Bognor Regis is one of the UK’s best-known seaside towns today – but it started life as a small fishing village.
It was an 18th-century merchant named Sir Richard Hotham who saw the West Sussex village’s potential as a coastal resort. He bought up land and created a hotel and an entertainment building, with the resort’s first ‘season’ taking place in 1791.
The town’s popularity soared in the late 1800s after a railway station was built in 1864 that made the seaside hotspot much more accessible.
Bognor was to cement its place even more firmly on the map when King George V stayed there in 1929. This visit led to the addition of ‘Regis’ to the town’s name, after a petition was made to the monarch.
Although Bognor Regis has since fallen from those regal heights and was one of the worst-rated seaside towns in Which?’s 2024 ranking of UK coastal resorts, it remains a popular holiday spot for British staycationers.
Take a look back into Bognor Regis’s past with this collection of historic photos – from bathing machines to a hunt for the most glamorous grandma…
Pictured above is Bognor Parade in 1882. The town’s railway station had opened in 1864, making the town more accessible to the wider public. Bognor Regis Pier, which can be seen on the left of the photo, opened in 1865. The Bognor Pier Trust says that back then people were charged a small fee to walk its length
Bognor Regis’s seafront is pictured here in around 1900. The Royal Hotel seen on the right of the image has now been converted into flats
The Esplanade in Bognor Regis is pictured here in 1895. The wheeled contraptions on the beach are bathing machines, which were used to protect people’s modesty while they swam in the sea
Holidaymakers are pictured here on Bognor Regis beach in the early 1900s. Bognor Regis got its first cinema, a theatre and a roller-skating rink around this time, explains localhistories.org
![This picture shows children at Bognor Regis beach in 1920. This was a time of growing enthusiasm for seaside holidays. The Victoria & Albert museum explains: 'Sunbathing [was] encouraged, and a suntan became a fashionable sign of wealth and leisure'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/02/06/10/94923171-0-image-a-35_1738838130555.jpg)
This picture shows children at Bognor Regis beach in 1920. This was a time of growing enthusiasm for seaside holidays. The Victoria & Albert museum explains: ‘Sunbathing [was] encouraged, and a suntan became a fashionable sign of wealth and leisure’
Crowds are photographed on the beach and promenade in 1929. This was the year that King George V stayed in the town to recover from a serious illness, explains Love Bognor Regis. After his stay, the King was petitioned to add Regis to the town’s name, an application that was granted
Three holidaymakers are pictured on the beach at Bognor Regis in 1950. Historic England explains that ‘the great British seaside came into its heyday in the post-war years’
In this image, taken in 1956, Perspex windscreens are positioned on the Bognor Regis seafront as part of an experiment to ‘protect holidaymakers from sea breezes’
Children are pictured in this 1959 image enjoying donkey rides on the Bognor Regis beach
LEFT: In this humorous image, taken in 1960, holidaymakers on Bognor Regis beach laugh as one tourist’s deckchair collapses under his weight. RIGHT: This 1960 image depicts two contestants in a Bognor Marilyn Monroe lookalike competition
In this image, a hopeful competitor is shown attempting to fly in the Bognor Regis International Birdman contest in 1979. Contestants would compete to see who could fly through the air the furthest after jumping off the end of the pier
A contestant in the 1979 Birdman contest attempts to fly while dressed as a bird. Sir Richard Branson took part in the 2003 competition before it ended for good in 2016
Butlin’s opened in Bognor Regis in 1958. LoveBognorRegis reveals: ‘The business was a runaway success, hosting in the region of 3,000 campers every week and easily justifying the then enormous build cost of around £2.5million/$3.1million.’ The above image of dancing revellers was taken at the holiday camp in 1984
In this funny image, taken in 1985, hopeful contestants take part in a ‘Glamorous Grandmother’ competition at Butlin’s Holiday Camp
The winner of the Bognor ‘Glamorous Grandmother’ competition is photographed with a Butlin’s Redcoat entertainer in 1985
A holidaymaker and Redcoat entertainer ride the merry-go-round at Butlin’s in Bognor Regis in 1985
A holidaymaker competes in a limbo competition at Butlin’s holiday camp in 1985. Bognor Regis is still one of the UK’s most popular Butlin’s camps and recently opened a new indoor playground