[gothicform]

existing tall buildings in eastbourne -

southcliff tower, 58m. roger moore used to have the penthouse during his james bond days! not sure about the architect, i believe it's seifert.

The Church of St Saviour and St Peter, 52m

south view, 37m (ish)

 

[gothicform]

an overhaul of the arndale centre is planned - http://www.skyscrapernews.com/news.php?ref=3074

 

[Pompey77]

Never realised there was an Arndale centre in Eastboure always think of them as a northern thing.

Love the subtle curve on that Southcliff tower, do you know of any decent books on Richard Seifert? I've been after one for ages and not really seen anything. Seems odd given how he seems to have designed every remotely decent tall building from the 1970's.

 

[Leeds No.1]

I suppose that's an improvement, but it depends on what changes are planned internally that will really make the difference. I haven't been for a while, but last time I went it was certainly stuck in the 90s.

It should also attempt to up its retail offering and attract shoppers who go to Brighton. It can certainly support a better retail mix than what it has currently.

 

[gothicform]

I suppose that's an improvement, but it depends on what changes are planned internally that will really make the difference. I haven't been for a while, but last time I went it was certainly stuck in the 90s.

It should also attempt to up its retail offering and attract shoppers who go to Brighton. It can certainly support a better retail mix than what it has currently.

eastbourne is the largest place in england to not have a burger king!

 

[Leeds No.1]

Really? Burger King need to sort that out!

I say that in shock. Leeds must have been, until recently, the largest city without a KFC and Harrogate the largest town without a Tesco (and the only postcode area without one).

Eastbourne has always been a bit of a funny place for shopping. The retail in the centre doesn't seem to match the population very well at all, and I don't expect it is attracting people in from particularly far afield. It must be losing a lot of potential trade to Brighton and to some extent, Tunbridge Wells.

There's no focus for retail. It's far too spread out for a town of Eastbourne's size, with no particularly nicely pedestrianised areas. For what is a relatively pleasant and architecturally pleasing town, it has such a poorly kept town centre.

 

[gothicform]

eastbourne used to have a burger king, but it closed due to the recession.

some of the shopping streets have to be seen to be believed. the longest shopping street in the town has a vacancy rate of over 30%! another useless fact is that there are the 4th highest number of bankruptcies here.

 

[Leeds No.1]

I assume you're referring to Terminus Road.

It's no surprise. There's no focus for the town centre, no decent sized units for modern retailers, no high quality pedestrian areas... Crazy for a town which has a relatively wealthy hinterland.

 

[ill tonkso]

Eastbourne suffers from being too close to Brighton. Between 33 and 42 minutes on the train, 3-4 of them an hour.

 

[Leeds No.1]

I don't believe that is an acceptable reason for Eastbourne's underperformance. Harrogate is only 30 minutes from York and Leeds, trains every 30 mins (15 at peak times), buses every 15. It's still a busy retail centre.

There's no reason why Eastbourne shouldn't be thriving. If the shops and services that people want are available in their local centre, they'll usually go there unless its a day out.

 

[gothicform]

Eastbourne suffers from being too close to Brighton. Between 33 and 42 minutes on the train, 3-4 of them an hour.

i don't think this is true at all either. for example there is ONE wine merchant in eastbourne open to the public, there is a single camera shop in the whole of town - jessops - which is a truly awful place with no selection at all (they couldn't even give me a 52mm uv filter yesterday). the nearest specialist camera shop is in polegate. in both of these cases there are multiple independent retailers in hailsham which is only a few miles away. hailsham also has a proper large fish shop in it, rather than a small place crammed into a converted lower floor of a house. speaking of hailsham, that has a burger king! :nuts:

you can talk about proximity to brighton all you want but remember this is a place that even lacks a burger king and there are over 700 of those in the UK. i know many people who actually go to hailsham for shopping because it has a better range of shops than eastbourne - if you have money and live here that's where you go shopping.

 

[Rational Plan]

Eastbourne suffers from poor road and rail links to London.

 

[MetaCRNL]

Decided to look for Eastbourne development but ther was nothing in the Brighton thread, so heres a render of the £85 million Arndale Centre extension from the end of January 2015.

The 170,000 sq ft scheme, arranged over two floors, will contain an additional 22 retail units and seven restaurant units, as well as a multi-screen digital cinema and significant extension to the car park.

Was hoping someone more familiar with Eastbourne than me could get the thread going.

 

[Black Cat]

Eastbourne suffers from poor road and rail links to London.

Yup! Despite being so close geographically to London, Europe (via Newhaven, Folkestone and Dover) the Sussex coast must be amongst the most poorly served areas of any region in the UK with respect to rail or road infrastructure.

There is still no continuous south coast rail or highway class road route linking the European ports in Kent with the coastal conurbations of Hastings, Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing, Chichester to Portsmouth and beyond. Only Brighton has good rail links with London and coastal destinations west as far as Littlehampton or Bognor. A27 Road connections east of Lewes or between Worthing and Arundel are appalling. If Eastbourne is badly connected, its even worse for Hastings. The south coast has a significant population should have appropriate infrastructure with connections to London and the rest of the country without having to use the M25.

Perhaps too, consideration should be given to rerouting the A27 immediately west of Chichester to enable the Fishbourne Roman Palace, Britains' most significant villa, to be more fully excavated and understood.

I would like to hope that belatedly infrastructure will improve along the south coast, but sadly, this little corner of the SE is wholly forgotten, and most unfortunately the County politicos are almost all NIMBYs in every sense of the word. There are few plans for any road improvements whatsoever in the coming decades, none with respect to rail, and no political will at the county, regional or national levels.

 

[neuphin]

I was in Eastbourne yesterday and thought I'd provide a take a couple of photos for the thread.
No sign of any changes inside the shopping centre at the moment (though BonMarche have moved).
The remaining shops along Terminus Road look to be approaching closure, if not closed already.


Arndale Centre by neuphin, on Flickr


The Gildredge by neuphin, on Flickr

 

[neuphin]

The second phase of this (the actual extension) has now secured funding:

Kier gears up for £85m Eastbourne mall expansion

I haven't been there lately, so not sure on progress, but it seems demolition works should be imminent, as Open Doors are holding an event there in March.

Open Doors - Eastbourne Arndale

Thursday /Friday unfortunately, so I won't be able to make it.

 

[neuphin]

The Arndale Centre extension is continuing apace. The new units have now opened in the refurbished bit I posted a couple of posts up ^.


Arndale Centre by neuphin, on Flickr

Also, on the far left of above, you can see they've now demolished the old buildings along Terminus Road. Inside, Next and HMV have gone, replaced by a hoarding.

Elsewhere, the Congress Theatre is sealed off and undergoing refurbishment until June 2018:


Congress Theatre by neuphin, on Flickr

 

[neuphin]

That June 2018 date seems a little unlikely for the Congress Theatre, unless it re-opened before the adjoining Welcome Centre conference facilities are complete.
Details about the project are here: Devonshire Quarter


Congress Theatre by neuphin, on Flickr

And the Arndale Centre extension - there's quite an interesting write up of it from February on Construction News at this link here.
Not sure how I feel about the not very neat connection between the already built and under construction parts along Terminus Road, suppose it adds some interest.


Terminus Road by neuphin, on Flickr

The new entrance to the centre looks very inviting though:

Arndale Centre by neuphin, on Flickr

 

[Bureau des etrangers]

Really fallen in love with Eastbourne over the last couple of years.

It's a great little town with some beautiful hidden gems. Getting married here later this year.

 

[neuphin]

Has it really been 11 months?
Popped to Eastbourne yesterday to see the new centre - now renamed The Beacon.
The extension opened late last year, though not all units are open yet and, there's still some finishing touches to be complete.

The new entrace on Terminus Road, near the station:

The Beacon by neuphin, on Flickr

A nice corner detail I think, to maintain wide pavement at the corner.

The Beacon by neuphin, on Flickr

And, inside it's lovely and light. Nandos has opened upstairs, don't think anything else has up there yet.

The Beacon by neuphin, on Flickr