The UK seaside city liked by pensioners where OAPs now say ‘you’re only secure when lifeless’ | UK | Travel

On a sunny but freezing autumnal day, Eastbourne feels calm and quiet. One factor clearly stands out – it is full of pensioners roaming around its sunlit streets. Cruelly dubbed ‘God’s Waiting Room‘, in 2022, 24% of the population in Eastbourne was aged 65 and over, increased than the England average of 19%.

At first look, Eastbourne appears to be like like a really interesting city for retirement. Founded in the mid-Eighteen Eighties as an unique retreat “for gentlemen, by gentlemen”, it shortly turned a magnet for artists and high society. Figures such as Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, and Claude Debussy all sought inspiration or leisure along its shores, and the city has welcomed quite a few royal guests over the years. Yet behind its elegant façade of elegant inns and gorgeous views lies a more advanced actuality. Eastbourne can really feel both vibrant and culturally wealthy – it even hosted the 2023 Turner Prize – while at the same time displaying indicators of neglect and decline. As The Telegraph reports, a 2024 research utilizing Office for National Statistics information discovered Eastbourne to be the third most depressing place in the nation.

Conservative councillor Robert Smart, a pensioner himself, is nicely conscious of the advanced actuality. He meets us at Eastbourne’s seafront Bandstand, a main outside reside music venue dubbed “the busiest Bandstand on planet earth”. In entrance of him, the 1872 pier stretches into the sea and, further along, the shingle seaside runs all the means to Sovereign Harbour – the largest composite marina advanced in northern Europe. It is here that Smart makes the case for why Eastbourne still deserves its “Sunshine Coast” label, and that it is means more than just a sleepy city. 

Eastbourne, Mr Smart says, has a “wealth of facilities” for older residents and guests: the Devonshire Quarter with theatres, a yr‑spherical programme of cultural occasions, many choirs and church communities, golf and even a top-tier worldwide tennis event. He also emphasises its sensible benefits, including a compact city centre and the comfort of its walkable nature. “It’s a wonderful place to be a pensioner here,” the councillor says, including that it is not just outdated people who get pleasure from Eastbourne.

But Mr Smart is clear-eyed about the issues of the Liberal Democrat city. Behind him, the Nineteen Thirties bandstand, once a image of Eastbourne’s seaside id, has deteriorated and is now partially closed. Crime has also become a growing concern. He admits Eastbourne “isn’t necessarily worse than anywhere else”, but says there is “too much crime, especially in and around the town centre”.

Eastbourne District Commander, Chief Inspector Kara Tombling, informed the Express that while Sussex Police “recognise the concerns raised about crime and anti-social behaviour”, there have been optimistic modifications. In the yr to September 2025, Eastbourne recorded 1,872 crimes ensuing in profitable outcomes – a 32% increase from last yr. Looking over a longer timeframe, the quantity of profitable outcomes is 40% increased than in the yr to September 2019.

However, Sussex Police information also show that the quantity of crimes rose from January 2023 to September 2025 by 31% and, according to ONS, its crime price is the second highest in the Sussex space. In September this yr alone, Sussex Police reported 317 incidents in Eastbourne city centre. Most crimes occurred close to the prepare station and were associated to violent sexual offences and shoplifting. 

Mr Smart hyperlinks some of this to native inns and emergency lodging being used for people from outside the space, including asylum seekers, as nicely youth crime and restricted support for weak people. Local initiatives to fight crime have begun, including Britain’s first use of GPS ankle screens for prolific shoplifters. Still, Mr Smart argues sources are stretched, calling for more frontline policing and higher CCTV protection.

Housing provides another strain level. Eastbourne is bodily constrained by the sea, protected countryside, and floodplain, which limits enlargement. “Therefore, the ability to actually produce more houses is quite a challenge for Eastbourne,” Mr Smart explains. Additionally, many massive, empty high-street buildings stay undeveloped despite planning permission, including the former websites of main outlets.

Despite the points, Mr Smart’s total image of Eastbourne stays cautiously optimistic. He argues that with “love and attention” through higher policing, smarter housing coverage, and investment in heritage, Eastbourne can protect what made it enticing in the first place.

Older residents show combined emotions about the city. While most really feel usually secure and get pleasure from ageing in Eastbourne, they now really feel less snug, particularly close to the station or fundamental procuring streets such as Terminus Road. 

Pauline Young, 76, moved to Eastbourne 16 years in the past. “It’s quiet, but there’s also the beach, in the summer we go down to the seafront and have a coffee,” she tells the Express. Yet she has seen worrying modifications. “We get a lot of homeless people here, which is not nice. On many occasions, I’ve been approached by people for money. That’s quite a regular thing, especially now, which is always a bit off-putting.” Still, she provides she feels usually secure where she lives. “It’s a nice little community.”

An 88-year-old pensioner, who needs to stay nameless, is far more blunt. Asked about what in Eastbourne has modified considerably over the years, he replies: “Everything. Everything.”

“It’s rougher. It was a beautiful town. It was, now it’s not. No one seems to bother,” he provides, contrasting Eastbourne with a decade in the past when “you had police on the beat”. The reply to the query of what could make him really feel safer is easy: “Die.”

Elizabeth Alexander, 73, does not reside in Eastbourne full-time but visits typically for procuring and comfort. She believes the high road “has gone downhill”, partly because outlets like Primark now charge for luggage and have launched self-service checkouts, which she feels pensioners battle with. “We didn’t want those machines, so why pay for them?” she says with laughter. Still, she appreciates the selection of shops and finds the town-centre format, all on one stage, useful given her unhealthy back. She says she feels secure and enjoys summer season visits for fish and chips by the sea, even if seagulls sometimes steal a chunk. 

The high road modifications are also felt by residents themselves. Standing next to a native busker and handing out church leaflets, Ivor Baddick, 79, says that over the years, he has noticed the city centre evolve and empty out, with former high-street anchors disappearing. “People used to like going there. They just don’t shop now. I suppose they’re forced online,” he displays. As the city centre is present process fixed refurbishment, reactions among locals are combined. “Lots of people don’t like them, lots of people like them, it’s the inconvenience of change,” he says.  

But not all residents we discuss to see Eastbourne in decline. Jean Pertlove is fairly content material with the state of issues. The 90-year-old moved to the city after dropping her husband and wanting to be nearer to associates. She remembers being nicely cared for from the second she arrived, even having a cancerous lump eliminated shortly after settling in. “They’d done it when I moved here, it was taken away,” she says. For her, life in Eastbourne is “alright, not too bad”. She feels usually secure and enjoys strolling by the seaside and maintaining in contact with neighbours, though she avoids going out at night time. And despite listening to others discuss about rising crime, she says she personally hasn’t witnessed it.