The Seaside Resort Town of Bognor Regis

The Seaside Resort Town of Bognor Regis

This article relates to The Fortnight in September

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff takes place in 1930 at the West Sussex seaside resort town of Bognor Regis on the south coast of England. The Stevens family is spending two weeks at the same holiday boarding house that they have been visiting since Mr. and Mrs. Stevens spent their honeymoon there two decades earlier.

For the American reader, the name Bognor Regis may be less familiar than other more well-known UK seaside destinations such as Brighton, Newquay, Scarborough, or Blackpool. What is the history of this seaside resort? What made it a popular destination for over one hundred years? How has it fared in today's travel climate?

The town of Bognor has one of the oldest recorded Saxon place names in Sussex. In a document from 680 AD, it is referred to as Bucgan ora, meaning Bucge's shore or landing place (Bucge being a female Saxon name). It later became known as Bognor, and up through the 18th century, it was a quiet fishing village that was also occasionally utilized by smugglers.

According to the town's historical website, in 1784, Sir Richard Hotham, a British MP, visited the town to experience the recuperative qualities of sea air. He liked the area so much that he decided to turn the village into a resort. He bought up 1600 acres of land and, in addition to building himself a sprawling mansion (now called Hotham Park House), he constructed large, terraced houses to entice wealthier visitors to his exclusive seaside destination.

Hotham was a man of vision and excellent timing. Seaside holidays in the UK were just beginning to gain popularity in the 18th century as interest gradually shifted from the health benefits of bathing at inland spas—such as the famous thermal spas of Bath, the setting of two Jane Austen novels (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion)—to the increasingly fashionable alternative of bathing in the sea.

Initially, seaside resorts were mostly accessible to the wealthy, but by the late 19th century these beach holidays became popular for a broader group of UK citizens. This was largely due to the expansion of the railway and the introduction of the bank holiday in 1872. By the beginning of the 20th century, millions of people headed to the seashore each year. The resort town of Bognor began to grow rapidly when the railway arrived in 1864. Many artists and writers were drawn to the beauty of the region. For example, while holidaying in Bognor in 1923, James Joyce wrote part of his novel Finnegans Wake.

Certainly, Bognor received its greatest boost in 1929 when King George V spent three months there recuperating from lung surgery. His doctors believed that Bognor's fresh sea air and sunshine would help with the king's recovery. King George and Queen Mary stayed in Bognor for a total of 13 weeks, and they entertained many visitors, including their granddaughter Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) who was only a toddler at the time. After the king returned to London, he bestowed upon Bognor the honor of its Regis suffix, and the town became known as Bognor Regis. (There is a popular rumor—probably apocryphal—that in January 1936, as King George V lay dying, someone in the room told him that he would soon be well enough to again visit Bognor to recuperate. His final words were said to be: "Bugger Bognor!")

It continued to be a popular resort through the 1950s, but by the 1970s many of Bognor Regis's original Victorian buildings were demolished. The introduction of inexpensive flights and package holidays to Spanish hotspots further eroded the popularity of domestic resort holidays in general, and the town of Bognor Regis saw gradual decline over the years. These days, the visitors still come, but Bognor Regis is a faint echo of what it once was. Its crime rate is one of the highest in the region, and in a 2025 survey of "UK's Best Seaside Towns," Which? Magazine reports that Bognor Regis now rates as one of the least desirable seaside towns in the UK,  quite a comedown indeed from its heyday as a royal retreat.

The beach at Bognor Regis, August 1990, courtesy of Barry Shimmon, CC-BY-SA 2.0

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This article relates to The Fortnight in September. It first ran in the July 16, 2025 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.