You’re only as old as you feel in Polegate
PEOPLE in Polegate can expect to live longer than those in any other part of Sussex.
On average, men in the small town outside Eastbourne will live to 88.3 and Polegate women will reach the ripe old age of 91.4.
Residents in Polegate have the highest life expectancy in the county and are ranked at 14th in the country.
The number one place for life expectancy in the UK is Hinton, St George’s in Somerset, where men live to 88.7 on average and women to 91.6.
Devon and Dorset fared well in the top 15 list but the only other Sussex location to be featured was Winchelsea, which came in at number 15 in the list.
The life expectancy of the larger Eastbourne area came in at 87.5 for men and 90.8 for women. Eastbourne comes below Bexhill, Littlehampton, Battle, Bognor Regis and Worthing.
This week shopkeepers in Polegate said they were in no doubt why their town was the best place in Sussex to live for longevity.
Paul Hayes from Withers DIY hardware shop on Polegate High Street, pictured below, said, “The town has a really relaxed atmosphere and the elderly are very well catered for here.
“There is the community centre and the medical centres.
“There are also lots of marvellous local shops like us that bend over backwards to help people.”
Mr Hayes said many of his customers were older people and Adrian Message, of Polegate Fruits, opposite the town’s railway station, agreed.
He told the Herald he has a few customers who are in their 90s and one who is only a year off his 100th birthday.
Mr Message said, “People move down here to retire. “There are lots of bungalows down this way and there is a good old fashioned community, which hasn’t changed much since the 1970s.”
He also joked, “I would also like to think people live longer because they have got a good local green grocer who is supplying them with fresh fruit and veg.”
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Weather for Eastbourne
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
