The eccentric seaside town that’s stepping out of Brighton’s shadow

Oft-maligned Bexhill-on-Sea has stylish shops, artisan bakeries and a boutique hotel to go with its modernist art gallery

All summer we are taking the pulse of our most famous traditional seaside towns, examining the efforts being made to regenerate them, and opining on whether they are still worth visiting. This week, Teresa Machan explores Bexhill-on-Sea.
At the Bexhill Museum, a volunteer guide pointed out a bit of local history. “As a student one of Eddie’s first jobs was selling ice cream on the seafront,” he said. “If you look closely, you’ll see an ice cream van with her at the wheel.”  
You never know what you’ll see next in the museum’s impressive galleries. Comedian and actor Eddie/Suzy Izzard grew up in the town and is patron of the museum. Her childhood train sets, wonderfully embellished with local landmarks, sit near a reproduction steam-driven 1902 “Easter Egg” Serpollet, a 1958 mk III Elva racing car and the 1993 world record-breaking Volta electric car. 
Tucked on the East Sussex coast between Eastbourne and Hastings, Bexhill and its string of neighbouring beaches fly under the radar. Comedian Spike Milligan rudely described it as “the only cemetery above ground” and the town is largely derided by its East Sussex neighbours. Tell a Brightonian you’re off to Bexhill and they’ll likely choke on their oat milk flat white. 
For an unassuming seaside town, Bexhill is brimming with eccentricities. One minute you’re pushing a button to operate the sails of a miniature smock windmill and peering at Izzard in an ice-cream van; the next you’re looking out to sea from the arrow-flat roof of one of Britain’s finest examples of modernist architecture.
The seaside town saw good times. The town’s heraldic motto incorporates the words “Sol et Salubritas” (sun and health), and in the early 20th century, fashionable Bexhill drew a parade of prime ministers and members of the Royal family. These included George VI and princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, guests of the De La Warrs, who entertained in the posh beachside suburb of Cooden.
The town owes much of its success as a seaside resort to a succession of De La Warr earls. The 7th built a sea wall, laying the foundation for seafront development. In 1901, Bexhill became the first seaside town to allow mixed bathing. In 1902, inspired by a visit to Nice, the 8th Earl raised the flag on British motor racing when he hosted an automobile race along the seafront.
His son “Buck”, the 9th Earl De La Warr, became Bexhill’s first socialist mayor in 1932. He conceived the idea for a modern arts and entertainment venue, “a new model of cultural provision in an English seaside town”, to benefit locals and tourists.
His legacy is the De La Warr Pavilion. An architectural tour de force and cultural hospital for the soul – the likes of which had never been seen in Britain. Opened in 1935 by the Duke and Duchess of York, the building was a blueprint for London’s Royal Festival Hall and Southbank Centre. Bob Marley is said to have played his first UK gig there. Next month it’s the turn of The Vaccines.
“Give it a chance and Bexhill will give back to you,” said Stewart Drew, chief executive of the De La Warr, as I looked across the shimmering bay to Beachy Head. 
With that in mind, I went to explore.
I didn’t spot any “kiss-me-quickers” in Bexhill. The absence of promenade bars, a pier, souvenir shops and budget hotel chains keep it low-key and even on the hottest of August days its two-mile expanse of shingle beach was blissfully crowd-free. 
Come expecting “entertainment” and nightlife and you’ll be disappointed. There’s the De La Warr, the museum and a small park with a boating lake. The rest is up to you. “It’s tranquil but we like it that way,” said Charlotte Arundell (aka the “bag lady”) who was stitching bags on her sewing machine at the seafront’s Colonnade Quarter.
It takes about 20 minutes to explore the town centre. Alongside a raft of charity shops, I noticed several independent shops, restaurants and bakeries. I visited just after the unveiling of a stunning new wall mural by community group W Ave Arts, whose colourful work can be seen around town. 
On Bexhill’s railway footbridge, husband and wife team Diana and Tim Birch have created a clever open-air gallery. Locals were invited to submit their art and the winning entries were digitally printed onto weatherproof vinyl; quite the welcome for visitors arriving by train. 
I crossed the bridge en route to Beeching Road where, on a light industrial estate opposite Brewers and Screwfix, I found a flourishing creative hub. Among the artists and makers is Common Clay, a ceramics studio offering walk-in pottery workshops. Next door to a contemporary bookbinders, craft brewer Three Legs was creating its saisons and sours. 
“A few years ago the idea that anything interesting could happen in Bexhill outside of the De La Warr was unimaginable. Now there’s something happening every week,” said Fraser Carr Miles, owner of the bookbindery, Unit 33. 
Also here is Flatland Projects, a visual arts space dedicated to emerging artists. Currently showing is Contraband Zindabad, the first solo exhibition by Harmeet Rahal. “Being sandwiched between two dominant towns has done us a favour,” said Ben Urban, co-founder of Flatlands. “It forced a self-led regeneration. Bexhill is having a coming-alive moment.”
And the future? There are plans to build a Maritime Environment Centre on East Parade, using Bexhill’s old lighthouse lantern tower as a focal point. In addition, more than £19 million of government funding will support a cultural regeneration for the town, including key upgrades to the De La Warr pavilion.
The long, seafront promenade is anchored by the De La Warr Pavilion and adjacent Grade II-listed Colonnade Quarter, home to shops and cafes. There are more beaches to the west and east, including Fairlight, Norman’s Bay and Pevensey Bay. At certain times of the year, it’s possible to see the petrified bones of a Dutch East Indies Ship, The Amsterdam, at Bulverhythe Beach.
With its rotating exhibitions, live music venue, expansive Channel views and café tables spilling onto outdoor balconies, the De La Warr is a must. If nothing else just wander around and appreciate its modernist might. Luna Hut Sauna is about to set up outside for a September pop-up and it’s worth checking the Pavilion’s concert-hall line-up. 
Bexhill Museum, with its dinosaur footprints, Egyptology exhibits, and interactive displays, is a gift for families.
Keane fans will spot the apartment block and angular promenade shelter featured on the cover of Strangeland. The band hails from nearby Battle and several of Bexhill’s seafront landmarks, including the Sovereign Light Café, The Old Bathing Station and the Old Bandstand, are immortalised in lyrics.
Until September 22 (weekends, 12pm-4pm) Flatlands at Beeching Road Studios is showing an installation of film, objects, prints and immersive soundscapes by fledgling artist Harmeet Rahal. Katie Boccaccini Meadows’s exhibition, Cobalt, is at Common Clay until the end of August. 
If you’re here for longer, Bexhill is on the 18-mile Coastal Cultural Trail that connects the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne with the De La Warr Pavilion and the Hastings Contemporary.
Drive around looking for all-day street parking. Town-centre roads are for permit holders or offer two hours only. Also, the one-way system is confusing for visitors. Stick the car in one of the two car parks or take the train; there are five railway stations within a six-and-a-half-mile radius of the town. 
Locals swear by the all-day tapas bar Sobremesa and Thai Chava (both on Sackville Road). For rock oysters, crab claw, native lobster and gluten-free fish and chips, book a sea-view terrace table at Pebbles on the Beach. 
Cactus Moon café serves stand-out cakes and great coffee and the plants for sale are part of the décor. I chose a cooling iced pink chai latte. Three Legs Brewery at Beeching Road studios has just opened a tap room and serves a posh cheese toastie, bar snacks, organic wines and local cider (Thu and Fri evenings; Sat and Sun all day).
Come evening it’s hard to imagine a more seductive sunset spot than the Relais Cooden Beach hotel, where a large suntrap terrace overlooks the pebbles. Its Rally Restaurant champions local produce and the bar has a fire for cooler months. Stay here, or at the stylish Driftwood, otherwise accommodation is limited to a couple of B&Bs and Booking.com lets. 
David and Sandy were visiting from Henley and staying at the Relais Cooden Beach. “In a previous life I used to book gigs at the [De La Warr] Pavilion,” said David. “It’s been nice to come back.”
“The beach in front of the hotel is lovely and we’ve got it to ourselves,” added Sandy.
“I think I’ve got the best view of any record shop in the country,” said Olly Cherer, owner of Music’s Not Dead. The independent record store is based in the foyer of the seafront De La Warr Pavilion. “There’s stuff going on in Bexhill. It’s all kicking off, in a good way of course.”
Trains from London’s Charing Cross, London Bridge and Cannon Street stations take around one hour and 45 minutes with a change at St Leonard’s Warrior Square for the six-minute ride to Bexhill. By car, the major route is the A21 and Bexhill can also be approached from the west via the A23, A27 and A259.

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