:Eastbourne

Flint mines and Stone Age artefacts have been found in the surrounding countryside of the Eastbourne Downs.

A Bronze Age site of national importance was discovered in Hydneye lake at Shinewater in 1995.{{NHLE|num=1400780 |desc=Shinewater Bronze Age settlement |access-date=13 September 2019}}

Celtic people are believed to have settled on the Eastbourne Downland in 500{{nbsp}}BC.{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/_resources/assets/inline/full/0/205020.pdf|title=EASTBOURNE TIMELINE|website=Eastbourne.gov.uk|access-date=28 January 2018}}

There are Roman remains buried beneath the town, such as a Roman bath and section of pavement between Eastbourne Pier and the Redoubt Fortress. There is also a Roman villa near the entrance to the Pier and the present Queens Hotel.{{Citation|last=Wright|first=J C|title=Bygone Eastbourne|place=Eastbourne|publisher=Spottiswoode|year=1902}}

In 1953, skeletal remains of a woman who lived around 245{{nbsp}}AD were discovered in the vicinity of Beachy Head on the Eastbourne Downland Estate. The remains were found in 2014 to be of a 30-year-old woman who grew up in East Sussex, but had genetic heritage from sub-Saharan Africa, giving her black skin and an African skeletal structure.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-25962183|title=Centuries old woman's face revealed|date=1 February 2014|access-date=28 January 2018|website=Bbc.co.uk|archive-date=1 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101073718/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-25962183|url-status=live}} Her ancestors came from below the Saharan region, at a time when the Roman Empire extended only as far as North Africa.{{cite web|url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art474162-beachy-head-lady-was-young-sub-saharan-roman-with-good-teeth-say-archaeologists|title=Beachy Head Lady was young sub-Saharan Roman with good teeth, say archaeologists|website=Culture24.org.uk|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=30 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130032513/http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art474162-beachy-head-lady-was-young-sub-saharan-roman-with-good-teeth-say-archaeologists|url-status=live}} These remains have now been DNA tested and found to originate from Cyprus, not sub-Saharan Africa.{{cite web |last1=Seaman |first1=Jo |title=The mystery of Beachy Head Lady |url=https://museumcrush.org/the-mystery-of-beachy-head-lady-a-roman-african-from-eastbourne/ |website=Museum Crush |access-date=26 November 2022 |orig-date=5 April 2018 |date=23 August 2022 |quote=DNA analysis has since concluded that that although she grew up in Eastbourne, the place of her ancestry is in Southern Europe – most likely Cyprus. |archive-date=29 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929072404/https://museumcrush.org/the-mystery-of-beachy-head-lady-a-roman-african-from-eastbourne/ |url-status=live }}

An Anglo-Saxon charter, around 963 AD, describes a landing stage and stream at Burne.

The original name came from the 'Burne' or stream which ran through today's Old Town area of Eastbourne. All that can be seen of the Burne, or Bourne, is the small pond in Motcombe Gardens. The bubbling source is guarded by a statue of Neptune.{{Cite web |url=http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/residents/leisure-and-events/art-culture/family-local-history/eastbourne/ |title=History of Eastbourne |access-date=12 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170625115944/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/residents/leisure-and-events/art-culture/family-local-history/eastbourne/ |archive-date=25 June 2017 |url-status=dead }} Motcombe Gardens are overlooked by St. Mary's Church, a Norman church which allegedly lies on the site of a Saxon 'moot', or meeting place. This gives Motcombe its name.

In 2014, local metal-detectorist Darrin Simpson found a coin minted during the reign of Æthelberht II of East Anglia (died 794), in a field near the town. It is believed that the minting of these coins may have led to Æthelberht's beheading by Offa of Mercia, as it had been struck as a sign of independence.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27485772 |title='Unique' Anglo-Saxon coin could give royal murder clue |work=BBC News |date=20 May 2014 |access-date=14 June 2014 |archive-date=20 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520234546/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27485772 |url-status=live }} Describing the coin, expert Christopher Webb, said, "This new discovery is an important and unexpected addition to the numismatic history of eighth century England."{{cite news |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/anglo-saxon-coin-goes-for-78-000-at-london-auction-1-6116507 |title=Anglo-Saxon coin goes for £78,000 at London auction |newspaper=Eastbourne Herald |access-date=14 June 2014 |archive-date=14 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714235603/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/anglo-saxon-coin-goes-for-78-000-at-london-auction-1-6116507 |url-status=live }}

Following the Norman conquest, the Hundred of what is now Eastbourne, was held by Robert, Count of Mortain, William the Conqueror's half brother. The Domesday Book lists 28 ploughlands, a church, a watermill, fisheries and salt pans.{{Citation|last=Whitefield-Smith|first=N.|title=Eastbourne – A history & celebration|publisher=Frith Book Company Ltd |year=2004|isbn=978-1-904938-24-8}}

The Book referred to the area as 'Borne'. 'East' was added to 'Borne' in the 13th century, renaming the town.

File:St. Mary's Church, Old Town.JPG

A charter for a weekly market was granted to Bartholomew de Badlesmere in 1315–16; this increased his status as Lord of the Manor and benefited local industry.{{harvnb|Stevens|1987}} During the Middle Ages the town was visited by King Henry I and in 1324 by Edward II. Evidence of Eastbourne's medieval past can be seen in the 12th-century Church of St Mary,{{cite web | url=http://www.stmaryseastbourne.com/6.html | title=St Mary the Virgin, Old Town | publisher=Eastbourne Parish Church | access-date=16 May 2013 | archive-date=12 November 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112114913/http://www.stmaryseastbourne.com/6.html | url-status=live }} and the manor house called Bourne Place.

In the mid-16th century Bourne Place was home to the Burton family,{{Citation|title=The book of Eastbourne|publisher=Produced for the 99th annual meeting of the British Medical Association|year=1931|location=Eastbourne}} who acquired much of the land on which the present town stands. This manor house is currently owned by the Duke of Devonshire and was extensively remodelled in the early Georgian era when it was renamed Compton Place. It is one of the two Grade I listed buildings in the town.{{cite web | url = http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=51326&type=full&servicetype=Inline | title = Listed Buildings | access-date = 12 July 2011 | date = July 2004 | work = Eastbourne Townscape Guide | publisher = Eastbourne Borough Council | archive-date = 2 September 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120902065014/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=51326&type=full&servicetype=Inline | url-status = live }}

Eastbourne has Cornish connections{{clarify|date=December 2021}}, most notably visible in the Cornish high cross in the churchyard of St Mary's Church which was brought from an unspecified location in Cornwall.Plaque at foot of cross

In 1752, a dissertation by Richard Russell extolled the medicinal benefits of the seaside. His views were of considerable benefit to the south coast and, in due course, Eastbourne became known as "the Empress of Watering Places".{{Citation|last=Surtees|first=Dr John|title= Eastbourne, A History|place=Chichester|publisher=Phillimore|year=2002|isbn=978-1-86077-226-9}}

Eastbourne's earliest claim as a seaside resort came about following a summer holiday visit by four of King George III's children in 1780 (Princes Edward and Octavius and Princesses Elizabeth and Sophia).{{Citation|last=Royer (attrib.)|first=James.|title=East-bourne and its Environs|year=1787}}

In 1793, following a survey of coastal defences in the southeast, approval was given for the positioning of infantry and artillery to defend the bay between Beachy Head and Hastings from attack by the French. Fourteen Martello Towers were constructed along the western shore of Pevensey Bay, continuing as far as Tower 73, the Wish Tower at Eastbourne. Several of these towers survive: the Wish Tower is an important feature of the town's seafront and was the subject of a painting by James Sant RA,{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/sant_artist/21795497942/|title=The Wish Tower, Eastbourne|website=Flickr.com|date=28 September 2015 |access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=11 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111162718/https://www.flickr.com/photos/sant_artist/21795497942/|url-status=live}} and part of Tower 68 forms the basement of a house on St. Antony's Hill. Between 1805 and 1807, a fortress known as the Eastbourne Redoubt was built as a barracks and storage depot, and armed with 10 cannons.{{Citation|last1=Milton|first1=Rosemary|last2=Callaghan|first2=Richard|title=The Redoubt Fortress and Martello Towers of Eastbourne 1804–2004|place=Eastbourne|publisher=Eastbourne Local History Society|year=2005|isbn=978-0-9547647-0-8}}

A connection with India comes in the shape of the 18th-century Lushington monument, also at St Mary's, which commemorates a survivor of the Black Hole of Calcutta atrocity which led to the British conquest of Bengal.

Richard Trevithick, the inventor of the steam locomotive, is reported to have spent some time here.Arthur Mee, editor, King's England: Sussex 1930s edition

File:Motcombe Gardens.jpg

Eastbourne remained an area of small rural settlements until the 19th century. Four villages or hamlets occupied the site of the modern town: Bourne (or, to distinguish it from others of the same name, East Bourne) is now known as Old Town, and this surrounded the bourne (stream) which rises in the present Motcombe Park; Meads, where the Downs meet the coast; South Bourne (near the town hall); and the fishing settlement known simply as Sea Houses, which was situated to the east of the present pier.

By the mid-19th century most of the area had fallen into the hands of two landowners: John Davies Gilbert (the Davies-Gilbert family still own much of the land in Eastbourne and East Dean) and William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington.{{harvnb|Stevens|1987|p=14}}

The Gilbert family's holdings date to the late 17th and early 18th centuries when barrister Nicholas Gilbert married an Eversfield and Gildredge heiress."Gildredge, an ancient house and estate", says Sussex historian Mark Antony Lower, "gave name to a family of considerable antiquity, who subsequently had their chief residence at Eastbourne, and gave their name to the manor of Eastbourne-Gildredge." (The Gildredges owned much of Eastbourne by 1554. The Gilberts eventually made the Gildredge Manor House their own. Today the Gildredge name lives on in the eponymous park.){{cite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=179-gilbert&cid=0 |title=Archive of the Davies-Gilbert Family of Eastbourne, East Sussex, East Sussex Record Office, the National Archives |publisher=Nationalarchives.gov.uk |access-date=10 July 2011 |archive-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607022226/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=179-gilbert&cid=0 |url-status=live }}

An early plan, for a town named Burlington, was abandoned, but on 14 May 1849 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway arrived to scenes of great jubilation. With the arrival of the railway, the town's growth accelerated.

Cavendish, now the 7th Duke of Devonshire, recruited Henry Currey in 1859 to lay out a plan for what was essentially an entire new town – a resort built "for gentlemen by gentlemen". The town grew rapidly from a population of less than 4,000 in 1851 to nearly 35,000 by 1891. In 1883, it was incorporated as a municipal borough; a purpose-built town hall was opened in 1886. This period of growth and elegant development continued for several decades.

During the First World War, Summerdown Camp, a convalescent facility, opened in 1915 near the South Downs to treat soldiers who were injured during trench warfare or seriously ill. It was the largest of this type in the UK during this war, treating 150,000; 80% were able to return to fight. The facility was dismantled in 1920. An exhibition about the history of the camp was held in Eastbourne for several months in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-32133099|title=WW1 camp re-equipped soldiers for war|first=Nick|last=Tarver|date=7 April 2015|website=Bbc.com|access-date=13 September 2018|archive-date=14 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914060738/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-32133099|url-status=live}}

In 1926, the Eastbourne Corporation Act enabled the creation of the Eastbourne Downland Estate.

A royal visit by George V and Queen Mary in March 1935 is commemorated by a plaque on chalet number 2 at Holywell.{{cite book|last1=Spears|first1=Harold|last2=Stevens|first2=Lawrence|last3=Crook|first3=Richard|last4=Hodsoll|first4=Vera|year =1981|title=Eight Town Walks in Eastbourne|place=Eastbourne|publisher=Eastbourne Civic Society}}

File:Wish Tower, Eastbourne.jpg in Eastbourne]]

The Second World War saw a change in fortunes. Initially, children were evacuated to Eastbourne on the assumption that they would be safe from German bombs, but soon they had to be evacuated again because after the fall of France in June 1940 it was anticipated that the town would lie in an invasion zone.{{harvnb|Stevens|1987|p=28}} Part of Operation Sea Lion, the German invasion plan, envisaged landings at Eastbourne.{{cite book | last1 = Ramsey | first1 = Winston G. | title = The Blitz – Then and Now | volume = 1 |editor= Winston G. Ramsey |editor2=Gordon Ramsey | publisher=After the Battle | year = 1987 | page = 294 | isbn = 978-0-900913-45-7}} Many people sought safety away from the coast and shut up their houses. Restrictions on visitors forced the closure of most hotels, and private boarding schools moved away. Many of these empty buildings were later taken over by the services. The Royal Navy set up an underwater weapons school,{{cite book | last1 = Allom | first1 = VM | title = Ex Oriente Salus – A Centenary History of Eastbourne College | chapter = 18 | publisher=Eastbourne College | year = 1966 | location = Eastbourne | page = 122 }} and the Royal Air Force operated radar stations at Beachy Head and on the marshes near Pevensey.{{cite book | last1 = Mason | first1 = Francis K | title = Battle over Britain | chapter = 4 | publisher=McWhirter Twins | year = 1969 | location = London | page = 95 | quote = The Awakening}} Thousands of Canadian soldiers were billeted in and around Eastbourne from July 1941 to the run-up to D-Day.{{Citation|last=Ockenden|first=Michael|title=Canucks by the Sea|place=Eastbourne|publisher=Eastbourne Local History Society|year=2006|isbn=978-0-9547647-1-5}} Units of the very secretive and highly effective No. 3 (Jewish) Troop of the No. 10 Commando, composed of native German-speaking Austrian and German Jewish refugees, trained in Eastbourne.{{cite web | url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/no-3-jewish-troop-of-the-no-10-commando | title=No. 3 (Jewish) Troop of the No. 10 Commando | access-date=12 January 2022 | archive-date=29 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220729074617/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/no-3-jewish-troop-of-the-no-10-commando | url-status=live }} The town suffered badly during the war, with many Victorian and Edwardian buildings damaged or destroyed by air raids. Indeed, by the end of the conflict it was designated by the Home Office to have been 'the most raided town in the South East region'.{{cite book | last1 = Burgess | first1 = Pat | last2 = Saunders | first2 = Andy | title = Bombers over Sussex | publisher=Middleton Press | year = 1995 | location = Midhurst | page = 48 | isbn = 978-1-873793-51-0}} The situation was especially bad between May 1942 and June 1943 with hit–and–run raids from fighter–bombers based in northern France.{{Citation|last=Humphrey|first=George|title=Wartime Eastbourne|place=Eastbourne|publisher=Beckett Features|year=1989|isbn=978-1-871986-00-6}} Ultimately, 187 civilian people died in the borough through enemy action.{{cite web|title=Eastbourne Country Borough, with list of casualties|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4004821/EASTBOURNE,%20COUNTY%20BOROUGH|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|access-date=22 February 2019|archive-date=23 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223074405/https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4004821/EASTBOURNE,%20COUNTY%20BOROUGH|url-status=live}}

In the summer of 1956, the town came to national and worldwide attention{{Citation|last=Cullen|first=Pamela V.|title=A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams|publisher=Elliott & Thompson|year=2006|location=London|isbn=978-1-904027-19-5}} when John Bodkin Adams, a general practitioner serving the town's wealthier patients, was arrested for the murder of an elderly widow. Rumours had been circulating since 1935 regarding the frequency of his being named in patients' wills (132 times between 1946 and 1956) and the gifts he was given (including two Rolls-Royces). Figures of up to 400 murders were reported in British and foreign newspapers,Hallworth, Rodney and Mark Williams, Where there's a will... The sensational life of Dr John Bodkin Adams, Capstan Press, Jersey, 1983. {{ISBN|0-946797-00-5}} but, after a controversial trial at the Old Bailey, which gripped the nation for 17 days in March 1957, Adams was found not guilty. He was struck offOfficially removed from the list of doctors authorised to practise medicine (treat patients) by the General Medical Council for four years but resumed his practice in Eastbourne in 1961. According to Scotland Yard's archives, he is thought to have killed up to 163 patients in the Eastbourne area.

File:Eastbourne from Lord G. Cavendish's Seat in the Park by John Nixon.jpg's Seat in the Park, John Nixon, 1787]]

After the war, development continued, including the growth of Old Town up the hillside (Green Street Farm Estate) and the housing estates of Hampden Park, Willingdon Trees and Langney. During the latter half of the 20th century, there were controversies over the demolition of Pococks, a 15th-century manor house on what is now the Rodmill Housing Estate, and the granting of planning permission for a 19-storey block at the western end of the seafront. The latter project (South Cliff Tower) was realised in 1965 despite a storm of protest led by the newly formed Eastbourne and District Preservation Committee, which later became Eastbourne Civic Society, and was renamed the Eastbourne Society in 1999. Local conservationists also failed to prevent the construction of the glass-plated TGWU conference and holiday centre (the building now operating as The View Hotel), but were successful in purchasing Polegate Windmill, thus saving it from demolition and redevelopment.{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbournesociety.co.uk/page2/page2.html |title=About us |access-date=9 May 2010 |last=Clack |first=Mavis |date=January 2007 |publisher=The Eastbourne Society |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080430070645/http://www.eastbournesociety.co.uk/page2/page2.html |archive-date = 30 April 2008}} Most of the expansion took place on the northern and eastern margins of the town, gradually swallowing surrounding villages. However, the richer western part was constrained by the Downs and has remained largely unchanged. In 1981, a large section of the town centre was replaced by the indoor shops of the Arndale Centre.

In the 1990s, both growth and controversy accelerated rapidly as a new plan was launched to develop the area known as the Crumbles, a shingle bank on the coast to the east of the town centre. This area, now known as Sovereign Harbour, containing a marina, shops and several thousand houses, along with luxury flats, was formerly home to many rare plants. There has been continued growth in other parts of the town, and the central marshland has become farmland and nature reserves.

In 2009, the new Towner Gallery was opened, abutting the listed Congress Theatre built in 1963.{{Citation|title=Eastbourne Town Centre Regeneration|publisher=Eastbourne Borough Council|url=http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/towncentreregeneration|access-date=24 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211212905/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/towncentreregeneration/|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 February 2009}}

{{Clear}}

In 2016–19 extensive remodelling work was undertaken to the prominent Arndale Centre, which takes up most of the town centre, and was originally built by Legal & General Assurance in the 1980s. This was then renamed The Beacon. The remodelling including the addition of a brand new cinema run by Cineworld.

On 22 November 2019, a fire broke out in the basement of the Claremont Hotel. The nearby Pier Hotel was also evacuated.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-50515620|title=Eastbourne's Claremont Hotel 'engulfed in flames' as fire breaks out|work=BBC News |date=22 November 2019 |access-date=22 November 2019|archive-date=22 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122135834/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-50515620|url-status=live}}

=== Local history society ===

Eastbourne Local History Society was founded in 1970. It is a charitable, not-for-profit organisation in whose objective is the pursuit and encouragement of an active interest in the study of the history of Eastbourne and its immediate environs and the dissemination of the outcome of such studies.{{Citation|title=Eastbourne Local History Society|url=http://www.eastbournehistory.org.uk/|access-date=11 February 2010|archive-date=29 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829084906/http://www.eastbournehistory.org.uk/|url-status=live}}{{Citation|title= Local history societies in Sussex|publisher= The Local History Press Ltd|url= http://www.local-history.co.uk/Groups/sussex.html|access-date= 11 February 2010|archive-date= 19 June 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100619120200/http://www.local-history.co.uk/Groups/sussex.html|url-status= live}}

As the major landowner, the Cavendish family has had strong connections with Eastbourne since the 18th century. The current president of the society is William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington.

Containing over 1,500 articles about the history of Eastbourne, the Society's indexed journal, The Eastbourne Local Historian, is the major historical resource for the town and has been published quarterly since its inception in 1970.{{Citation|title=Local Resources|publisher=Eastbourne Borough Council|url=http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/eastbourne/history/family-history/local-resources/|access-date=11 February 2010|archive-date=22 February 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222151223/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/eastbourne/history/family-history/local-resources/|url-status=live}} Over the years, the Society has published various books and booklets about the history of Eastbourne, twelve of which are currently in print.

{{Wide image|Eastbourne Panorama, England - May 2009.jpg|900px|Panoramic view of Eastbourne, as seen from the west on Beachy Head}}

The South Downs dominate Eastbourne and the Eastbourne Downland Estate can be seen from most of the town. These were originally chalk deposits laid down under the sea during the Late Cretaceous, and were later lifted by the same tectonic plate movements that formed the European Alps, during the middle Tertiary period. The chalk can be clearly seen along the eroded coastline to the west of the town, in the area known as Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters, where continuous erosion keeps the cliff edge vertical and white. The chalk contains many fossils such as ammonites and nautilus. The town area is built on geologically recent alluvial drift, the result of the silting up of a bay. This changes to Weald clay around the Langney estate.

A part of the South Downs, Willingdon Down is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. This is of archaeological interest due to a Neolithic camp and burial grounds. The area is also a nationally uncommon tract of chalk grassland rich in species.{{cite web|url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002260.pdf |title=County: East Sussex Site Name: Willingdon Down |access-date=10 July 2011 |publisher=English Nature |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024021102/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002260.pdf |archive-date=24 October 2012 }} Another SSSI which partially falls within the Eastbourne district is Seaford to Beachy Head. This site, of biological and geological interest, covers the coastline between Eastbourne and Seaford, plus the Seven Sisters country park and the Cuckmere valley.{{cite web | url = http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002008.pdf | title = County: East Sussex, Site Name: Seaford to Beachy Head | access-date = 10 July 2011 | publisher = English Nature | archive-date = 29 June 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629014630/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1002008.pdf | url-status = live }} Several nature trails lead across the Downs to areas such as the nearby villages of East Dean and Birling Gap, and landmarks like the Seven Sisters, Belle Tout Lighthouse and Beachy Head.

File:Grove Road, Eastbourne.jpg

Eastbourne's greater area comprises the town of Polegate, and the civil parishes and villages of Willingdon and Jevington, Stone Cross, Pevensey, Westham and Pevensey Bay village. All are part of the Wealden District. Within Eastbourne's limits are:

• Langney: Langney Rise, Shinewater, Kingsmere, Langney Village
• Hampden Park: Hampden Park Village, Willingdon Trees, Winkney Farm, Ratton
• Inner areas: Rodmill, Ocklynge, Seaside, Bridgemere, Roselands, Downside
• Town centre: Town centre, Little Chelsea, Meads, Holywell, Old Town, Upperton
• Sovereign Harbour: North Harbour, South Harbour, Langney Point

There was a community known as Norway, Eastbourne in the triangle now bounded by Wartling Road, Seaside and Lottbridge Drove. The name being a corruption of North Way,{{Citation|last=Milton|first=John T.|title=Origins of Eastbourne's Street Names|place=Eastbourne|publisher=Eastbourne Local History Society|year=1995|edition=pamphlet|isbn=978-0-9504560-6-5}} as this was the route to the north. The area is now a housing estate and the only evidence there was a Norway are a Norway Road and the local church whose sign reads "St Andrew's Church, Norway".

The former fishing hamlet of Holywell (local pronunciation 'holly well') was situated by the cliff on a ledge some 400 yards to the southwest of the public garden known as the Holywell Retreat. It was approached from what is now Holywell Road via the lane between the present Helen Gardens and Bede's School, which leads to the chalk pinnacle formerly known locally as 'Gibraltar' or the 'Sugar Loaf'.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jun/28/keithperry|title=Five teenagers hurt as car plunges over 150ft cliff|first=Keith|last=Perry|date=28 June 2000|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=24 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824181116/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jun/28/keithperry|url-status=live}} The ground around the pinnacle was the site of lime kilns also worked by the fishermen.{{cite magazine|magazine=Eastbourne Local History Society Newsletter|title=Lime kilns|date=March 1979|issue=31}} The fishing hamlet at Holywell was taken over by the local water board in 1896 to exploit the springs in the cliffs. The water board's successors still own the site, and there is a pumping station but little evidence of the hamlet itself, as by now even most of the foundations of the cottages have gone over the cliff.{{cite magazine|magazine=Eastbourne Local History Society Newsletter|title=Holywell|date=March 1979|issue=91}}

As with the rest of the British Isles and South Coast, Eastbourne experiences a maritime climate with warm summers and mild winters. The local climate is notable for its high sunshine levels, at least relative to much of the rest of England – Eastbourne holds the UK record for the highest recorded amount of sunshine in a month, 383.9 hours in July 1911.{{Citation |title=UK Weather Records |publisher=UK Met Office |url=http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/extremes/ |access-date=27 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403174157/http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/extremes/ |archive-date=3 April 2012 }} Temperature extremes recorded at Eastbourne since 1960 range from {{convert|31.6|C|F}} during July 1976,{{cite web | publisher = KNMI | url = http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/monitordetail.php?seasonid=13&year=1976&indexid=TXx&stationid=1864 | title = 1976 temperature | access-date = 11 November 2011 | archive-date = 8 June 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120608170916/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/monitordetail.php?seasonid=13&year=1976&indexid=TXx&stationid=1864 | url-status = live }} down to {{convert|−9.7|C|F}} In January 1987.{{cite web | publisher = KNMI | url = http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/monitordetail.php?seasonid=7&year=1987&indexid=TNn&stationid=1864 | title = 1987 temperature | access-date = 11 November 2011 | archive-date = 8 June 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120608170925/http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/monitordetail.php?seasonid=7&year=1987&indexid=TNn&stationid=1864 | url-status = live }} Eastbourne's coastal location also means it tends to be milder than most areas, particularly during night. A whole six months of the year have never fallen below 0 °C (32 °F), and in July the temperature has never fallen below {{convert|8.3|C|F}}. All temperature figures relate to the period 1960 onwards. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).{{cite web|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=591091&cityname=Eastbourne%2C+England%2C+United+Kingdom&units=|title=Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)|website=Weatherbase.com|access-date=9 July 2013|archive-date=12 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112115144/http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=591091&cityname=Eastbourne%2C+England%2C+United+Kingdom&units=|url-status=live}}

{{Weather box|location = Eastbourne 7 m asl, 1991–2020, Extremes 1960–

|metric first = Y

|single line = Y

|Jan record high C = 14.8

|Feb record high C = 14.7

|Mar record high C = 16.7

|Apr record high C = 24.0

|May record high C = 26.3

|Jun record high C = 29.0

|Jul record high C = 31.6

|Aug record high C = 30.4

|Sep record high C = 26.9

|Oct record high C = 21.4

|Nov record high C = 17.4

|Dec record high C = 15.2

|year record high C = 31.6

|Jan high C = 8.5

|Feb high C = 8.6

|Mar high C = 10.6

|Apr high C = 13.3

|May high C = 16.3

|Jun high C = 18.9

|Jul high C = 21.0

|Aug high C = 21.3

|Sep high C = 19.2

|Oct high C = 15.7

|Nov high C = 11.9

|Dec high C = 9.3

|year high C = 14.6

|Jan low C = 3.9

|Feb low C = 3.6

|Mar low C = 4.9

|Apr low C = 6.7

|May low C = 9.7

|Jun low C = 12.5

|Jul low C = 14.7

|Aug low C = 14.9

|Sep low C = 12.6

|Oct low C = 9.9

|Nov low C = 6.9

|Dec low C = 4.5

|year low C = 8.8

|Jan record low C = -9.7

|Feb record low C = −8.8

|Mar record low C = −6.1

|Apr record low C = −1.7

|May record low C = 0.0

|Jun record low C = 3.3

|Jul record low C = 8.3

|Aug record low C = 7.1

|Sep record low C = 5.2

|Oct record low C = 0.1

|Nov record low C = −3.7

|Dec record low C = −7.8

|year record low C = −9.7

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 83.1

|Feb precipitation mm = 58.9

|Mar precipitation mm = 47.6

|Apr precipitation mm = 44.4

|May precipitation mm = 46.1

|Jun precipitation mm = 46.8

|Jul precipitation mm = 54.1

|Aug precipitation mm = 59.8

|Sep precipitation mm = 59.9

|Oct precipitation mm = 93.2

|Nov precipitation mm = 98.5

|Dec precipitation mm = 100.1

|year precipitation mm = 792.6

|unit rain days = 1.0 mm

|Jan rain days = 12.7

|Feb rain days = 10.4

|Mar rain days = 8.7

|Apr rain days = 7.9

|May rain days = 7.9

|Jun rain days = 6.8

|Jul rain days = 7.3

|Aug rain days = 8.4

|Sep rain days = 8.5

|Oct rain days = 11.5

|Nov rain days = 13.0

|Dec rain days = 13.1

|year rain days = 116.2

|Jan sun = 70.1

|Feb sun = 89.6

|Mar sun = 134.2

|Apr sun = 202.2

|May sun = 235.1

|Jun sun = 237.7

|Jul sun = 251.5

|Aug sun = 232.7

|Sep sun = 176.3

|Oct sun = 121.6

|Nov sun = 78.3

|Dec sun = 62.5

|year sun = 1891.8

|source 1 = Met Office{{cite web

|url = https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/u100y2zh2

|title = Met Office: Climate averages 1991–2020

|publisher = Met Office

|access-date = 17 December 2021

|date = December 2021

|archive-date = 27 September 2021

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210927071252/https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/u100y2zh2

|url-status = live

}}

|source 2 = Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute/KNMI{{cite web |url=http://eca.knmi.nl/utils/mapserver/anomaly.php?indexcat=**&indexid=TXx&year=1979&seasonid=18&create_image=true&minx=-1111428.5714287&miny=-4687142.8571429&maxx=621904.76190476&maxy=-3387142.8571428&MapSize=560%2C420&imagewidth=560&imageheight=420&mainmap.x=366&mainmap.y=378&CMD=QUERY_POINT&CMD=QUERY_POINT#bottom |title=Anomaly maps |publisher=Eca.knmi.nl |access-date=12 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323031247/https://eca.knmi.nl/utils/mapserver/anomaly.php?indexcat=**&indexid=TXx&year=1979&seasonid=18&create_image=true&minx=-1111428.5714287&miny=-4687142.8571429&maxx=621904.76190476&maxy=-3387142.8571428&MapSize=560%2C420&imagewidth=560&imageheight=420&mainmap.x=366&mainmap.y=378&CMD=QUERY_POINT&CMD=QUERY_POINT#bottom |archive-date=23 March 2018 |url-status=dead }}

}}

{{main|Eastbourne Borough Council}}

File:Eastbourne town hall.jpg]]

There are two tiers of local government covering Eastbourne, at district and county level: Eastbourne Borough Council, based at the Town Hall on Grove Road, and East Sussex County Council, based in Lewes. There are no civil parishes in the borough, which is an unparished area.{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=20 August 2023 |archive-date=20 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220103943/https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |url-status=live }}

Eastbourne was an ancient parish. It was governed by its vestry, in the same way as most rural areas, until 1859 when the parish was made a local government district, governed by a local board.{{London Gazette|issue=22212|page=5521|date=24 December 1858}} Eastbourne become a municipal borough in 1883, governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Eastbourne", but informally known as the corporation or town council.{{cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Sussex |date=1890 |location=London |page=2151 |url=https://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/364571/rec/6 |access-date=20 August 2023}} One of the new council's first projects was to build Eastbourne Town Hall, which was designed by W. Tadman Foulkes, and built between 1884 and 1886 under supervision of Henry Currey, the Duke of Devonshire's architect.{{cite book |url= https://archive.org/details/victorianedwardi0000cunn |url-access= registration |quote= Eastbourne Town Hall. |title=Victorian and Edwardian town halls |page=[https://archive.org/details/victorianedwardi0000cunn/page/107 107]|author=Colin Cunningham|publisher=Routledge |year= 1981 |access-date=19 July 2011|isbn=978-0-7100-0723-0 }}

In 1911 Eastbourne was elevated to be a county borough, making it independent from East Sussex County Council.{{cite web |title=Eastbourne Municipal Borough / County Borough |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10061477 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=20 August 2023 |archive-date=19 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230819072709/https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10061477 |url-status=live }} Eastbourne became a non-metropolitan district on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, with East Sussex County Council once more providing county-level services to the town.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|access-date=31 May 2023}}

The Parliament Constituency of Eastbourne has always covered a greater area than the borough's nine wards, but due to population growth in the town, it has lost territory over time. At present the constituency includes all of the borough as well as the suburb of Willingdon.

Eastbourne is a marginal seat currently represented by the Liberal Democrats but with recent representation by the Conservatives.{{cite web |url=http://youelect.org.uk/constituency/eastbourne |title=YouElect UK Elections 2010 |website=Youelect.org.uk |year=2011 |access-date=13 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104140326/http://youelect.org.uk/constituency/eastbourne |archive-date=4 January 2012 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/vote2006/locals/html/21uc.stm | title = Local elections: Eastbourne | access-date = 8 July 2011 | date = 4 May 2006 | quote = Past results | work = BBC News | archive-date = 19 May 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060519145342/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/vote2006/locals/html/21uc.stm | url-status = live }}

Eastbourne is the second largest district or borough in East Sussex with an official resident population of 101,700 in the 2021 census, an increase of 2.3% over the 2011 census.{{cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/censusareachanges/E07000061/|title=How life has changed in Eastbourne: Census 2021|date=19 January 2023|accessdate=9 September 2023|archive-date=26 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926102953/https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/censusareachanges/E07000061/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/streamServerFile.jsp?file=/nesstar/temp/EGMS20121206121916815/Eastbourne%202001%20Census%20Summary%20Profile.pdf&server=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk:80|title=2001 CENSUS – SUMMARY PROFILE FOR EASTBOURNE|date=2001|accessdate=9 September 2023|archive-date=3 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203210755/https://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/streamServerFile.jsp?file=%2Fnesstar%2Ftemp%2FEGMS20121206121916815%2FEastbourne%202001%20Census%20Summary%20Profile.pdf&server=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk%3A80|url-status=live}} Previously the population of Eastbourne grew (between 2001 and 2011) from 89,667 to 99,400.

The average age of residents has dropped in recent years as younger people move into the town and young family households have started to balance retirement communities.{{cite web |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local-news/town_population_s_age_profile_drops_1_1416162 |title=Town population's age profile drops – Local News |website=Eastbourne Herald |year=2011 |access-date=19 July 2011 |archive-date=23 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123022839/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local-news/town_population_s_age_profile_drops_1_1416162 |url-status=live }} In 2014, 54% of residents were between 20 and 64, while 24% were over 65 years old, and there was an average age of 43. In 2013, the Office for National Statistics named an area in Meads as the first place in the UK to have an average resident age exceeding 70, with an average age of 71.1, compared with a national average age of 39.7.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-24593911|title=District has 'highest average age'|date=19 October 2013|website=Bbc.co.uk|access-date=18 July 2019|archive-date=27 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427054146/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-24593911|url-status=live}}

29% of households do not have cars or vans.{{cite web|title=Area Summary for Eastbourne Borough – East Sussex Public Health – March 2016|url=http://www.eastsussexjsna.org.uk/JsnaSiteAspx/media/jsna-media/documents/scorecards/2016/Area%20Summaries/LA%20View/Eastbourne-Borough-Area-Summary-2016.pdf|publisher=East Sussex County Council|access-date=29 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501092916/http://www.eastsussexjsna.org.uk/JsnaSiteAspx/media/jsna-media/documents/scorecards/2016/Area%20Summaries/LA%20View/Eastbourne-Borough-Area-Summary-2016.pdf|archive-date=1 May 2018|url-status=dead}}

Ethnically, the 2021 census showed the town was 90.8% White, including 82.1% White British and 7.7% Other White, down from 94.1% in 2011 and 96.6% in 2001 census.{{cite web|url=https://www.eastsussexjsna.org.uk/area-profiles/eastbourne-borough-area-profile/#:~:text=Data%20from%20the%202021%20census,%25)%20and%20England%20(6.5%25).|title=Eastbourne borough area profile|accessdate=9 January 2024|archive-date=9 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109224641/https://www.eastsussexjsna.org.uk/area-profiles/eastbourne-borough-area-profile/#:~:text=Data%20from%20the%202021%20census,%25)%20and%20England%20(6.5%25).|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/streamServerFile.jsp?file=/nesstar/temp/EGMS20121206121916815/Eastbourne%202001%20Census%20Summary%20Profile.pdf&server=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk:80|title= 2001 CENSUS – SUMMARY PROFILE FOR EASTBOURNE Population Eastbourne East Sussex South East England & Wales Social character|accessdate=24 January 2024}} Asian people were 3.5% (up from 2.8% in 2011), 2.8% were mixed or multiple ethnic groups, 1.3% were Black, Black British, Caribbean or African and other ethnic groups were 1.7% of the total population.

In 2021, Eastbourne had residents from a range of birthplaces, with 82.4% born in England (down from 85.2% in 2011 census). Other notable groups of people include Poland (1.5%), Scotland (1.3%), Portugal (1.1%), other EU countries (1.2%) that joined since 2001 to 2011.

The 2001 UK Census indicated that the largest non-white ethnic group at the time was Chinese. Studies conducted by the local council in 2008 reflected growth in new residents from Eastern Europe, particularly Poland.{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=36407&type=full&servicetype=Inline|title=Race Equality Scheme 2009–2012|page=8|publisher=Eastbourne Borough Council|access-date=19 July 2011|archive-date=28 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928031427/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=36407&type=full&servicetype=Inline|url-status=live}}

Unemployment in Eastbourne was below the national average in 2013 figures, at 4.1% compared to 4.4% for England and Wales.{{cite web|title=Eastbourne Area Profile, Economy|url=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/index.jsp?catalog=http%3A%2F%2Fesfigures01s.escc.gov.uk%3A80%2Fobj%2FfCatalog%2FCatalog47&submode=catalog&mode=documentation&top=yes|publisher=East Sussex County Council|access-date=23 October 2013|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193621/http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/index.jsp?catalog=http%3A%2F%2Fesfigures01s.escc.gov.uk%3A80%2Fobj%2FfCatalog%2FCatalog47&submode=catalog&mode=documentation&top=yes|url-status=live}} The percentage of economically active people increased between 2001 and 2011. There has also been an upward trend in recent years, in the number of people with higher education qualifications.

With a population of more than 100,000 people, Eastbourne has been a fast-growing town in the past few years, relative to the rest of the UK.{{cite web|title=East Sussex in Figures|url=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/index.jsp?mode=documentation&submode=catalog&catalog=http%3A%2F%2Fesfigures01s.escc.gov.uk%3A80%2Fobj%2FfCatalog%2FCatalog23&top=yes|publisher=East Sussex County Council|access-date=23 October 2013|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006103128/http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/index.jsp?mode=documentation&submode=catalog&catalog=http%3A%2F%2Fesfigures01s.escc.gov.uk%3A80%2Fobj%2FfCatalog%2FCatalog23&top=yes|url-status=live}} Development around Eastbourne's Sovereign Harbour, Britain's largest composite marina, has created more than 3,000 new homes and an innovation centre for small businesses.

Eastbourne is home to companies in a wide range of industries.{{cite web|title=East Sussex in Figures|url=http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/index.jsp?mode=area&submode=result&areaname=eastbourne&areatype=LA|work=Eastbourne Economy Profile|publisher=East Sussex County Council|access-date=23 October 2013|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006125312/http://www.eastsussexinfigures.org.uk/webview/index.jsp?mode=area&submode=result&areaname=eastbourne&areatype=LA|url-status=live}} Eastbourne's Chamber of Commerce has more than 500 members and holds many networking events to facilitate local business links.{{cite web|title=Eastbourne and District Chamber of Commerce Ltd|url=http://www.eastbourneunltd.co.uk/|access-date=23 October 2013|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194830/http://www.eastbourneunltd.co.uk/|url-status=live}}

In 2008, Eastbourne was judged to have low productivity, in a national assessment by the National Audit Office.Annual Business Inquiry, UK National Audit Office (2008) Productivity, measured by gross value added per employee, was recorded as £31,390 per year. This compared unfavourably with the South East overall, where GVA was £40,460 per employee per year. A possible explanation for this is that a high proportion of workers are in sectors which have relatively low productivity and wages.East Sussex Local Transport Plan 2011–2026, East Sussex County Council (2011)

In recent years, five areas within Eastbourne have regularly featured in the most economically deprived 10% in all of England. Measured as Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs), two areas within Devonshire ward, two areas within Hampden Park, and one area within Langney, are all among the most deprived LSOAs in the country. Three quarters of LSOAs in the town (45 LSOAs or 76%) had a worse ranking for deprivation in 2010 than in 2007.Indices of Multiple Deprivation (East Sussex in Figures), UK Department for Communities & Local Government, 2010

In 2016, UK innovation charity NESTA named Eastbourne as a "creative cluster", with 969 creative firms representing 9.1% of total businesses in the town and providing employment for 2,703 people.{{Cite news|url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/eastbourne-s-a-hotspot-for-creative-industries-says-report-1-7518904|title=Eastbourne Herald|date=9 August 2016|website=Eastbourneherald.co.uk|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=17 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917155032/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/eastbourne-s-a-hotspot-for-creative-industries-says-report-1-7518904|url-status=live}}

File:Eastbourne beach.jpg in the background (August 2005)]]

File:Eastbourne Pier, East Sussex, England 20June2018 arp.jpg in June 2018]]

The seafront at Eastbourne consists almost entirely of Victorian hotels. Along with its pier and bandstand, this serves to preserve the front in a somewhat timeless manner.{{cite web | url = http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=226&type=full&servicetype=Inline | title = Eastbourne's Story | access-date = 10 July 2011 | publisher = Eastbourne Borough Council | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110928031242/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=226&type=full&servicetype=Inline | archive-date = 28 September 2011 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} The Duke of Devonshire retains the rights{{clarify|date=June 2016}} to the seafront buildings and does not allow them to be developed into shops.{{Citation|title=Eastbourne, an Illustrated Miscellany|place=Salisbury, Wiltshire|publisher=Frith Book Company|year=2004|isbn=978-1-904938-79-8}}

A stretch of {{convert|4|mi|km}} of shingle beach stretches from Sovereign Harbour in the east to Beachy Head in the west. In a 1998 survey, 56% of visitors said that the beach and seafront was one of Eastbourne's best features, although 10% listed the pebbled beach as a dislike.{{citation|title=Tourism Study: Visitor Profile & Economic Impact|publisher=Report commissioned by Eastbourne Borough Council|year=1998}}

Other recreation facilities include two swimming pools, three fitness centres and other smaller sports clubs including scuba diving.

A children's adventure park is sited at the eastern end of the seafront. There are various other establishments scattered around the town such as crazy golf, go–karting and Laser Quest. The pier is an obvious place to visit and is sometimes used to hold events, such as the international birdman competition held annually, although this was cancelled in 2005 due to a lack of competitors.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4722897.stm|work=BBC News |title=No 'birds' means Birdman scrapped|date=28 July 2005|access-date=24 June 2007}} An annual raft competition used to take place where competitors, usually local businesses, circumnavigate the pier in a raft made by themselves, while being attacked by a water-cannon.{{Cite web | url=https://www.solarnavigator.net/music/kings_nightclub.htm | title=KINGS NIGHTCLUB EASTBOURNE | access-date=2024-07-20 | website=www.solarnavigator.net}}

A major event in the tourist programme of Eastbourne Borough Council is Eastbourne Airbourne, a large air show, held annually in August.

Reports claim a £365m revenue from visitors in 2010, with an estimated 7,160 jobs supported by tourism.{{cite web|title=The Economic Impact of Tourism Eastbourne 2010|url=http://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publication/ES/cms/pdf/Eastbourne%20Tourism-Economic-Impact-2010.pdf|publisher=Tourism South East|access-date=23 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194617/http://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publication/ES/cms/pdf/Eastbourne%20Tourism-Economic-Impact-2010.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2013|url-status=dead}}

The town is home to the UK's largest book wholesalers, Gardners Books, who are one of the town's largest employers, with a majority of staff involved in packing and shipping books from a 350,000 sq ft warehouse facility.{{cite web|url=https://www.gardners.com/|title=Gardners – Gardners Books|website=Gardners.com|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330005115/https://www.gardners.com/|url-status=live}}

A majority of Eastbourne's total employment is offered by small private businesses, though Eastbourne District General Hospital is a significant public sector employer.

In 2010, it was assessed that Eastbourne had a public sector employment rate of 25.4% of overall jobs. This was noted as below average, compared with the UK as a whole.{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/nov/21/public-sector-employment-uk-map|title=The public sector employment map of the UK: the full data|first=Simon|last=Rogers|date=21 November 2011|website=The Guardian|access-date=30 March 2019|archive-date=3 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603095045/http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/nov/21/public-sector-employment-uk-map|url-status=live}}

Eastbourne Electric Light Co. started up on 4 September 1882 illuminating The Parades with 22 Brush arc lamps.{{Cite book|last=The Electricity Council|title=Electricity Supply in the United Kingdom: a Chronology|publisher=The Electricity Council|year=1987|isbn=085188105X|location=London|pages=22}} Several large shops were lit with incandescent lamps powered from generators located at the Bedfordwell waterworks. An alternating current system was introduced in 1883, from a generating plant at The Old Brewery in Junction Road. By 1888 there were 1,700 lamps on the system; a new generating plant was added in 1899 including 30 kW, 75 kW, 100 kW, 50 kW, 150 kW and 200 kW generators. There were five circuits distributing electricity around the town through rubber insulated cables. After a few years the rubber deteriorated and faults were frequent. The Eastbourne Corporation purchased the undertaking on 1 January 1900 and the original Electricity Works was closed down in July 1902.

Eastbourne County Borough Corporation began construction of Eastbourne power station in the first decade of the twentieth century. It supplied electricity, firstly for street lighting then other uses. The station had a single brick chimney and three wooden cooling towers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/28976636@N07/12477285294|title=Eastbourne past ~1930s electricity works and desructor|publisher=Flickr|date=12 July 2013|access-date=3 February 2020|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326032903/https://www.flickr.com/photos/28976636@N07/12477285294|url-status=live}} Upon nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1948 ownership of the station passed to the British Electricity Authority and then to the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1954 the station generated 2,652 MWh of electricity and burned 3,500 tons of coal.{{Cite journal|date=24 June 1954|title=Schedule of power stations as at 31 December 1954|journal=Electrical Review|volume=June 1955|pages=1123}} In 1966 the power station had a generating capacity of 9.0 MW and delivered 3,165 MWh of electricity.CEGB Statistical Yearbook 1966, CEGB, London The CEGB later closed the station and it was subsequently demolished.

{{See also|Eastbourne Theatres|Towner Art Gallery}}

The Towner Art Gallery is Eastbourne's principal arts gallery and arts education hub. After being located for many years in Eastbourne Manor House, within Gildredge Park, it relocated next to the Congress Theatre in 2009. The gallery holds one of the most important collections of public art in southern England. The venue hosted the 2023 Turner Prize.{{Cite web |last=Tate |title=Turner Prize 2023 {{!}} Towner Eastbourne |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/towner-eastbourne/turner-prize-2023 |access-date=6 January 2023 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}

Eastbourne has three council-owned theatres: the Grade II* listed{{NHLE |num=1323698 |desc=Congress Theatre |access-date=13 January 2007}} Congress Theatre, the Grade II listed Devonshire Park Theatre and the Grade II listed Winter Garden. The Grade II listed Royal Hippodrome Theatre used to be council-owned, but is now run by an independent charitable trust.File:Devonshire Park Theatre.jpg, completed in 1884.]]

The Devonshire Park Theatre is a fine example of a Victorian theatre with ornate interior decorations, and plays host to touring dramas and comedies and an annual local pantomime. The Royal Hippodrome has the longest running summer show in Britain.{{Citation|title=Eastbourne Borough Council – Theatres |url=http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/leisure/theatres |access-date=7 November 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527032351/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/leisure/theatres/ |archive-date=27 May 2013 }} The London Philharmonic Orchestra makes regular appearances and has an annual season at the Congress Theatre.

Other theatre venues in the town include the volunteer-run Underground Theatre, in the basement of the town's Central Library,{{Citation|url=http://www.undergroundtheatre.org.uk/index.html|title=About the Under Ground Theatre|access-date=18 July 2011|publisher=Eastbourne Arts Centre|archive-date=10 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410213341/http://www.undergroundtheatre.org.uk/index.html|url-status=live}} and the Lamb Theatre, based at the Lamb Inn in Old Town, which was launched in August 2009 but reinstated an older tradition at the pub.{{cite news |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/entertainment/Oldest-town-inn-begins-new.5533723.jp|title=Oldest town inn begins new life as theatre|access-date=16 October 2009|newspaper=Eastbourne Herald}}

Eastbourne had two cinemas: the Curzon Cinema and Cineworld. The Curzon Cinema was a small, family-run, independent cinema in Langney Road, in the town centre, which closed in January 2020.{{cite web|url=https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/people/eastbourne-curzon-cinema-announces-it-will-close-next-year-927341|title=Curzon to close in 2020|website=Easbourneherald.co.uk|access-date=23 January 2020|archive-date=23 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423182632/https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/people/eastbourne-curzon-cinema-announces-it-will-close-next-year-927341|url-status=live}} Cineworld is a large Multiplex cinema with eight screens, in the Beacon shopping centre.

In 2013, the owners of the Curzon Cinema declared themselves "shocked" at the threats to their venue from a newly announced eight-screen multiplex, to be built in a renovated Arndale Centre nearby (the centre has been renamed as The Beacon).{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/curzon-owner-shocked-by-plans-for-multiplex-cinema-1-5748060|title=Curzon owner 'shocked' by plans for multiplex cinema|website=Eastbourneherald.co.uk|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=29 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129080812/https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/curzon-owner-shocked-by-plans-for-multiplex-cinema-1-5748060|url-status=live}}

Cultural events are held in Eastbourne every year, including Airbourne, Eastbourne's International Airshow, one of the most popular airshows in the United Kingdom. The Eastbourne Music & Arts Festival, a competitive festival held annually at the Winter Gardens was originally founded in 1961 and since 2021 has changed its name into Eastbourne Performing Arts Festival.

Other more recent festivals and fairs include:

• Eastbourne Feastival, a family, food, music and culture festival which has been held annually since 2016.
• [https://crossingthescreen.com/ Crossing The Screen International Film Festival], the longest running film festival of Eastbourne, founded in 2016.
• [https://www.eastbournebonfiresociety.com/steampunk/ Eastbourne Steampunk Festival]. Organised by Eastbourne's Bonfire Society since 2016 and celebrating retro-futuristic technology and aesthetics.
• [https://www.eastbournevintagefestival.co.uk/ Eastbourne Vintage Festival], created in 2021 and held in Gildredge Park, one of the town's most beautiful parks.
• [https://www.plasticfreeeastbourne.co.uk/spring-water-festival Springwater Festival], created in 2021 and hosting a range of events to celebrate all aspects of water along Eastbourne seafront.

Eastbourne Bandstand lies on the seafront, between the Wish Tower and the pier. It stages 1812 Firework Concerts, Rock N Roll nights, Big Band concerts, Promenade concerts and tribute bands.

There was once a second similar bandstand (also built in 1935) in the 'music gardens' near the Redoubt Fortress. The bandstand was removed to make way for the Pavilion Tearooms but the colonnades built around it are still there (behind the tea rooms). Before 1935 each of these sites had a smaller "birdcage" bandstand; the one in the music gardens having been moved from a rather precarious position opposite the Albion Hotel. The kiosk in the music gardens was originally one of the toll kiosks at the entrance to the pier.

Grove Road is the location of two independent record shops and a venue called Printer's Playhouse (which hosts performances of live music and new plays).

The local radio station Seahaven FM on 95.6 FM and online is now the most local radio station to cover Eastbourne. Former local radio station Sovereign FM became More Radio Eastbourne in 2016,{{cite news |title=Sovereign FM to change its name from Monday |url=https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14410108.Sovereign_FM_to_change_its_name_from_Monday/ |access-date=31 October 2024 |work=TheArgus.co.uk}} broadcasting to Eastbourne from studios in Burgess Hill.{{cn|date=October 2024}} Storm FM UK is an Eastbourne-based internet only radio station serving the coastal area and with a global outlook broadcasting to over eighty countries

Regional radio stations, Heart South, (previously Southern FM) has, since mid 2019, been networked from London and no longer has a Sussex base, which was previously in Portslade and BBC Radio Sussex which broadcasts from Brighton.

BBC South East Today and ITV News Meridian are the two regional news channels.

Eastbourne has a local weekly tabloid newspaper, which is published every Friday, called The Eastbourne Herald (know locally as The Herald). Eastbourne is also served by Eastbourne Scoop,{{Cite web|title=Eastbourne Scoop – Local news and events in Eastbourne, East Sussex|url=https://www.eastbournescoop.co.uk/|access-date=13 November 2021|website=Eastbourne Scoop|language=en-GB|archive-date=13 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113215859/https://www.eastbournescoop.co.uk/|url-status=live}} a weekly online-only media publication. A monthly free newspaper [https://eastsussex.news/eastbourne Eastbourne News] began publishing in June 2024, with a distribution of 15,000 copies from local supermarkets and other outlets.

The seafront and the iconic cliff at Beachy Head has been used for many scenes in feature films, and the local council set up a film liaison unit to encourage and facilitate the shooting of film sequences in and around the town.{{cite web | url = http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/eastbourne/film/ | title = Film Liaison | access-date = 10 July 2011 | publisher = Eastbourne Borough Council | archive-date = 10 July 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110710152229/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/eastbourne/film/ | url-status = live }} The 2006 Academy Award-nominated film Notes on a Scandal includes scenes filmed at Beachy Head, Cavendish Hotel and 117 Royal Parade. Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters were used as backdrops for scenes from the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.{{cite news |title=Cliff top may be Quidditch pitch |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3554840.stm |work=BBC News |date=11 August 2004 |access-date=23 May 2016 |archive-date=30 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630085438/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3554840.stm |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Film wizards shoot Harry Potter scenes |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/film-wizards-shoot-harry-potter-scenes-1-1438326 |publisher=Eastbourne Herald |date=20 September 2004 |access-date=23 May 2016 |archive-date=25 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625072251/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/film-wizards-shoot-harry-potter-scenes-1-1438326 |url-status=live }} Scenes from Half a Sixpence (1967) were filmed on the pier and near to the bandstand. The seafront area was also used for the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging directed by Gurinder Chadha.{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/Perfect-town-for-major-teen.3262050.jp|title=Perfect town for major teen film|author=Annemarie Field|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216014605/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/Perfect-town-for-major-teen.3262050.jp |access-date=18 September 2023|archive-date=16 February 2008 }} The Langham Hotel was a filming location for Made in Dagenham, which also featured the seafront and pier.{{cite news |title=Eastbourne is on the silver screen again |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/eastbourne-is-on-the-silver-screen-again-1-1593786 |newspaper=Eastbourne Herald |date=1 October 2010 |access-date=23 May 2016 |archive-date=25 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625073432/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/eastbourne-is-on-the-silver-screen-again-1-1593786 |url-status=live }} A sequence of a rainy day at the seaside for the Doel family has as its backdrop the Wish Tower, the bandstand, the Cavendish Hotel and the pier in the 1987 British/American drama film 84 Charing Cross Road directed by David Jones.84 Charing Cross Road, Columbia Pictures, EAN 5035822111134 The ending to Quadrophenia was also filmed on Beachy Head.{{cite web | url=https://medium.com/curious-scribe/the-stunning-eastbourne-coast-have-you-visited-yet-6a2a85be113d | title=Eastbourne UK: Quadrophenia Film Location, Lighthouses, and a Victorian Pier | date=9 January 2023 }}

Television too has used Eastbourne as a backdrop. The series Little Britain had the character Emily Howard strolling along the promenade. Other brief appearances were made in the television series Agatha Christie's Marple, The Two Ronnies, French and Saunders and Foyle's War. A sequence of sketches that appear in each episode of Bang, Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer, was shot in the old Jo Pip's / Cunninghams theatre venue on Seaside Road, which has since been developed into flats. The 1993 BBC drama series Westbeach was filmed on location in Eastbourne and surrounding areas. In 2021 Netflix series The Crown filmed an episode in the town and surrounding areas.{{Cite web|title=Hit Netflix drama The Crown wraps shooting for season five in Sussex town|url=https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/19756155.hit-netflix-drama-crown-wraps-shooting-season-five-eastbourne/|access-date=6 December 2021|website=The Argus|date=2 December 2021|language=en|archive-date=6 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206111830/https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/19756155.hit-netflix-drama-crown-wraps-shooting-season-five-eastbourne/|url-status=live}}

Eastbourne features in the ghost story Owen Wingrave by American novelist Henry James.{{Cite web | url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time,_Collaboration,_Owen_Wingrave/Owen_Wingrave/Chapter_1 | title=The Wheel of Time, Collaboration, Owen Wingrave/Owen Wingrave/Chapter 1 | access-date=2024-07-20 | website=en.wikisource.org | archive-date=20 July 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240720141252/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time,_Collaboration,_Owen_Wingrave/Owen_Wingrave/Chapter_1 | url-status=live }}

The elderly female residents of Eastbourne were the inspiration for the song "Eastbourne Ladies" by English singer Kevin Coyne, which appeared on his 1973 album Marjory Razorblade.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tracks/nn3r4c|title=Eastbourne Ladies – Kevin Coyne Song – BBC Music|website=BBC|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330022129/https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/tracks/nn3r4c|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5qvh |title=Music – Review of Kevin Coyne – Marjory Razorblade |publisher=BBC |access-date=12 August 2014 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925111335/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5qvh |url-status=live }}

File:Manor Gardens.jpg

Eastbourne has numerous parks and gardens, although there are several smaller open spaces including Upperton Gardens, the Carpet Gardens and the Western Lawns. The first public park in Eastbourne was Hampden Park, originally owned by Lord Willingdon and opened on 12 August 1902. Facilities include: football pitches, rugby club, indoor bowls, a large lake (formerly a Decoy pond), lakeside cafe, children's recreation area, tennis courts, BMX and skate facility, disc golf course (target) and woodland. The largest and newest park is Shinewater Park, located on the west side of Langney and opened in 2002. There is a large fishing lake, basketball, football pitches, a BMX and skate park and children's playground.{{cite web | url = http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/leisure/parks/parks/shinewater-park/ | title = Shinewater Park | access-date = 24 December 2011 | archive-date = 4 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120104121009/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/leisure/parks/parks/shinewater-park/ | url-status = live }}

Gildredge Park is a large open park located between the town centre and Old Town; it is popular with families and has a children's playground, cafe, tennis courts, disc golf course (target) and bowls lawns. The smaller, adjoining, Manor Gardens combines both lawns and shady areas as well as a rose garden. Until 2005, Manor Gardens was the home of the Towner Gallery. This gallery incorporated a permanent exhibition of local art and historical items, plus temporary art exhibitions of regional and national significance. It was relocated to a new, £8.6 million purpose-built facility adjacent to the Congress Theatre, Devonshire Park which opened on 4 April 2009.{{Cite web | url=https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/towner-gallery-eastbourne-by-rick-mather-architects | title=Towner Gallery, Eastbourne by Rick Mather Architects | access-date=2024-07-20 | website=www.architectsjournal.co.uk| date=16 April 2009 }}

Princes Park obtained its name during a visit by the Duke of Windsor as Prince of Wales in 1931. Located at the eastern end of the seafront, it has a children's playground with paddling pool, cafe, bowls and a large lake, noted for its swans. The lake is used by a nearby water-sports centre, which offers kayak and windsurfing training. Princes Park lake is also home to Eastbourne Model Powerboat Club{{cite web | url = http://www.empbc.org.uk/ | title = Welcome to Eastbourne Model Powerboat Club Web Site | access-date = 15 May 2010 | publisher = Eastbourne Model Powerboat Club | archive-date = 26 April 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100426021635/http://www.empbc.org.uk/ | url-status = live }} and Eastbourne Model Yacht Club.{{cite web | url = http://www.edmyc.org.uk/ | title = Eastbourne and District Model Yacht Club | access-date = 15 May 2010 | archive-date = 22 January 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100122090121/http://www.edmyc.org.uk/ | url-status = live }} Close by are tennis and basketball courts and a football pitch. At the north of the park is the Oval, home of Eastbourne United F.C. On 21 July 2018, the park hosted the town's second LGBTQ+ Pride event which was attended by over 4,000 people.{{Cite web|title=Thousands celebrate Eastbourne Pride|url=https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/thousands-celebrate-eastbourne-pride-274351|access-date=20 August 2020|website=www.eastbourneherald.co.uk|language=en|archive-date=23 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123005730/https://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/thousands-celebrate-eastbourne-pride-274351|url-status=live}}

Devonshire Park, home to the pre-Wimbledon ladies tennis championships, is located just off the seafront in the town's cultural district. Other parks include: Helen Gardens and the Italian Gardens at the western end of the seafront, Sovereign Park between the main seafront and the marina and Motcombe Gardens in Old Town.

Eastbourne's floral displays have been promoted, including the Carpet Gardens along the coastal road near the pier. The displays, and the town, have won the award the 'Coastal Resort B' category in the 2003 Britain in Bloom competition.

File:Devonshire Park.jpg – opened 1874]]

Eastbourne's Devonshire Park is the venue for the Eastbourne International, a tennis tournament held in the town since 1974 and serving as a warm-up to the Wimbledon Championships.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjazXY83tG4C&q=wimbledon+warm-up+event+eastbourne&pg=PA23 |title=International Perspectives of Festivals and Events |page=23 |author1=Jane Ali-Knight |author2=Martin Robertson |author3=Alan Fyall |publisher=Elsevier |year=2008 |access-date=11 July 2011 |isbn=978-0-08-045100-8 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123005830/https://books.google.com/books?id=qjazXY83tG4C&q=wimbledon+warm-up+event+eastbourne&pg=PA23 |url-status=live }} Previously a women only tournament, in 2009 the Lawn Tennis Association merged it with the men only event the Nottingham Open.{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/eastbourne/tourism/tennis/merged-tennis-events|title=Men and Women's Tennis Merged Events|publisher=Eastbourne Borough Council|access-date=18 May 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080612172506/http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/eastbourne/tourism/tennis/merged-tennis-events |archive-date = 12 June 2008|url-status=dead}}

Eastbourne has three senior football clubs: Eastbourne Borough F.C. play in the National League South.{{cite web |url=http://www.footballconference.co.uk/tables.php?division_id=21#FullTables |title=The Official Football Conference League Website – Tables |website=Footballconference.co.uk |year=2011 |access-date=11 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807193147/http://www.footballconference.co.uk/tables.php?division_id=21#FullTables |archive-date=7 August 2011 |url-status=dead }} Eastbourne Town F.C. play in the Isthmian League South East Division having played in the Southern Combination Football League until promotion in 2024,{{cite web |url=https://eastbournetown.com/eastbourne-town-promoted-to-the-isthmian-league/ |title=Eastbourne Town Promoted To The Isthmian League |website=eastbournetown.com |year=2024 |access-date=22 May 2024 |archive-date=22 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522190358/https://eastbournetown.com/eastbourne-town-promoted-to-the-isthmian-league/ |url-status=live }} and Eastbourne United Association F.C. play in the Southern Combination League Premier. Until 2021, Langney Wanderers F.C. were also in the Southern Combination League having won promotion to Division One in 2018 from playing in the local leagues.{{cite web |url=http://www.scfl.org.uk |title=Southern Combination Football League |website=Scfl.org.uk |year=2014 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427051318/http://www.scfl.org.uk/ |url-status=live }}

Eastbourne is home to No 10 Detachment, A Company of the Sussex Army Cadet Force,{{Cite web |title=Sussex Army Cadets |url=https://armycadets.com/county/sussex-acf/ |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=Army Cadets UK |language=en-GB}} a volunteer youth organisation, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, which accepts cadets aged between 12 and 18 years of age.{{Cite web |date=2021-05-26 |title=The Ministry of Defence cadet forces |url=https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-cadet-forces-and-mods-youth-work |access-date=2023-09-10 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}} Who meet several times a week in the Army Reserve Centre near the seafront.

Eastbourne Eagles are a speedway club located at Arlington Stadium, just outside the town. Between 1997 and 2014, they competed in the Elite League, the highest level of speedway in the UK. They were champions in 2000.{{cite web |url= http://www.speedwaygb.co/history/leaguetables2000.php |title= Speedway GB League Tables 2000 |year= 2015 |access-date= 22 June 2015 |archive-date= 22 June 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150622202230/http://www.speedwaygb.co/history/leaguetables2000.php |url-status= live }} They now compete in the National League.{{cite web |url=http://www.eastbourneeagles.co/ |title=Eastbourne Eagles |website=Eastbourneeagles.co |year=2014 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427034639/http://www.eastbourneeagles.co/ |url-status=live }} Arlington stadium also sees stock-car racing on Wednesday evenings in the summer months.{{cite web |url=http://www.spedeworth.co.uk/venue.php?name=eastbourne |title=Spedeworth Motorsports – Eastbourne |website=Spedeworth.co.uk |year=2014 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427082659/http://www.spedeworth.co.uk/venue.php?name=eastbourne |url-status=live }}

In 1963, Eastbourne was the location of the first Netball World Cup.

Eastbourne hosted a triathlon in 2016 and 2017, which attracted professional triathletes such as Ben Allen, Jacqui Slack, Lawrence Fanous and 2012 Biathle world champion Richard Stannard in addition to the hundreds of amateurs taking part. The event takes in the town's major landmarks, including the promenade and local South Downs National Park.

Other local sports clubs include cricket,{{cite web |url=http://eastbourne.play-cricket.com/ |title=Eastbourne CC |website=Eastbourne.play-cricket.com |year=2014 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427042423/http://eastbourne.play-cricket.com/ |url-status=live }} hockey,{{cite web |url=http://www.eastbournehc.co.uk/ |title=Eastbourne Hockey Club |website=Eastbournehc.co.uk |year=2014 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427053845/http://www.eastbournehc.co.uk/ |url-status=live }} rugby,{{cite web|url=http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/eastbournerugbyclub/|title=Eastbourne Rugby Club|website=Pitchero.com|year=2014|access-date=27 April 2014|archive-date=27 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427032635/http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/eastbournerugbyclub/|url-status=live}} lacrosse{{cite web |url=http://www.brightonunilacrosse.moonfruit.com/ |title=Brighton Uni Lacrosse |website=Brightonunilacrosse.moonfruit.com |year=2014 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427071515/http://www.brightonunilacrosse.moonfruit.com/ |url-status=live }} and golf. Among Eastbourne's golf courses are the Royal Eastbourne, Eastbourne Downs, Willingdon and the Eastbourne Golfing Park. There is an annual extreme sports festival held at the eastern end of the seafront.{{cite web |url=http://www.visiteastbourne.com/extreme/ |title=Eastbourne Extreme |website=Visiteastbourne.com |year=2014 |access-date=27 April 2014 |archive-date=27 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427072058/http://www.visiteastbourne.com/extreme/ |url-status=live }} Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club, on the seafront towards the eastern end, organises dinghy sailing for its members and visitors from Easter to Boxing Day and usually holds a National Championship Series for a popular UK class in the summer months.{{cite web|url=http://web.sailing-at-eastbourne.co.uk/|title=Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club|year=2014|access-date=27 April 2014|archive-date=26 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426182538/http://web.sailing-at-eastbourne.co.uk/|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Listed buildings in Eastbourne}}

File:Beachy Head and Lighthouse, UK.jpg

{{Main|Beachy Head|Eastbourne Downs}}

The Eastbourne Downland provides a spectacular backdrop to the town. The 4,000 acres of farmland and downland are owned by the town of Eastbourne, following the 1926 Eastbourne Corporation Act, which aimed to protect their unspoilt beauty "in perpetuity".

The Eastbourne Downs include Beachy Head cliff, to the west of the town, a famous beauty spot and an infamous suicide spot. Statistics are not officially published to reduce suicidal mimicry,{{cite journal|last=Gunnell|first=D.|year=1994|title=Reporting Suicide – The effect of media coverage on patterns of self harm|journal=British Medical Journal|volume=308|issue=6941|pages=1446–47|url=http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/308/6941/1446|doi=10.1136/bmj.308.6941.1446|s2cid=71591905|access-date=22 November 2008|archive-date=9 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209081907/http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/308/6941/1446|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}} but unofficial statistics show it to be the third most common suicide spot.{{Cite book |last=Hunt|first=Tom|year=2006|title=Cliffs of Despair: A Journey to the Edge|publisher=Random House|isbn =978-0-375-50715-1}}

The lighthouse at the foot of the cliff came into operation in October 1902. Although originally staffed by two keepers, it has been remotely monitored by Trinity House via a landline since June 1983. Prior to its construction, shipping had been warned by the Belle Tout Lighthouse on the cliff top some {{convert|1640|yards|m}} to the west. Belle Tout Lighthouse was operational from 1834 to 1902, and closed because its light was not visible in mist and low cloud. It became a private residence, but was severely damaged in the Second World War by Canadian artillery.{{Citation|last=Surtees|first=Dr John|year=1997|title=Beachy Head|place=Seaford|publisher=SB Publications|isbn=978-1-85770-118-0}} In 1956, it was rebuilt as a house and remains a dwelling to this day. In March 1999, the structure was moved {{convert|55|ft}} back from the cliff edge to save it from plunging into the sea.{{Citation|title=The 28ft move that took a day|newspaper=The Argus|date=18 March 1999}} The structure may need to be moved again to safeguard it from cliff erosion.

{{Main|Eastbourne Pier}}

Eastbourne Pier was built between 1866 and 1872 at the junction of Grand and Marine Parades. The pier interrupts what would otherwise have been a ribbon development of buildings – to the west, high-class hotels, with modest family hotels and boarding houses to the east.{{cite magazine |title=Eastbourne Pier – Past, present and future|magazine=The Eastbourne Society Observer|date=Spring 2010|first=Richard|last=Crook|issue=182|page=10}} The Eastbourne Pier Company was registered in April 1865 with a capital of £15,000{{cite book | last = Surtees | first = Dr John | title = Eastbourne – a history | publisher=Phillimore | year = 2002 | location = Chichester | page = 134 |isbn = 978-1-86077-226-9 }} and on 18 April 1866 work began. It was opened by Lord Edward Cavendish on 13 June 1870, although it was not actually completed until two years later. On New Year's Day 1877 the landward half was swept away in a storm. It was rebuilt at a higher level, creating a drop towards the end of the pier. The pier is effectively built on stilts that rest in cups on the sea-bed allowing the whole structure to move during rough weather. It is roughly 300 metres (1000 ft) long. A domed 400-seater pavilion was constructed at a cost of £250 at the seaward end in 1888. A 1,000-seater theatre, bar, camera obscura and office suite replaced this in 1899/1901. At the same time, two saloons were built midway along the pier.{{cite web |url=http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/piers/eastbourne%20pier.htm |title=English Seaside Piers – Eastbourne Pier |access-date=13 March 2010 |publisher=English Heritage Trail |archive-date=18 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100218144349/http://www.theheritagetrail.co.uk/piers/eastbourne%20pier.htm |url-status=live }} Access to the camera obscura was destroyed by an arson attack in 1970, but was restored in 2003 with a new stairway built.

{{Further|Eastbourne Pier#Fire}}

On 30 July 2014, a fire broke out in the middle building of the pier. BBC News reported that 80 firefighters attended the scene. One third of the pier was badly damaged.{{cite news|title=Fire rips through Eastbourne Pier destroying roof|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-28571431|work=BBC News|date=31 July 2014|access-date=18 October 2015|archive-date=11 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011192654/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-28571431|url-status=live}}

On 19 August 2014, a worker from Cumbria died after falling through the decking of the damaged pier.{{Cite news|date=27 August 2014|title=Eastbourne Pier contractors to resume work after death|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-28948638|access-date=31 January 2022|archive-date=31 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131160021/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-28948638|url-status=live}}

Central government paid Eastbourne Borough Council £2m in one-off funding, to compensate for lost income to the town from the temporary loss of the attraction.{{cite news|last1=Mason|first1=Rowena|title=Eastbourne pier to get £2m restoration as government invests in UK coast |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/01/eastbourne-pier-2m-restoration-fire-conservatives-ukip-seaside-towns|access-date=18 October 2015 |newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|date=1 August 2014|archive-date=10 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010141935/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/01/eastbourne-pier-2m-restoration-fire-conservatives-ukip-seaside-towns|url-status=live}} The Council spent this on a variety of projects and events in the hope of boosting the local economy.

{{Main|Eastbourne Redoubt}}

Eastbourne Redoubt on Royal Parade is one of three examples of a type of fortress built to withstand potential invasion from Napoleon's forces in the early 19th century.{{Citation

| url = http://www.eastbournemuseums.co.uk/OtherRedoubts.htm

| title = Other Redoubts in the South East

| publisher = Eastbourne Museums

| access-date = 27 June 2007

| archive-date = 29 June 2007

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070629033723/http://www.eastbournemuseums.co.uk/OtherRedoubts.htm

| url-status = live

}} It houses collections from the Royal Sussex Regiment, the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars and the Sussex Combined Services Collection; including four Victoria Crosses and General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's Steyr Automobile 1500A Afrika Korps Staff Car.

Eastbourne's reputation for health, enhanced by bracing air and sea breezes contributed to the establishment of many independent schools in the 19th century and in 1871,{{Citation|last=Petrie Carew|first=Dorothea|title=Many Years Many Girls|place=Dublin|publisher=The Author|year=1967}} the year which saw the arrival of Queenwood Ladies College, the town was just beginning a period of growth and prosperity. By 1896, Gowland's Eastbourne Directory listed 76 private schools for boys and girls. However, economic difficulties during the inter-war years saw a gradual decline in the number of independent schools.{{cite magazine|magazine=Eastbourne Local History Society Newsletter|title=Independent Schools|issue=79}}

In 1930, the headmistress of Clovelly-Kepplestone, a well-established boarding school for girls, referred to "heavy financial losses experienced by schools in the past few years". In 1930, this school was forced to merge its junior and senior departments; in 1931, one of its buildings was sold off, and in 1934 the school closed altogether. Finally, indicative of the changes that would later befall many of the larger buildings in the town,{{cite magazine | title = The First Years (30th anniversary publication) | magazine=Eastbourne Civic Society – the First Years | year = 1991}} the school was demolished to make way for a block of flats, which was completed in 1939.

The Eastbourne (Blue Book) Directory for 1938 lists 39 independent schools in the town. With the fall of France in June 1940, and the risk of invasion, most left – the majority never to return. By 2020, the number had reduced to just three: St. Andrew's Prep, Eastbourne College and Bede's School.

Eastbourne has 6 state secondary schools, 17 state primary schools, 1 primary special school and 2 secondary special schools. Parts of the University of Brighton were based in the Meads area of the town. There are several language colleges and schools, with students coming mainly from Europe.

East Sussex College is a large further education college with a campus in Eastbourne. This state-funded college provides a range of GCSE, GCE A Level, BTEC and vocational programmes for students aged 16–19 years of age, plus a full range of adult FE programmes. It originated from a 2001 merger between Lewes Tertiary College and Eastbourne College of Arts and Technology (ECAT) to form Sussex Downs College, which then took over Park College (the old Eastbourne Sixth Form college) in 2003.{{cite web|url=http://www.sussexdowns.ac.uk/|title=Sussex Downs College – Welcome to Sussex Downs College |website=Sussexdowns.ac.uk|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=7 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107012319/http://www.sussexdowns.ac.uk/|url-status=dead}} In 2018, a further merger with Sussex Coast College in Hastings formed the current East Sussex College.

The town is served by Eastbourne District General Hospital, part of East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. As of 2014, the maternity unit of the hospital has been permanently transferred to the Conquest Hospital, Hastings after years of campaigning to save the unit.{{cite web|url=http://www.esh.nhs.uk/eastbournedgh/|title=Eastbourne District General Hospital|first=Rob|last=Toth|date=13 April 2017|website=Esh.nhs.uk|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=12 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112114208/http://www.esh.nhs.uk/eastbournedgh/|url-status=live}}{{cite news |newspaper=Eastbourne Herald|date=1 August 2014|title=It's over! One man's vote kills campaign|quote=The Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee chairman Coun Mike Ensor cast his deciding vote after the committee voted 6–6 on a vote to determine that the single site for East Sussex maternity would be at Hastings, thus closing the Eastbourne Maternity Unit.}} An earlier hospital, St Mary's, opened on Vicarage Road in 1877 as the infirmary to the local workhouse; it was demolished in 1990.{{cite web|url=http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Eastbourne/|title=The Workhouse|website=Workhouses.org.uk|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-date=2 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180202032658/http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Eastbourne/|url-status=live}} Eastbourne Fire Station is in Whitley Road,{{Cite web |url=http://www.esfrs.org/stations/stations/eastbourne.shtml |title=Boroughs & Community Fire Stations |access-date=27 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120707081043/http://www.esfrs.org/stations/stations/eastbourne.shtml |archive-date=7 July 2012 |url-status=dead }} and the town's police station is in Grove Road.{{Cite web |url=http://www.escis.org.uk/Entry/View/Eastbourne_Police_Station/9072 |title=Eastbourne Police Station |access-date=27 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619042552/http://www.escis.org.uk/Entry/View/Eastbourne_Police_Station/9072 |archive-date=19 June 2012 |url-status=dead }} Eastbourne has an RNLI lifeboat station. A new boat named Diamond Jubilee was launched in 2012 by the Earl and Countess of Wessex.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-18720889|title=Royal couple name new lifeboat|date=5 July 2012|access-date=28 January 2018|website=Bbc.co.uk|archive-date=10 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110124908/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-18720889|url-status=live}}

Eastbourne Blind Society was founded in 1923, with a centre opened on Longstone Road in 1963. In 2018 the society had almost 800 members.{{cite web |url=http://www.eastbourneblindsociety.org.uk/About_Us.html|title=Eastbourne Blind Society|website=Eastbourneblindsociety.org.uk|access-date=28 January 2018 |archive-date=29 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129140550/http://www.eastbourneblindsociety.org.uk/About_Us.html|url-status=live}}

{{See also|List of places of worship in Eastbourne|List of demolished places of worship in East Sussex}}

As well as the medieval parish church of St Mary in Old Town, another church building in Eastbourne is the redbrick St Saviour's and St Peter's. Originally consecrated under the former name in 1872, it was designed by George Edmund Street{{harvnb|Stevens|1987|p=20}} but merged with St Peter's in 1971 when the latter was made redundant and demolished. The Catholic Church of Our Lady of Ransom is a generously proportioned building with a tall Gothic interior.Joan Kennedy, Our Lady of Ransom, in Gratitude and Hope, Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Church, Eastbourne, 2001. One of the windows commemorates the exiled Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, Prince Lev Sapieha, who lived in the town,The Coat of Arms magazine, N.S. Volume XI, No. 172, Winter 1995, p. 174 and there is much other artwork in the building. The recently formed{{when|date=September 2020}} Personal Ordinariate of Anglicans reconciled to the Catholic Church meets at St Agnes, another Victorian Gothic building.{{cite web|url=http://www.dabnet.org/Resources/DABNet/English%20Heritage%20Reports%20Extracts/Eastbourne%20St%20Agnes%20EH.pdf |title=St Agnes, Eastbourne |access-date=26 December 2011 |year=2005 |work=English Heritage Review of Churches in Diocese |publisher=English Heritage |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104151811/http://www.dabnet.org/Resources/DABNet/English%20Heritage%20Reports%20Extracts/Eastbourne%20St%20Agnes%20EH.pdf |archive-date=4 January 2012 }}

The tall flint tower of St Michael's at Ocklynge is one of Eastbourne's landmarks. The church was consecrated in 1902{{cite web |url=http://www.stmichaelandallangels.co.uk/ |title=St Michael and All Angels, Eastbourne |access-date=24 December 2011 |archive-date=30 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730235954/http://www.stmichaelandallangels.co.uk/ |url-status=live}} and built on the site of the mission hall where the nonsense writer Lewis Carroll (the clergyman CL Dodgson) is known to have preached during his holidays in the town. All Souls, in Italian style, is a finely proportioned building with an Evangelical church tradition.{{cite web |url=http://www.escis.org.uk/Entry/View/All_Souls_Church,_Eastbourne/8251 |title=All Souls Church Eastbourne |access-date=24 December 2011 |publisher=East Sussex Community Information Service | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120118223034/http://www.escis.org.uk/Entry/View/All_Souls_Church,_Eastbourne/8251 | archive-date = 18 January 2012 | url-status = dead }}{{cite web | url = http://www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/191/34/ | title = Eastbourne – All Souls, Susans Road | access-date = 24 December 2011 | year = 2011 | work = Sussex Parish Churches | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120121012015/http://www.sussexparishchurches.org/content/view/191/34/ | archive-date = 21 January 2012 | url-status = dead }} Holy Trinity also has a strong history of Evangelism, particularly during the early 20th century when Canon Stephen Warner was the vicar for 28 years. There is a Greek Orthodox Church converted from a 19th-century Calvinistic chapel.{{cite web | url = http://www.thyateira.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=218&Itemid=85 | title = The Greek Orthodox Church of St. Panteleimon & St. Theodore – Eastbourne | access-date = 23 January 2012 | year = 2012 | publisher = Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain | archive-date = 18 February 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130218115457/http://www.thyateira.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=218&Itemid=85 | url-status = live }}{{cite book | last1 = Robinson | last2 = Pike | title = Pike's Eastbourne Directory, 1897/98 | publisher = Robinson, Son and Pike | year = 1897 | location = Duke Street, Brighton | pages = 106}}

The Strict Baptist Chapel in Grove Road is an interesting building, despite its rather grim street frontage. The United Reformed Church in Upperton Road has tall rogue Gothic windows set in red brick walls. Several other denominations have similarly interesting church buildings,N. Pevsner, Buildings of England series: Sussex including some of 20th century design, such as the Baptist Church in Eldon Road.

The copyrights of many well-known hymns and contemporary worship songs used in churches around the world were handled by Kingway's Thankyou Music of Eastbourne, also known as Integrity Music.{{Cite web | url=https://www.integritymusic.com/about | title=About Integrity Music | access-date=2024-07-20 | website=www.integritymusic.com | archive-date=20 July 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240720133919/https://www.integritymusic.com/about | url-status=live }} They moved to Brighton in 2019.{{Cite web | url=https://greenfigcateringcompany.com/a-canape-reception-in-brighton-for-integrity-music/ | title=A Canape Reception in Brighton for Integrity Music | access-date=2024-07-20 | website=greenfigcateringcompany.com | date=24 June 2019 | archive-date=20 July 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240720133921/https://greenfigcateringcompany.com/a-canape-reception-in-brighton-for-integrity-music/ | url-status=live }}

There is a tradition of Judaism in Eastbourne,{{cite web | url = http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/judaism_guide/guide_to_judaism/index.htm | title = Guide To Judaism | access-date = 26 December 2011 | publisher = Something Jewish | archive-date = 5 November 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111105152137/http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/judaism_guide/guide_to_judaism/index.htm | url-status = live }}{{cite web | url = http://www.jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/community/east/index.htm | title = Eastbourne Hebrew Congregation | access-date = 26 December 2011 | publisher = Jewish Gen | archive-date = 18 July 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110718075341/http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/east/index.htm | url-status = live }} and a Jewish rest home.

The Islamic community uses a small mosque that was formerly the Seeboard social club.{{cite news | title = Eastbourne Mosque revamp plan | date = 30 April 2010 | url = http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local-news/eastbourne_mosque_revamp_plan_1_1433340 | work = Eastbourne Herald | access-date = 24 December 2011}}

File:Eastbourne train station.jpg]]

Eastbourne is connected by road to London by the A22, and to Brighton and Hove and Hastings by the nearby A27. It is the largest town in Britain with no direct dual-carriageway link to the national motorway network (followed by Southport and Bath). The car is the most used form of transport in the town, with only 6% of journeys taken by bus; the local council transport plan aims to reduce the amount of car usage.{{Citation|publisher=East Sussex County Council|title=Local Transport Plan 2006–2011|date=March 2006}} Bus services within Eastbourne have been provided by Stagecoach Group under the name Stagecoach in Eastbourne since November 2008, when the company acquired Eastbourne Buses, a service run by the local council, and subsequently the independent company Cavendish Motor Services.{{cite web |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/Eastbourne-Buses-was-sold-for.4740549.jp|title=Eastbourne Buses was sold for £4million|publisher=TR Beckett Newspapers|access-date=29 November 2008|date=27 November 2008|archive-date=19 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119224017/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/Eastbourne-Buses-was-sold-for.4740549.jp|url-status=live}} Eastbourne Buses had been formed in 1903 by the County Borough of Eastbourne, who were the first local authority in the world authorised to run motor buses.{{Citation|last=Spencer|first=Dave|year=1993|title=Eastbourne Bus Story| place=Midhurst|publisher=Middleton Press|isbn=978-1-873793-17-6}} As well as local journeys within the town, Stagecoach also runs routes to Polegate, Hailsham, Tunbridge Wells, Uckfield and East Grinstead at various frequencies, while the two routes to Hastings via Bexhill are run by Stagecoach South East from Hastings. The other main operator into Eastbourne is Brighton & Hove, owned by the Go-Ahead Group, which runs frequent services to and from Brighton on two routes: Route 12/12A/12X via Seaford and Newhaven, and Route 28 via Hailsham and Lewes. Limited numbers of additional buses are run by the Cuckmere Buses, and a regular National Express coach service operates daily from London's Victoria Coach Station.

The main railway station is situated in the town centre and is served by Southern. The present station (the town's third), designed by F. D. Bannister, dates from 1886. It was originally on what was termed the Eastbourne BranchHandbook of Stations ... on the Railways of Great Britain and Ireland British Transport Commission (Railway Clearing House) 1956 from Polegate. There was a rarely used triangular junction between Polegate and the now-closed Stone Cross which allowed trains to bypass the Branch; the track has now been lifted. Also on the erstwhile Branch is Hampden Park railway station to the north of the town. Regular services along the coast have invariably served Eastbourne. All trains, because of the layout, have to pass through Hampden Park once in each direction. This has the effect of making the Hampden Park level crossing very busy. Indeed, it is thought to be the busiest in the country.{{cite news |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/Level-crossing-warnings-at-Hampden.5915776.jp |title=Level crossing warnings at Hampden Park |date=16 December 2009 |newspaper=Eastbourne Herald |publisher=Johnston Press Digital Publishing |access-date=3 June 2010 |archive-date=23 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123055408/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/Level-crossing-warnings-at-Hampden.5915776.jp |url-status=live }} Regular services are to London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, Hastings and Ashford International and a commuter service to Brighton. Trains leave from London Victoria to Eastbourne with a journey time of 1hr 36mins.{{Citation|title=National Rail Enquiries |url=http://nationalrail.co.uk/|publisher=Association of Train Operating Companies|access-date=1 July 2007|archive-date=1 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701070651/http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/|url-status=live}} A miniature tramway once ran a mile across "the Crumbles" (then undeveloped) from near Princes Park/Wartling Road towards Langney Point. It opened in 1954 but ceased operation in 1970, relocating to Seaton in Devon after the owners had fallen out with the council;{{Citation|last=Harley|first=Robert J|title=Seaton and Eastbourne Tramways|publisher=Middleton Press|year=1996|location=West Sussex|isbn=978-1-873793-76-3}} it is now the Seaton Tramway.

{{See also|Eastbourne Blue Plaques|Category:People from Eastbourne}}

Eastbourne can claim some notable visitors, residents and scholars:

Lewis Carroll holidayed in Eastbourne 19 times, taking lodgings in Lushington Road, where a blue plaque now marks the location of his first visit in 1877.{{cite web | title=Lewis Carroll Blue Plaque – Blue Plaque – East Sussex | website=Eastbourne | url=https://www.visiteastbourne.com/Eastbourne-Lewis-Carroll-Blue-Plaque/details/?dms=3&venue=3416336 | access-date=2017-12-23 | archive-date=24 December 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224042246/https://www.visiteastbourne.com/Eastbourne-Lewis-Carroll-Blue-Plaque/details/?dms=3&venue=3416336 | url-status=live }}{{cite book | last=Cooper | first=R.M. | title=The Literary Guide & Companion to Southern England | publisher=Ohio University Press | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-8214-1225-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/literaryguidecom00coop | url-access=registration | access-date=23 December 2017 | page=[https://archive.org/details/literaryguidecom00coop/page/127 127]}}

The novelist and children's writer Annie Keary died in the town in 1879.{{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15216 |title=Anna Keary |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/15216 |access-date=10 July 2011 |archive-date=24 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124183628/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15216 |url-status=live }}

Poet Francis William Bourdillon lived in the town.{{cite web |url=http://www.sussexhistory.co.uk/eastbourne-memories/eastbourne-memories%20-%200155.htm |title=Eastbourne Memories – A Victorian Perspective |publisher=sussexhistory.co.uk |access-date=24 April 2018 |archive-date=17 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317231810/http://www.sussexhistory.co.uk/eastbourne-memories/eastbourne-memories%20-%200155.htm |url-status=live }}

Aleister Crowley, novelist, poet, occultist and mystic attended Eastbourne College and later edited a chess column for the Eastbourne Gazette.{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |title=The Confessions of Aleister Crowley: An Autohagiography |year=1979 |place=London; Boston |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |isbn=0-7100-0175-4 |page=93}}

Novelist Angela Carter was born in Eastbourne in 1940 before moving to South Yorkshire as a child.{{Cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-50941 |doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/50941|title = The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year = 2004}}

Charles Webb, writer of The Graduate, moved to Eastbourne with his wife in 2006{{Citation|last=Hastings|first=David|title=An arch-seductress graduates to sequel|newspaper=The Sunday Telegraph|date=27 May 2007|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/27/wgrad27.xml|location=London|access-date=23 January 2021|archive-date=19 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219205140/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F05%2F27%2Fwgrad27.xml|url-status=dead}} and died there in 2020.{{cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/06/22/charles-webb-novelist-found-fame-not-fortune-novel-graduate/|title = Charles Webb, novelist who found fame, if not fortune, with his novel The Graduate – obituary|work = The Daily Telegraph|date = June 22, 2020|archive-date = 22 June 2020|access-date = 16 July 2024|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200622180728/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/06/22/charles-webb-novelist-found-fame-not-fortune-novel-graduate/|url-status = live}}{{cite news|url = https://apnews.com/ba2ac7e0b369835b8bae1ae0701c822e|title = Charles Webb, author of 'The Graduate,' dies in England|work = Associated Press|last = Italie|first = Hillel|date = June 27, 2020|accessdate = June 27, 2020|archive-date = 27 June 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200627132050/https://apnews.com/ba2ac7e0b369835b8bae1ae0701c822e|url-status = live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/books/charles-webb-dead.html|title=Charles Webb, Elusive Author of 'The Graduate,' Dies at 81|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 June 2020|last1=Leland|first1=John|archive-date=13 July 2024|access-date=16 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713174402/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/books/charles-webb-dead.html|url-status=live}}

Former students at the closed St Cyprian's School include George Orwell, Alaric Jacob, E. H. W. Meyerstein and Alan Hyman. The biographer and historian Philip Ziegler was also a pupil, as was the music historian Dyneley Hussey and politician, historian and diarist Alan Clark.

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels often stayed in the area. Engels' ashes were scattered in the sea off Beachy Head at his request.{{Citation|last=Kerrigan|first=Michael|title=Who lies where (A guide to famous graves)|year=1998|publisher=Fourth Estate Ltd|location=London, England|isbn=978-1-85702-258-2|url=https://archive.org/details/wholieswhereguid00kerr}}

The philosopher A. J. Ayer was a pupil at Ascham St Vincent's School in Carlisle Road.Ben Rogers A.J. Ayer: A Life 2002 Grove Press {{ISBN|0-8021-3869-1}}

Claude Debussy finished composing La mer at the Grand Hotel in 1905. He described Eastbourne to his publisher as "a charming peaceful spot: the sea unfurls itself with an utterly British correctness."Simeone, N. 'Debussy and expression', in Trezise, S. (ed.) (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Debussy. p.108. Cambridge University Press, UK. {{ISBN|9780521654784}}

The pianist Russ Conway was a resident for many years.{{Citation|title=Pianist Russ Conway dies|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1027037.stm|date=16 November 2000|access-date=16 July 2007|archive-date=26 May 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040526132614/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1027037.stm|url-status=live}}

Dec Cluskey from the 1960s band The Bachelors is resident in Eastbourne.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Several bands have formed in Eastbourne, including: Toploader,{{Citation|title=Toploader |publisher=Much Music |url=http://www.muchmusic.com/music/artists/bio.asp?artist=362 |access-date=1 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071007100849/http://www.muchmusic.com/music/artists/bio.asp?artist=362 |archive-date=7 October 2007 }} Easyworld,{{Citation| title = Easyworld |publisher=BBC Hampshire |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/southampton/music/easyworld.shtml| access-date = 1 July 2007| archive-date = 28 December 2004| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041228021524/http://www.bbc.co.uk/southampton/music/easyworld.shtml| url-status = live}} the Divided,{{Cite web |url=http://hevypetal.com/release-reviews/71/the-divided--demo-ep |title=The Divided – Demo (EP) |access-date=21 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111100154/http://hevypetal.com/release-reviews/71/the-divided--demo-ep |archive-date=11 January 2012 |url-status=dead }} ROAM and Mobiles.{{cite web | url =http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/EIGHTIES-BAND39S-ALBUM-REVIVAL.1947640.jp| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080306130124/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/EIGHTIES-BAND39S-ALBUM-REVIVAL.1947640.jp| archive-date=6 March 2008|title=EIGHTIES BAND'S ALBUM REVIVAL|author=Annemarie Field|work=Eastbourne Today |date=28 December 2006|access-date=19 July 2011 }}

Spider Stacy, member of The Pogues, was born in Eastbourne in 1958.

David Bowie performed in Eastbourne several times. He included a mention of Eastbourne in his 1967 single, "The Laughing Gnome".{{Cite web | url=https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/david-bowie-and-eastbournes-club-continental-1279137 | title=David Bowie and Eastbourne's Club Continental | access-date=2024-07-20 | website=www.sussexexpress.co.uk | archive-date=20 July 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240720135342/https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/david-bowie-and-eastbournes-club-continental-1279137 | url-status=live }}

"Darwin's Bulldog" Thomas Henry Huxley spent the last few years of his life in Eastbourne.{{cite web|url=http://openplaques.org/plaques/1183 |title=Thomas Henry Huxley green plaque|website=Openplaques.org|quote=This house 'Hodeslea' was built by Thomas Henry Huxley. F.R.S. 1890 he lived here 1895 |access-date=26 December 2011|archive-date=17 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817211634/http://openplaques.org/plaques/1183|url-status=live}}

Frederick Gowland Hopkins, biochemist and Nobel prizewinner, was born in Eastbourne.{{cite journal| url = https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1948.0022| title = Frederick Gowland Hopkins 1861–1947| journal = Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society| year = 1948| volume = 6| issue = 17| pages = 115–145| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1948.0022| s2cid = 177244789| archive-date = 1 May 2021| access-date = 11 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210501210013/https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1948.0022| url-status = live| url-access = subscription}}

Frederick Soddy, radiochemist and economist, was born in Eastbourne and studied at Eastbourne College.{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1921/soddy-bio.html|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1921 – Frederick Soddy Biographical|publisher=Nobelprize.org|access-date=16 March 2014|archive-date=20 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220054130/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1921/soddy-bio.html|url-status=live}}

Michael Fish, who forecast the weather for BBC Television from 1974 to 2004, was born in Eastbourne and studied at Eastbourne College.{{cite web |url=http://www.michael-fish.com/michael-fish/file/biography.php|title=Biography of Michael Fish – MBE Hon. D.Sc. FRMetS|access-date=25 June 2020|archive-date=25 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225113713/http://www.michael-fish.com/michael-fish/file/biography.php|url-status=live}}

NASA aerospace engineer Bruce Woodgate, who attended Eastbourne Grammar School, was the principal investigator and designer of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, which was installed on the Hubble Space Telescope in 1997.{{cite news |title=Tributes paid to man who changed the face of space |url=http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/tributes-paid-to-man-who-changed-the-face-of-space-1-6047654 |newspaper=Eastbourne Herald |date=9 May 2014 |access-date=18 May 2014 |archive-date=25 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625071149/http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/tributes-paid-to-man-who-changed-the-face-of-space-1-6047654 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |first=Leezel |last=Tanglao |title=Inventor of the camera used on Hubble telescope has died |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/astronomer-bruce-woodgate-inventor-of-the-camera-used-on-hubble-telescope-has-died/ |work=CBS News |date=1 May 2014 |access-date=18 May 2014 |archive-date=17 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617173515/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/astronomer-bruce-woodgate-inventor-of-the-camera-used-on-hubble-telescope-has-died/ |url-status=live }}

Polar explorer Lawrence Oates attended South Lynn School in Mill Gap Road.{{cite magazine|magazine=Eastbourne Society Newsletter |title=Lawrence Oates|issue=163}}

George Mallory, the noted mountaineer, attended Glengorse Preparatory School in Chesterfield Road between 1896 and 1900.{{cite magazine |magazine=Eastbourne Local History Society Newsletter|title=George Mallory|issue=145}}

Count László Almásy, the basis of the lead character of The English Patient, was educated by a private tutor at Berrow, and was a member of the pioneering Eastbourne Flying Club.{{cite magazine|magazine=Eastbourne Local History Society Newsletter|title=Eastbourne Flying Club |issue=143}}

In 1993, following a suggestion to Eastbourne Borough Council by Eastbourne Civic Society (now Eastbourne Society), a joint project was set up to erect blue plaques on buildings associated with famous people. The principles for selection are broadly those already established by English Heritage for such plaques in London. The first was erected in November 1994 in Milnthorpe Road at the former home of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer.{{cite magazine | title = Blue plaque puts explorer on local map | magazine=Evening Argus | date = 22 November 1994}}

The artist Eric Ravilious grew up, was educated and taught in Eastbourne.{{cite book|last=Powers|first=Alan|title=Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h86sbcpAROEC&pg=PA143|date=15 July 2012|publisher=Philip Wilson Publishers |isbn=978-1-78130-001-5 |page=143|access-date=30 September 2016|archive-date=4 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304065243/https://books.google.com/books?id=h86sbcpAROEC&pg=PA143|url-status=live}}

Artists Cedric Morris and David KindersleyMontague Shaw, David Kindersley: His work and workshop, Cardozo Kindersley Editions, 1989, p. 9. attended St Cyprian's School.

Comedian Ronald Frankau died at Eastbourne in 1951.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f4db93a|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206191634/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f4db93a|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 December 2017|title=Ronald Frankau|website=BFI}}

Vernon Dobtcheff, Prunella Scales,{{Cite web|last=Pickering|first=David|title=Scales, Prunella|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications. |url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/scalesprune/scalesprune.htm|access-date=1 July 2007|archive-date=29 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629072345/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/scalesprune/scalesprune.htm|url-status=live}} Eddie Izzard, Hugh Skinner and Ed Speleers attended school in Eastbourne.{{Cite web|title=Eddie Izzard|website=Eddieizzard.com|url=http://www.eddieizzard.com/eddie/biography/view.php?Chapter=3|access-date=25 February 2009|archive-date=2 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202055526/http://www.eddieizzard.com/eddie/biography/view.php?Chapter=3|url-status=live}}

Annie Castledine spent the end years of her life living in and working from the town.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/07/annie-castledine-obituary|title=Annie Castledine obituary|first=Michael|last=Coveney|date=7 June 2016|website=Theguardian.com|access-date=11 April 2019 |archive-date=11 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411104649/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/07/annie-castledine-obituary |url-status=live}}

Former students at St Cyprian's include the politicians Richard Wood, who had lost both legs in war, and David Ormsby-Gore, later ambassador to the USA.

Theresa May, a former prime minister of the United Kingdom, was born in the town.{{cite web |title=Theresa May: A self-proclaimed 'bloody difficult woman' |url=https://news.sky.com/story/theresa-may-a-self-proclaimed-bloody-difficult-woman-10860193 |website=Sky News |access-date=13 October 2022 |language=en |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013121721/https://news.sky.com/story/theresa-may-a-self-proclaimed-bloody-difficult-woman-10860193 |url-status=live }}

Ed Balls, former MP Morley and Outwood and BBC Strictly Come Dancing contestant, married Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford in Eastbourne in January 1998.

Three Victoria Cross recipients of the British Army have died at Eastbourne: Captain Henry Mitchell Jones (Crimean War) in 1916, Brigadier-General Edmond Costello (Malakand Frontier War) in 1949 and Colonel James Lennox Dawson (World War I) in 1967.[https://web.archive.org/web/20041028141812/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/sussex.htm Location of grave and VC medal] (East Sussex) In addition, two alumni of Eastbourne College have received the VC:Webster F.A.M., (1937), Our Great Public Schools, (Butler & Tanner: London) Captain Henry Singleton Pennell (Tirah Campaign, India) and Royal Air Force Group Captain Lionel Rees (World War I).

The leading evangelist Canon Stephen Warner was the vicar of Holy Trinity between 1919 and 1947.{{Cite news

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John Bodkin Adams, the general practitioner, convicted fraudster, and suspected serial killer, who lived and died at Eastbourne.Robins, Jane; The Curious Habits of Dr Adams: A 1950s Murder Mystery, John Murray (2013) {{isbn|978-1-84854-470-3}}

Douglas Bader, who became a successful Second World War fighter pilot despite having lost both legs in a flying accident, attended Temple Grove Preparatory School in Compton Place Road.{{Citation|last=Brickhill|first=Paul|year=1954|title=Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader DSO, DFC.|place=London|publisher=Odhams Press Ltd|isbn=978-0-00-211701-2}}

Percy Sillitoe, director of MI5, lived in the town in the 1950s.{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = Kelly's Directory | title = Directory of Eastbourne | year = 1957 | publisher=Kelly's Directories Ltd | location = London | pages = 181}}

Johanna Konta, British number one tennis player and Grand Slam semi-finalist.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Henry Allingham, briefly the world's oldest man when he died in 2009, aged 113, was a resident of the town when he was made a freeman in 2006.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4931102.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011225853/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4931102.stm |title=World War I veteran honoured by home town |date=21 April 2006 |archive-date=11 October 2007 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=5 January 2010 |url-status=dead }}

Olav Bjortomt, English international quiz player, four-time world champion (2003, 2015, 2018, 2019) and three time individual European champion (2010, 2014, 2015), was born in Eastbourne.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Colin Perrin, award-winning commissioning editor of academic works in critical legal theory, lives in Eastbourne.

Military figures who had been students at St Cyprian's include: General Sir Lashmer Whistler; Major General Henry Foote VC; the submarine commander Rupert Lonsdale. Other ex-students at St Cyprian's include: the amateur jockey Anthony Mildmay; Seymour de Lotbiniere, one-time Director of Outside Broadcasts at the BBC; Jagaddipendra Narayan, a reigning Maharaja of Cooch Behar while at the school.St Cyprian's Chronicle 1914–1930 (at Eastbourne Reference Library)

;Citations

{{Reflist}}

;Works cited

• {{cite book|last=Stevens|first=Lawrence|title=A Short History of Eastbourne|place=Eastbourne|publisher=Eastbourne Local History Society|year=1987|isbn=978-0-9504560-7-2}}

{{Sister project links|voy = Eastbourne|d = Q208262}}

• {{Official website|http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/ Eastbourne Borough Council}}
• [http://www.visiteastbourne.com/ Visit Eastbourne] Official tourism site
• [http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/engelsineastbourne/ Engels in Eastbourne – Commemorating the life, work and legacy of Friedrich Engels in Eastbourne]

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Category:Towns in East Sussex

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