Everything You Need to Know About Eastbourne

Are you joining us at our Eastbourne English school or during the summer at our Summer Centre in Eastbourne? Then here’s everything you need to know about the town of Eastbourne.

Eastbourne is a lively and sunny seaside resort town in the South East of England. On train, it is an hour and a half journey to/from London. Eastbourne has award-winning beaches and many exciting local attractions.

Fast facts about Eastbourne

Eastbourne is the sunniest place in the UK, according to reports last year. Eastbourne has 7.5 hours of sunlight and that’s just in May, come summer it’ll be more! (And let me tell you, that is a lot of sun for the UK!)

Eastbourne is home to the Europe’s largest man-made marina, Sovereign Harbour, which has a variety of restaurants, shops and attractions.

If the weather is warm enough when you come in summer, or you are brave enough, you could go swimming; the sea water in Eastbourne is rated as “Excellent”, by the MCS Good Beach Guide.

Eastbourne on the screen

Perhaps you’ve seen Eastbourne before on TV because it has featured on many well-known films and television programmes. You may have seen Eastbourne in these famous films: Harry Potter, James Bond the Living Daylights, Pearl Harbour, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Brighton Rock, and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

Or perhaps you have seen Eastbourne on one of these TV shows: Poirot, Little Britain, Foyle’s War, Top Gear, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Miss Marple, and The Lives and Loves of a She Devil.

Strange Guinness World Records

On 28^th April 2012, the world record for walking on fire was beaten in Eastbourne, when Lindsay Morrison was the 351^st person to walk across two metres of hot coal. (That is three hundred and fifty one people to walk across hot burning coal, one after the other!) They were either all really daring, brave, or stupid; or a bit of all.

A group of 28 girls from Eastbourne hold the world record for most people crammed in a modern Mini. The girls managed to rearrange themselves into the small car in 18 minutes, with 4 of them in the boot of the car!

Interesting history

Eastbourne was the most bombed seaside town in England during WWII. Bombers used to drop any bombs that they had left over Eastbourne before they returned to Germany. They used Beachy Head as their landmark. Nearly 4,000 bombs fell on the town.

Eastbourne has strong evidence to support that witches have lived in the town. A candlestick and spoons have been found at Beachy Head which are believed to have been used by witches because they have the witchcraft symbol “XIII” which is the “13” in roman numerals.