On Monday it finally stopped raining, in the South at least, and I spontaneously decided to go exploring westwards along the coast to Eastbourne. The sunshine didn’t last however and the final ten miles or so were a somewhat bleak trudge along a featureless beach.

Before the sun disappeared I took this photo of Bottle Alley, a unique-to-Hastings two layer promenade built by the “Concrete King” Sidney Little in the 1930s. As well as copious amounts of concrete, Little pioneered recycling by using glass from discarded bottles to provide the distinctive facing on the walls (hence the name). Sadly, like much of the rest of the town, it fell into disrepair. When I was younger it was notorious as a haunt of drug users and other miscreants and no self respecting person would be seen on the lower deck. But now, thanks in part to the recent rebuilding of the pier, there are plans afoot to restore it.

bottle_alley_scale

Like Hastings, Eastbourne’s pier also suffered a fire recently, although a much less devastating one. And they got funding from central government to rebuild it.

eastbourne_pier_scale