ARCADES PROJECT

There are hints to this arcade’s rather splendid past, both in some of the remaining features, such as the stained glass windows and the old clock (naming The Arcade, Bognor Regis) over the entrance at the High Street end, and in some of the shops still operating in the arcade today: a rather fine menswear shop, a tobacconist’s and two jeweller’s.

The glass ceiling is not original by any means, though the pillars holding up the glass awning at the same High Street end suggest a vintage feel to this arcade which actually dates from 1902, long before anything like Butlin’s arrived on the edge of the town and transformed its image in the 1960s.

Alongside those long-standing shops are a ‘traditional’ sweet shop, a café, a rather plush-looking Turkish restaurant and cocktail bar, which has taken over a handful of units along one side, the local RSPCA charity shop, a computer repair shop, and a hair salon.

I visited briefly in May 2024 when I had spare time on a previous South Coast trip. I didn’t review it then because there were repairs to the stonework at the beach end of the arcade which were supposed to happen ahead of that summer’s season. Sadly, by February 2025, on my second visit, there was so still no sign of those repairs having been done, so the arcade at the beach end looks a little dilapidated, and the awning glass at the High Street end could do with a power wash to take away the green moss from countless rain storms here.

But there is a low-level buzz of activity and better footfall levels than may arcades in other parts of the UK. It certainly feels in better shape both structurally and commercially than its near neighbour along the coast at Littlehampton.

My pick of the arcade’s past

At the dinner organised to celebrate the opening of the new arcade in Bognor Regis in November 1902, the man behind the whole project said he planned to place seats down the centre of the walkway to make it more attractive for shoppers and visitors. Among early tenants were a hatter, a hosier, a pharmacy, a greengrocer, a tobacconist, a branch of Freeman, Hardy & Willis and a Post Office.

The arcade caretaker, Charles Walls, was fined £1 in 1915 for allowing lights to shine through windows of the Bognor Institute rooms upstairs. His lawyer argued that he had asked for blinds but the Institute had not provided them, but the caretaker was found guilty anyway. Unlike in World War 2, when black outs were designed not to help German bombers, in WW1 the main fear was that lights might be seen from the sea.

Also during World War 1, the arcade hall played host to an exhibition of ‘war relics,’ which included a strip of cloth off an early Zeppelin shot down over France; a basket of German shells recovered from the scene of a battle; a gas mask; a cabinet brought back from Ypres; and a piece of shot said to have come from a German bombarding Madras in 1914. The entrance fee was aimed at raising funds for Red Cross volunteers who had to pay for their own uniforms.

The arcade had a Royal visit in 1929, when the wife of George V, came shopping in Bognor with her two daughters. The toy shop in the arcade was graced with a surprise visit, though the owner would have been kicking herself as she was not in the shop that day.

Sources for these stories all come from www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and specifically: 1) Chichester Observer, 26 November 1902 – British Library Board; 2) Chichester Observer, 30 June 1915, British Library Board; 3) Chichester Observer, 23 February 1916, British Library Board; 4) Chichester Observer, 27 February 1929 – National World Publishing Ltd.

What memories do you have of visits in years gone by?

Have you got any good stories to add on the past of this arcade?

What’s your favourite shop in the arcade today?

Have you seen this arcade in any films or books?

Is there a website for this arcade?

Not that I have found. Even the Facebook page for the arcade as a whole has not been updated since 2019. Some of the businesses in the arcade have individual web presence, though.