Raving Like Angels
It’s where all the big city hitters are heading for in the heatwave. Heady days. Hot nights. Although determined not to let the slang for bathroom put us off (in the same way we’re sure Grimsby has its charms), we’re bringing the London glamour with us just in case Bognor Regis lives down to its name. We’re not up for making a sequel to Steptoe and Son holidaying on the south coast. We have no concerns. This place oozes it from Hotham Park with its late 18th century stuccoed mansion backing onto a lake in the east of the town to the early 19th century Royal Norfolk Hotel and The Steyne with its bowed terraces overlooking an anticipatory strip of lawn in the west. Next to The Steyne and a smooth pebble’s throw from the Victorian esplanade is The Dolphin Café where the crème of Bognorian society breakfast. Falling outside the usual brackets of English seaside architecture are White Tower and Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church.
Built in 1898, White Tower was designed by John Cyril Hawes as a seaside family retreat. The architect and his two brothers each had their own floor above ground level. He explained, “Instead of a long spread out cottage I would stand it up on end – as a tower.” A vertical terrace capturing sea views. Its casement windows of leaded lights are typically Arts and Crafts. Our Lady of Sorrows dates from the previous decade. Designed by Joseph Stanislaus Hansom in an Early English idiom cloaked in yellowy brick, 1950s additions by Wilfrid Clarence Mangan bring a light modern air to the interior. Bognor Regis is officially Britain’s sunniest town. That’s one reputation it lives up to today.
