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 | Eastbourne Downtown car rental - Travel Guide |  |
Like so many of the southeast's seaside resorts, EASTBOURNE was kick-started into life in the 1840s, when the Brighton, Lewes & Hastings railway company built a branch line from Lewes to the sea. Past holiday-makers include George Orwell, the composer Claude Debussy - who finished writing La Mer here - as well as Marx and Engels. Nowadays Eastbourne has a solid reputation as a retirement town - albeit one that's a touch livelier than the nearby custom-built Peacehaven. Eastbourne's elegant three-mile seafront consists of houses and hotels and is tainted by barely a shop, but the greatest draw around is the South Downs, which the sea has ground into a series of dramatic chalk cliffs around Beachy Head , just west of town.
The Town
Conforming to traditions, Eastbourne's pier is the focal point of its seafront: opened in 1872 and among the finest on the south coast. The promenade is framed by two prominent red-brick Martello forts: the northeastern one, the Redoubt Fortress , now houses a military museum (April-Nov daily 9.45am-5.30pm; £1.50; ) and the other, the Wish Tower - the name is an old Sussex word meaning "marsh" - has been transformed into a puppet museum (mid-July to Sept daily 11am-5pm; April to mid-July, Oct & Nov Sat & Sun 11am-5pm; £1.80; ). One bright spark in sedate Eastbourne is the Towner Gallery and Museum on the corner of High Street and the Borough in the Old Town (April-Oct Tues-Sat noon-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; Nov-March Tues-Sat noon-4pm, Sun 2-5pm; free; ), a ten-minute walk west of the train station - it shows a refreshingly contemporary and ever-changing range of work.
Eastbourne train station is a splendid Italianate terminus ten minutes' walk from the seafront; the bus station is on Cavendish Place right by the pier; and the tourist office is at 3 Cornfield Rd, on the corner of Hyde Gardens (June-Sept Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun 10am-1pm; Oct-May closed Sun; tel 01323/411400, ). Eastbourne has hundreds of places to stay : try Seabreeze Guest House , 6 Marine Rd (tel 01323/725440; £40-50), a hundred yards from the sea, or Sea Beach House Hotel , 39-40 Marine Parade (tel 01323/410458; ; £50-60). The youth hostel is on East Dean Road (tel 01323/721081; closed Oct-March), a mile and a half west of town, with spectacular views across Eastbourne; take bus #712. Seaside Road, halfway down Terminus Road, between the train station and the sea, boasts Tequila Sunset , at no. 71 (tel 01323/732832), offering new Mexican food, including a wide range of fajitas, and the town's best Italian, Luigi's , nearby at no. 72 (tel 01323/736994; closed Sun); both are moderately priced. The best pubs are some distance from the seafront: Cornfield Garage , a capacious Wetherspoon's bar at 21-27 Cornfield Rd; the Hurst Arms at 76 Willingdon Rd, a ten-minute walk inland from the station up Upperton Road, has Harvey's locally brewed beers on tap. |
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