Worthing, East Parade 1919

Photo ref: 68987

More about this scene

During the first two decades of the 19th century, the more affluent of Worthing's Georgian visitors often took over entire houses on a long lease, so that they could cater for themselves and also entertain. In many cases, they brought their own servants with them. Although Evans suggests in Worthing's first guide book, published in 1805, that 'there was accommodation suitable for every class of visitor', the town still lacked a first-class hotel to satisfy the needs of the increasing number of fashionable visitors. The Steyne Hotel, which opened on 1 July 1807, fulfilled this need as the town's first purpose built hotel. In 1867 there were only 54 lodging houses in Worthing. By 1891 this had increased to over 200. Visitors, when looking westwards from the pier in 1899, would have seen terrace after terrace of lodging houses, interspersed with the occasional Victorian hotel, stretching to beyond the Heene Parish boundary.