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| Look out for woodpeckers. Their distinctive call can often be heard in Aldwick |
These estates were presumably once part of large country estates that got subdivided. At any rate, the Craigweil Estate was once the grounds of Craigweil House, built by the Countess of Newburgh in the 18th Century. It was demolished in 1938 after a fire. Craigweil House is where George V recuperated in 1929. Today, a blue plaque marks the spot.
Occasionally, I hear about celebrities seduced by Aldwick’s charms. Unlike West Wittering’s Keith Richards, Aldwick’s celebrities tend to fly under the radar. A tradesman tells me Robert Smith (The Cure) was one of his regular clients - great bloke, so considerate and polite.
If, where the Bognor Regis Promenade ends and Aldwick begins, you continue west along the pebbles (at low tide, you may prefer the sea sand), you will be walking along Aldwick’s privately owned beaches, although there is a public right of way. Soon enough, you’ll pass a glass and timber Huf Haus. In the sea near the Huf Haus, exposed at low tide, are the remains of a D-Day Mulberry Harbour that never made it to Normandy. Children play around it, looking for crabs and other beach finds.
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| A Huf Haus. They're prefabricated in Hartenfels, Germany. From time to time, I've harboured a secret lust for one of these |
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| In the background on the right, one of the Mulberry Harbours that never left the area. These sections of a floating harbour system were collected in the bay in preparation for the Normandy landings in June 1944. Several broke free in a storm. This one washed up on the beach and another sunk off the coast of Pagham. Both are visible at low tide |
Further on, there’s a walkway through and around the Bognor Rocks, which become impassable at high tide. When that happens, you can get around the rocks by walking up Dark Lane past Strange Garden (a private housing estate), turning left into Craigweil Lane and heading back to the beach along a pedestrian footpath when you reach the sign for Aldwick Hundred, a magnificent Grade II listed house that can be admired from the shore.
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| The rocks at Strange Garden. This section of beach becomes impassable at high tide |
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| Occasionally a storm surge will batter the sea wall at Strange Garden |
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| Aldwick Hundred |
The shoreline here is lovely, with an abundance of sea kale during the warmer months and beautiful wild flowers in spring. Indeed, all the way from Bognor Pier to the eastern edge of Selsey, the beach forms part of two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (being the Bognor Reef SSSI and the Pagham Harbour SSSI).
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| Sea kale on the beach, visible during the warmer months |
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| The flowers on the beach in spring are breathtaking |
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| This seal apparently got lost in Pagham Harbour for a while. Here it was swimming off the beach in Aldwick. I don't know where the rest of the colony was |
Aldwick’s share of this shoreline runs for just over 1.5 miles, after which, continuing west, one reaches Pagham. Here the often large seaside houses of Aldwick, each separated from the beach by a generous garden, yield to smaller bungalows fronting directly onto the pebbles. Some of these are simple but attractive shacks, while others are more aspirational modern units. Continuing west, Pagham becomes ever more remote and wild. Behind the beach bungalows, roads haven’t been made up.
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| Winter view of Pagham from Aldwick |
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| Another view west across the bay from Aldwick, with the higher ground of the Isle of Wight visible in the background. Lobster pots like the one in the foreground wash up onto the beach after storms. Arrays off them just off shore are used to catch lobsters and crabs. On the Isle of Wight, Bembridge is the closest port. It can be reached from here if you have a boat, or even a jet ski if you're feeling brave, by crossing the busy shipping channel through the Solent. Bembridge has no harbour fees, but it's not navigable at low tide. The currents around Selsey are sometimes intimidating, and can be avoided by taking a wider line out to sea |
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| Along the beach at Pagham, charming bungalows like this one rub shoulders with more substantial single storey houses |
Pagham has been in the news because its beaches have been stripped away by the tidal flows in and out of Pagham Harbour, putting houses at risk. The unstable shoreline around Pagham Harbour changes endlessly from month to month. For centuries, the coast here has resisted human attempts to manage it.
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| This picture taken in February 2016 shows the channel connecting Pagham Harbour to the sea. Large volumes of water passed through this channel as the tide ebbed and flowed, stripping the beach along the coast. The bar between the channel and the sea was dug through so the sea water could go straight out. |
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| This picture taken in March 2019, shows the channel dammed off, but the coastline remains unstable. |
Pagham Harbour was once a large working harbour between Pagham and Selsey. In 1876 the harbour entrance was artificially closed and much of the land was reclaimed as pasture. In 1910 the shingle barrier was breached by a storm and the harbour flooded again.
Today it’s a haven for coastal birds and is known for thousands of Brent Geese migrating from the north for the winter. The harbour has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It’s managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which has a visitor centre close to Sidlesham.
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| An aerial view out to sea over Pagham Harbour |
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| Thousands of marine birds live or migrate here |
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| Shelduck |
If you could simply cross the harbour’s narrow entrance (but don’t even think about it), Selsey would be an easy walk away on the other side. Instead, it’s about a 7.5 mile walk to go from one side of the harbour mouth to the other, or a 15 mile round trip.
It’s worth it, if you have a day to spare and it hasn’t been raining too much (otherwise boggy patches make it difficult), perhaps stopping for lunch at the Crab & Lobster Pub in Sidlesham. The first time I did this walk, I accidentally sunk to my knee into what seemed a fetid mixture of mud and bird excrement, less than 200 yards from the pub. Thankfully, I was warmly welcomed inside for lunch, my sorry state notwithstanding.
Bognor’s combination of natural coastal beauty, anti-toff™ and easily accessible shops and facilities combine to make it, in many ways, a perfect place to live. “You’ll never want to leave” my neighbour informed me when I told her I was contemplating moving here permanently.
Many Eastern Europeans have reached a similar conclusion. I learned this first from the delighted reaction of the team of Polish movers packing up the contents of my London home when they heard their destination was Bognor. They were keen to make the most of their trip there.
Bognor’s Eastern European population was the subject of the Channel 4 documentary “British Workers Wanted”, which followed two Leave-voting Bognor women trying to attract Brits to join their recruitment agency to plug gaps caused by Eastern European workers leaving Brexit Britain. Their quest failed dismally. Local sources of employment favoured by Eastern European workers include Butlins, nearby farms and a plethora of residential care homes.
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| Polski sklep |
While Bognor is, in many ways, a perfect place to live, it has its drawbacks. There’s not much happening culturally, there are neither good restaurants nor decent coffee, the average age is well higher than the national average and, as Channel 4’s documentary suggested, this truly is Brexit Britain. In the 2017 general election, the Conservatives and UKIP won 62.6% of the vote. Union Jacks are everywhere. There’s one flying in the garden a few houses away.
Bognor’s deficiencies when it comes to culture, restaurants and coffee are mitigated by Chichester, 7 miles north west and about a 15 minute car journey, traffic permitting. Chichester is like a mini London, shrunk to a population of, say, 25,000. It has the Chichester Festival Theatre, the Pallant House Gallery, a University (part of the campus of which is located in Bognor), a Cathedral, Roman ruins, City Walls and a decent array of restaurants and shops.
Comparisons with London shouldn’t be stretched. Chichester doesn’t have a young or dynamic population. It’s not exactly progressive. Tory MP Gillian Keegan said a second Brexit referendum would create “decades of division" in Britain and would be the “worst thing that we could do”. Chichester’s population is restlessly pretentious. Occasionally, I find myself in one of Chichester’s supermarkets and usually regret it. A noticeable number of shoppers seem pushy and aggressive.
By contrast, the people of Bognor are warm, friendly and relaxed. While its minority demographic comprises hard working Eastern Europeans, the majority comprises Brits, a significant number of whom are not working, whether because they are retired, workshy or unable. Ostensibly, everyone gets along nicely. People are happy to stop and chat. Drivers are cautious and deferential to one another.
However, conversations with local Brits may take a dark, conspiratorial turn. In the popular Pagham Beach Cafe with its Anglo-Americana decor and ever changing roster of young waitresses, a discussion about its history segues unexpectedly into an exchange of opinions on immigration. Ever since, the establishment has been known to me and visiting friends as the Brexit Cafe. It hasn’t stopped us eating there, because the breakfasts hit the spot. When I tell the barber cutting my hair about my plan to create this blog post, she refers darkly to recent crimes involving Eastern Europeans. It’s hard to reconcile this simmering resentment with my peaceful interactions with almost everyone I meet.
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| Pagham Beach Cafe |
Bognor Regis has endured two centuries of rapid change. When William Blake came to the area in 1800 to stay for three years, a period said to have inspired his anthem Jerusalem (“And was the holy Lamb of God on England’s pleasant pastures seen?”), Bognor scarcely existed. Blake stayed in a cottage in Felpham, marked today by a blue plaque, and visited the nearby Fox Inn. The self-guided William Blake Trail, created by the students from Felpham Community College, takes one on a pleasant walk around the area.
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| The cottage where WIlliam Blake lived for three years |
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| The Fox Inn |
Around the time of William Blake’s stay, Bognor was little more than a hamlet of farmhouses close to the sea, surrounded by the more substantial parishes of Aldwick, Bersted and Felpham. Towards the end of 18th Century, a London property developer called Sir Richard Hotham spotted an opportunity to capitalise on the demand among the affluent for seaside summer holidays. He bought land in Bognor and its surrounds and developed a resort, which he called Hothampton. The name didn’t stick, but he succeeded in putting Bognor on the map as a seaside summer holiday destination.
One needed to be affluent to holiday in Bognor, as there was no railway line. This changed when Bognor’s own station opened on 1 June 1864. RC Sherriff’s book The Fortnight in September, published in 1931 and based on the author’s visit, describes a family’s annual two week holiday here. It recreates a vivid picture of Bognor as a vibrant, bustling town. Bognor’s little museum (worth a visit) has a photo from the 1950s of tiers of deckchairs filled with sunseekers lining the pier, three or more rows deep.
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| Bognor Regis Station. The journey to London Victoria is typically around 2 hours |
Although many of the buildings from those times survive, it’s hard to reconcile these scenes of vitality with today’s sense of dilapidation. From the 1960s, affordable air travel opened up Spanish and other more attractive seaside destinations and Bognor suffered a fate similar to that of many other once thriving British seaside towns.
Despite the setback, the town is fortunate to have an economic substance to it that other seaside towns may lack. People go about their business, shops have customers, schools have children, gyms have pilates classes, commuters head out in the morning (I often wonder where) and life goes on.
A great read, Ricardo.
ReplyDeletevery informative! (Mark Mandy)
ReplyDeleteThis was an awesome article. I really enjoyed reading it. I was interested in the area and was thinking of visiting from Brighton, where I recently moved. Now I really feel like I have my bearings and a good sense of the situation there. I would not want to was into Brexit Britain unawares!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Richard, I loved the read and this will help with the enjoyment of our stay in Aldwick!
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Loved it. Want to travel now😊
ReplyDelete