Bognor Regis

Bognor Regis West Sussex UK Hub

Approximate Population: 22,555

Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It lies 55.5 miles (89 km) south southwest of London, 24 miles (39 km) west of Brighton, and 6 miles (10 km) southeast of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east northeast and Selsey to the southwest. The nearby villages of Felpham, briefly home to the poet William Blake, and Aldwick are now suburbs of Bognor Regis, along with those of North and South Bersted.

Bognor Regis was originally named just “Bognor”, being a fishing (and one time, smuggling) village until the 18th century, when it was converted into a resort by Sir Richard Hotham. Tourism gradually took off over the next hundred years, the area being chosen as an ideal location for King George V to convalesce in during 1929, the King and Queen actually staying at Craigwell House Aldwick; as a result, the King was asked to bestow the Regis suffix on Bognor.

Bognor Regis has a large town centre, much of which has either been pedestrianized or made pedestrian-friendly. Since the end of World War Two the town has been subject to some piece-meal commercial redevelopment, notably in the early 1960s when a new shopping parade and road (called Queensway), a health centre and a high-rise block of flats were built on land just north-west of the High Street. In the three decades between 1950 and 1980 much residential development took place to the west and north of the town, since then mostly in-fill development has taken place, predominantly redeveloping land on brownfield sites that had formerly been used for commercial business.

Sir Billy Butlin opened one of his Butlin’s Holiday Camps in Bognor in 1960. The camp later became known as Southcoast World until 1998 and is now known as Butlin’s Bognor Regis Resort. In 1999 Butlin’s erected a large indoor leisure park, the buildings construction sharing aspects similar with the Millennium Dome in London. In 2005, a new £10m hotel, called “The Shoreline” was unveiled at the Bognor Regis resort. A second hotel “The Ocean” is due to open on the site in Summer 2009 and general landscaping and upgrading has also taken place. Postcards featuring the Butlin’s Reception Hall and Sun Lounge were reprinted in the book Boring Postcards (1999). More luxury hotel’s are planned for the site.In May 2009 Butlins have also announced that they will be looking into adding a third hotel to the Bognor Regis site.

Bognor Regis West Sussex UK Hub

Littlehampton

Littlehampton West Sussex UK Hub

Approximate Population: 25,593

Littlehampton is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, located on the east bank at the mouth of the River Arun. It lies 51.5 miles (83 km) south southwest of London, 17.5 miles (28 km) west of Brighton, and 11 miles (18 km) east of the county town of Chichester.

The parish covers an area of 11.35 km2 (4 sq mi) and has a population of 25,593 persons (2001 census). The conurbation includes other settlements: Wick in the north west; Lyminster to the north; East Preston, Rustington and Angmering to the east. Wick and Toddington became part of the town in 1901. Nearby towns include Bognor Regis west southwest and Worthing to the east. The town is also the Westernmost settlement of the 12th largest urban area in the UK, the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, a region encompassing some 461,181 people (2001 census).

The headquarters of The Body Shop is located in Littlehampton. Local company, Dando Drilling International Ltd has been exporting drilling rigs from Littlehampton since 1867. Van Heyningen Brothers (VHB) salad growers were a major employer in the town from 1964–2003. Much of the local economy comprises smaller companies with fewer than ten employees, however Sainsbury’s are in the town centre and the local authority is actively seeking to promote and expand business opportunities.

Littlehampton has received a great deal of publicity as the home of the East Beach Cafe, a building on the seafront designed by Heatherwick Studio.

The building is a fully welded monocoque structure. The building reflects its exposed location with a rough, weathered appearance which Heatherwick describes as being like a piece of weathered flotsam swept up onto the beach. It was built in Littlehampton, with steelwork by Littlehampton Welding Ltd and site work by Langridge Developments, another local firm. The construction of the cafe caused a stir in Littlehampton, with some seeing it as an eyesore and others welcoming it as a world class piece of architecture and a symbol of regeneration.

Littlehampton West Sussex UK Hub

Crawley

Crawley West Sussex UK Hub

Approximate Population: 100,100

Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is 28 miles (45 km) south of London, 18 miles (29 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 32 miles (51 km) northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of 17.36 square miles (44.96 km2) and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.

The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and was a centre of iron-making in Roman times. Crawley developed slowly as a market town from the 13th century, serving the surrounding villages in the Weald; its location on the main road from London to Brighton brought a passing trade, encouraging the development of coaching inns. It was connected to the railway network in the 1840s. Gatwick Airport, now one of Britain’s busiest international airports, opened on the edge of the town in the 1940s, encouraging commercial and industrial growth. After the Second World War, the British Government planned to move large numbers of people and jobs out of London and into new towns around South East England. The New Towns Act 1946 designated Crawley as the site of one of these. A master plan was developed for the establishment of new residential, commercial, industrial and civic areas, and rapid development greatly increased the size and population of the town in a few decades.

The area may have been settled during the Mesolithic period: locally manufactured flints of the Horsham Culture type have been found to the southwest of the town. Tools and burial mounds from the Neolithic period, and burial mounds and a sword from the Bronze Age, have also been discovered. Crawley is on the western edge of the High Weald, which produced iron for more than 2,000 years from the Iron Age onwards. Goffs Park—now a recreational area in the south of the town—was the site of two late Iron Age furnaces. Ironworking and mineral extraction continued throughout Roman times, particularly in the Broadfield area where many furnaces were built.

Crawley has three local newspapers, two of which have a long history in the area. The Crawley Observer began life in 1881 as Simmins Weekly Advertiser, became the Sussex & Surrey Courier and then the Crawley and District Observer, and took its current name in 1983. The newspaper is now owned by Johnston Press. The Crawley News was first published in 1979, and later took over the operations of the older Crawley Advertiser which closed in 1982. The newspaper is now owned by the Trinity Mirror group and is a free publication. In September 2008 Johnston Press launched a new weekly broadsheet newspaper called the Crawley Times based on the companies paper produced in Horsham, the West Sussex County Times.

Crawley West Sussex UK Hub