Local Travel

More on the theme of exploring locally...


Love the adventure, love it locally!


The Great British Seaside

Way back when I was a small child I was taken to Worthing on the Sussex Coast to go shopping with my Grandma. I distinctly remember going for elevenses at BHS and going up the escalators to the café, very stylish, very 1970’s décor. Which considering it was the mid 70’s isn’t surprising. The part of the décor that fascinated me the most was the big glass block wall. I still haven’t managed to get one in my house, even though they are now ‘back in fashion’.

Anyway, I digress, I’m not here to talk about interior design, I’m here to talk about Worthing and the Great British Seaside. I was merely setting the scene. I’ve been to Worthing quite a number of times since those childhood jaunts. I’ve been there clubbing, I’ve been there to sit on the beach and I’ve been there to just look about.

Yesterday I was back in Worthing, working in an exhibition, suited and booted, talked to people about the joys of being self employed or having your own business and how they can access the raft of free government support. The exhibition finished and the sun was shining. I got in my car to go home and made it to Findon, when my phone rang and my girlfriend said that she and a couple of friends were heading south from Horsham for a walk along prom and a fish and chip supper. Great. I parked up, was scooped up and we headed back down to the coast.

In all my visits to Worthing I’ve never had a fish and chip supper. It sounded very English, very seaside and the sort of thing old folk did. We parked up, hopped out the car and braced ourselves again the wind for a stroll along the prom. The strolling was met with remises about coming to the pier in our childhoods and playing the shove tuppence games and as we grew older heading to the seedy salubriousness of Rutherford’s nightclub situated at the end of the pier. Strolling onto the pier, taking in the sea air, seeing the fishermen and listening to the crashing waves I felt rejuvenated, like a child once more on a visit to the seaside. The only thing to top it off was the half hour in the amusements plying the machines with 2p’s in the vain hope they would push some off the shelves down into the slot where I can collect my winnings. Needless to say I lost nearly £2. An expensive trip to the amusements.

The Fish and Chip supper was beckoning, I had only a rough old sandwich all day and the sea air was making me more and more peckish. My friends knew of a couple of chip shops so we sought them out. This was our first ‘gem’ of the evening. We stopped at the Blue Ocean Fish and Chip shop for our supper and was welcomed to a place where old meets new. Wonderfully refurbished, very clean with modern tables and chairs and a fancy ceiling with spot lights in it greeted us. The man behind the fryer also greeted us. WE grabbed a seat and ordered our supper. I went the whole hog and had mushy peas, curry sauce, pickled onion and of course a large cod and chips. The food was delicious. All cooked exactly how I like it, chips spot on and the batter not too greasy. The chip shop curry sauce is a thing of its own. Who came up with such a sublime recipe?

Wandering back to the car we walked past Worthing Dome Cinema another memory of my childhood. But I remember it always looking down at heel, a faded piece of English Seaside resort forever doomed to be like this, just waiting for the developers to move in and make it into luxury flats. AS we strolled passed we saw it was open with the latest releases. The old world charm that the cinema now exuded drew us in, and we were welcomed by an old wooden ticked office and a very polite young man who was very enthusiastic about the old cinema. Quite different to people you get working in Cineword, Crawley. He filled us in a little on the history, saying that it was the second oldest cinema in the UK and that the ticket machine still worked, but they couldn’t get hold of the old fashioned tickets anymore. We bought tickets to see 21 at 7.30pm – from the new computer and fancy printer – and wandered in to a magnificent hall. The hall was like a throw back in time, sumptuous red carpet, wood panelled walls and stained glass windows telling us where we could put our cloaks or find refreshments.

The refreshments beckoned as we had some time to wait before the film so we wandered in to the bar, to be greeted by a lovely aroma of the lilies, sitting there in a vase on the bar top. The room was full of old projectors, comfy sofa’s and film set seats with your position in the crew printed on the back, such as Best Grip, giving us much source of amusement. The film was great too. Finished off the evening perfectly. The Worthing Dome Cinema is another gem.

The Great British Seaside, an institution and one full of wonderful things, little gems that you need to experience. Go down there, wander along the front, stroll out to the pier and play on the amusements. Then get your fish and chip supper at the Blue Ocean and top it off with a trip to the purportedly second oldest cinema in the UK for some wonderful old seaside resort charm.